Catholic Caucus: Daily (Monday) Mass Readings, 04-28-08, Saint Peter Chanel

Reading 1
Acts 16:11-15

We set sail from Troas, making a straight run for Samothrace,
and on the next day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi,
a leading city in that district of Macedonia and a Roman colony.
We spent some time in that city.
On the sabbath we went outside the city gate along the river
where we thought there would be a place of prayer.
We sat and spoke with the women who had gathered there.
One of them, a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth,
from the city of Thyatira, a worshiper of God, listened,
and the Lord opened her heart to pay attention
to what Paul was saying.
After she and her household had been baptized,
she offered us an invitation,
“If you consider me a believer in the Lord,
come and stay at my home,” and she prevailed on us.

Responsorial Psalm
149:1b-2, 3-4, 5-6a and 9b

R. (see 4a) The Lord takes delight in his people.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Sing to the LORD a new song
of praise in the assembly of the faithful.
Let Israel be glad in their maker,
let the children of Zion rejoice in their king.
R. The Lord takes delight in his people.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Let them praise his name in the festive dance,
let them sing praise to him with timbrel and harp.
For the LORD loves his people,
and he adorns the lowly with victory.
R. The Lord takes delight in his people.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Let the faithful exult in glory;
let them sing for joy upon their couches.
Let the high praises of God be in their throats.
This is the glory of all his faithful. Alleluia.
R. The Lord takes delight in his people.
or:
R. Alleluia.

Gospel
Jn 15:26—16:4a

Jesus said to his disciples:
“When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father,
the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father,
he will testify to me.
And you also testify,
because you have been with me from the beginning.

“I have told you this so that you may not fall away.
They will expel you from the synagogues;
in fact, the hour is coming when everyone who kills you
will think he is offering worship to God.
They will do this because they have not known either the Father or me.
I have told you this so that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you.”

Regina Coeli

Jn 15:26-27
#	Douay-Rheims	Vulgate
26	But when the Paraclete cometh, whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceedeth from the Father, he shall give testimony of me.	cum autem venerit paracletus quem ego mittam vobis a Patre Spiritum veritatis qui a Patre procedit ille testimonium perhibebit de me
27	And you shall give testimony, because you are with me from the beginning.	et vos testimonium perhibetis quia ab initio mecum estis

Jn 16:1-4
1	These things have I spoken to you things have I spoken to you that you may not be scandalized.	haec locutus sum vobis ut non scandalizemini
2	They will put you out of the synagogues: yea, the hour cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doth a service to God.	absque synagogis facient vos sed venit hora ut omnis qui interficit vos arbitretur obsequium se praestare Deo
3	And these things will they do to you; because they have not known the Father nor me.	et haec facient quia non noverunt Patrem neque me
4	But these things I have told you, that when the hour shall come, you may remember that I told you of them.	sed haec locutus sum vobis ut cum venerit hora eorum reminiscamini quia ego dixi vobis

26. But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceeds from the Father, he shall testify of me.
27. And you also shall bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.

CHRYS. The disciples might say, If they have heard words from Thee, such as none other has spoken, if they have seen works of Him, such as none other has done, and yet have not been convinced, but have hated your Father, and you with Him, why do you send us to preach? How shall we be believed? Such thoughts as these He now answers: But when the Comforter is come, Whom I will send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth which proceeds from the Father, he shall testify of Me.

AUG. As if He said, Seeing Me, they hated and killed Me; but the Comforter shall give such testimony concerning Me as shall make them believe, though they see Me not. And because He shall testify, you shall testify also:

And you also shall bear witness; He will inspire your hearts, and you shall proclaim with your voices. And you will preach what you know, Because you have been with Me from the beginning; which now you do not do, because you have not yet the fullness of the Spirit. But the love of God shall then be shed abroad in your hearts by the Spirit which shall be given you, and shall make you confident witnesses to Me. The Holy Spirit by His testimony made others testify, taking away fear from the friends of Christ's, and converting the hatred of His enemies into love.

DIDYMUS. The Holy Spirit He calls the Comforter, a name taken from His office, which is not only to relieve the sorrows of the faithful, but to fill them with unspeakable joy. Everlasting gladness is in those hearts, in which the Spirit dwells. The Spirit, the Comforter, is sent by the Son, not as Angels, or Prophets, or Apostles, are sent, but as the Spirit must be sent which is of one nature with the Divine wisdom and power that sends Him. The Son when sent by the Father, is not separated from Him, but abides in the Father, and the Father in Him. In the same way the Holy Spirit is not sent by the Son, and proceeds from the Father, in the sense of change of place. For as the Father's nature, being incorporeal, is not local, so neither has the Spirit of truth, Who is incorporeal also, and superior to all created things, a local nature.

CHRYS. He calls Him not the Holy Spirit, but the Spirit of truth, to show the perfect faith that was due to Him. He knew that He proceeds from the Father, for He knew all things; He knew where He Himself came from, as He says of Himself above, I know whence I came, and whither l go (John 8:14).

DIDYMUS. He does not say, from God, or, from the Almighty, but, from the Father, because though the Father and God Almighty are the same, yet the Spirit of truth properly proceeds from God, as the Father, the Begetter. The Father and the Son together send the Spirit of truth: He comes by the will both of the Father and the Son.

THEOPHYL. Elsewhere He says that the Father sends the Spirit; now He says He does: Whom I will send to you, thus declaring the equality of the Father and the Son. That He might not be thought however to be opposed to the Father, and to be another and rival source, as it were, of the Spirit, He adds, From the Father, i.e., the Father agreeing, and taking an equal part in sending Him. When it is said that He proceeds, do not understand His procession to be an external mission, such as is given to ministering spirits, but a certain peculiar, and distinct procession, such as is true of the Holy Spirit alone. To proceed is not the same as being sent, but is the essential nature of the Holy Ghost, as coming from the Father.

AUG. If it be asked here whether the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Son also, we may answer thus: The Son is the Son of the Father alone, and the Father is the Father of the Son only; but the Holy Spirit is not the Spirit of one, but of both; since Christ Himself said, The Spirit of your Father which speaks in you (Mat 10:20). And the Apostle says, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into your hearts (Gal 4:6). This indeed, I think, is the reason why He is called peculiarly the Spirit. For both of the Father and the Son separately we may pronounce, that each is a Spirit. But what each is separately in a general sense, He who is not either one separately, but the union of both, is spiritually. But if the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Son, why should we not believe that He proceeds from the Son? Indeed if He did not proceed from the Son, Christ would not after the resurrection have breathed on His disciples, and said, Receive you the Holy Ghost. This too is what is meant by the virtue which went out of Him, and healed all. If the Holy Ghost then proceeds both from the Father and the Son, why does Christ say, Who proceeds from the Father? He says it in accordance with His general way of referring all that He has to Him from whom He is; as where He says, My doctrine is not Mine, but His that sent Me. If the doctrine was His, which He says was not His own, but the Father's, much more does the Holy Spirit proceed from Him, consistently with His proceeding from the Father. From whom the Son has His Godhead, from Him He has it that the Holy Ghost proceeds from Him. And this explains why the Holy Ghost is not said to be born, but to proceed. For if He were born, He would be the Son of both Father and Son, an absurd supposition; for if two together have a Son, those two must be father and mother. But to imagine any such relation as this between God the Father, and God the Son, is monstrous. Even the human offspring does not proceed from father or mother at the same time; when it proceeds from the father, it does not proceed from the mother. Whereas the Holy Spirit does not proceed from the Father into the Son, and from the Son into the creature to be sanctified; but proceeds from Father and Son at once. And if the Father is life, and the Son is life, so the Holy Ghost is life also. Just then as the Father when He had life in Himself, gave also to the Son to have life in Himself; so He gave to the Son also that life should proceed from Him, even as it proceeded from Himself.

Catena Aurea John 15

1. These things have I spoken to you, that you should not be offended.
2. They shall put you out of the synagogues; yea, the time comes, that whosoever kills you will think that he does God service.
3. And these things will they do to you, because they have not known the Father, nor me.
4. But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, you may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not to you at the beginning, because I was with you.

AUG. After the promise of the Holy Spirit, to inspire them with strength to give witness; He well adds, These things have I spoken to you, that you should not be offended. For when the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given to us (Romans 5:5), then great peace have they that love God's law, and they are not offended at it (Psalms 118).

What they were about to suffer follows next: They shall put you out of the synagogues.

CHRYS. For the Jews had already agreed, if any confessed that He was Christ, that he should be put out of the synagogue.

AUG. Bu what evil was it to the Apostles to be put out of the Jewish synagogues, which they would have gone out of, even if none had put them out? Our Lord wished to make known to them, that the Jews were about not to receive Him, while they on the other hand were not going to desert Him. There was no other people of God beside the seed of Abraham; if they acknowledged Christ, the Churches of Christ would be none other than the synagogues of the Jews. But inasmuch as they refused to acknowledge Him, nothing remained but that they should put out of the synagogue those who would not forsake Christ.

He adds: But the time comes that whoever kills you will think that he does God service. Is this intended for a consolation, as if they would so take to heart their expulsion from the synagogues, that death would be a positive relief to them after it? God forbid that they who sought God's glory, not men's, should be so disturbed. The meaning of the words is this: They shall put you out of the synagogue, but do not be afraid of being left alone. Separated from their assemblies, you shall assemble so many in my name, that they, fearing that the temple and rites of the old law will be deserted, will kill you and think to do God service thereby, having a zeal for God but not according to knowledge.

These who kill are the same with those who put out of the synagogues, viz. the Jews. For Gentiles would not have thought that they were doing God service, by killing Christ's witnesses, but their own false gods; whereas every one of the Jews, who killed the preacher of Christ, thought he was doing God service, believing that whoever was converted to Christ, deserted the God of Israel.

CHRYS. Then He consoles them: And all these things will they do to you, because they have not known the Father nor Me. As if He said, Let this consolation content you.

AUG. And He mentions these things beforehand, because trials, however soon to pass away, when they come upon men unprepared for them, are very overwhelming: But these things have I told you, that when the hour shall come, you may remember that 1 told you of them: the hour, the hour of darkness, the hour of night. But the night of the Jews was not allowed to mix with or darken the day of the Christians.

CHRYS. And He predicted these trials for another reason, viz. that they might not say that He had not foreseen them; That you may remember that I told you of them, or that He had only spoken to please them, and given false hopes. And the reason is added why He did not reveal these things sooner: And these things I said not to you at the beginning, because I was with you; because, that is, you were in My keeping, and might ask when you pleased, and the whole battle rested upon Me. There was no need then to tell you these things at the first, though I myself knew them.

AUG. In the other three Evangelists these predictions occur before the supper; John gives them after. Still if they relate them as given very near His Passion, that is enough to explain His saying, These things I said not to you at the beginning. Matthew however relates these prophecies as given long before His Passion, on the occasion of His choosing the twelve. How do we reconcile this with our Lord's words? By supposing them to apply to the promise of the Holy Spirit, and the testimony He would give amidst their suffering. This was what He had not told them at the beginning, and that because He was with them, and His presence was a sufficient consolation. But as He was about to depart, it was meet that He should tell them of His coming, by whom the love of God would be shed abroad in their hearts, to preach the word of God with boldness.

CHRYS. Or, He had foretold that they should suffer scourgings, but not that their death could be thought doing God service; which was the strangest thing of all. Or, He there told them what they would suffer from the Gentiles, here what from the Jews.

Catena Aurea John 16

From: Acts 16:11-15

They Go Over Into Macedonia

[11] Setting sail therefore from Troas we made a direct voyage to Samothrace,
and the following day to Neapolis, [12] and from there to Philippi, which is the
leading city of the district of Macedonia, and a Roman colony.

The Conversion of Lydia

We remained in this city some days; [13] and on the Sabbath day we went out-
side the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and
we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together. [14] One who heard
us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods,
who was a worshipper of God. The Lord opened her heart to give heed to what was
said by Paul. [15] And when she was baptized, with her household, she besought
us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and
stay.” And she prevailed upon us.

*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:

12. Philippi was a prosperous city, founded by the father of Alexander the Great
(in the 4th century B.C.). Nearby, in 42 B.C., there took place the battle in which
those who assassinated Julius Caesar were defeated. Octavius raised Philippi to
the status of a “colonia” and endowed it with many privileges.

Very few Jews lived in the city, as can be seen from the fact that it had no
synagogue (for there to be a synagogue there had to be at least ten Jewish men
living in a place). The text refers only to a group of women who met on the river-
side to pray—a location probably chosen for the purpose of ritual purification.

14. Lydia was probably a surname taken from the region this woman came from.
She was not a Jew by birth but a “God-fearer” (cf. note on Acts 2:5-11). God
chose her from this group of women to enlighten her with the light of faith, opening
her heart to understand the words of the Apostle. Origen explains that “God opens
our mouth, our ears and our eyes to make us say, hear and see divine things” (”In
Ex. Hom.”, III, 2). This shows that we can and ought to address God using the
words of the Church’s liturgy: “Open my lips, Lord, to bless your holy name; clean
my heart from all evil thoughts; enlighten my understanding and inflame my will...
so that I merit to be admitted to Your presence” (”Liturgy of the Hours”, Introduc-
tory Prayer).

When Christians address God, they ask Him for the grace to pray well—not only
at times of prayer but also in the course of everyday activities: “Lord, be the
beginning and end of all that we do and say. Prompt our actions with Your grace,
and complete them with Your all-powerful help” (”ibid.”, Morning Prayer, Monday,
First Week).

This episode shows faith to be a gift from God, stemming from His goodness and
wisdom: for “no one can give his assent to the Gospel message in a truly salvific
way except it be by the light and inspiration of the Holy Spirit: He it is who gives
to all the power necessary for affirming and believing the truth” (Vatican I, “Dei
Filius”, Chapter 3).

15. St. Luke’s succinct account shows that Lydia’s good dispositions allow St.
Paul’s preaching to bear fruit very quickly. Her whole family receives Baptism
and she insists on the Apostles’ staying in her house. “Look at her wisdom,
how full of humility her words are: ‘If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord.’
Nothing could be more persuasive. Who would not have been softened by these
words. She did not simply request or entreat: she left them free to decide and yet
by her insistence obliged them to stay at her house. See how she straightaway
bears ruit and accounts her calling a great gain” (St. John Chrysostom, “Hom.
on Acts”, 35).

It is worth reflecting on the fact that Christianity began in Europe through a house-
wife’s response to God’s calling. Lydia set about her mission to Christianize the
whole world from within, starting with her own family. Commenting on the role of
women in the spread of Christianity, Monsignor Escriva says: “The main thing is
that like Mary, who was a woman, a virgin and a mother, they live with their eyes
on God repeating her words ‘fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum’ (Luke 1:38) ‘let it
be done to me according to your word’. On these words depends the faithfulness
to one’s personal vocation—which is always unique and non-transferable—which
will make us all cooperators in the work of salvation which God carries out in us
and in the entire world” (”Conversations”, 112).

*********************************************************************************************
Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

From: John 15:26-16:4a

A Hostile World (Continuation)

(Jesus said to His disciples,) [26] “But when the Counsellor comes, whom I shall
send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father,
He will bear witness to Me; [27] and you also are witnesses, because you have
been with Me from the beginning.

The Action of the Holy Spirit

[1] “I have said all this to you to keep you from falling away. [2] They will put you
out of the synagogues; indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will
think he is offering service to God. [3] And they will do this because they have not
known the Father, nor Me. [4a] But I have said these things to you, that when their
hour comes you may remember that I told you of them.”

*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:

26-27. Just before the Ascension our Lord will again charge the Apostles with the
mission to bear witness to Him (cf. Acts 1:8). They have been witnesses to the
public ministry, death and resurrection of Christ, which is a condition for belonging
to the Apostolic College, as we see when Matthias is elected to take the place of
Judas (cf. Acts 1:21-22). But the public preaching of the Twelve and the life of the
Church will not start until the Holy Spirit comes.

Every Christian should be living witness to Jesus, and the Church as a whole is a
permanent testimony to Him: “The mission of the Church is carried out by means
of that activity through which, in obedience to Christ’s command and moved by the
grace and love of the Holy Spirit, the Church makes itself fully present to all men
and peoples in order to lead them to the faith, freedom and peace of Christ by the
example of its life and preaching, by the sacraments and other means of grace”
(Vatican II, “Ad Gentes”, 5).

2-3. Fanaticism can even bring a person to think that it is permissible to commit
a crime in order to serve the cause of religion—as happened with those Jews who
persecuted Jesus to the point of bringing about His death, and who later
persecuted the Church. Paul of Tarsus was a typical example of misguided zeal
(cf. Acts 22:3-16); but once Paul realized he was wrong he changed and became
one of Christ’s most fervent apostles. As Jesus predicted, the Church has often
experienced this sort of fanatical, diabolical hatred. At other times this false zeal,
though not so obvious, takes the form of systematic and unjust opposition to the
things of God. “In the moments of struggle and opposition, when perhaps `the
good’ fill your way with obstacles, lift up your apostolic heart: listen to Jesus as
He speaks of the grain of mustard seed and of the leaven. And say to Him:
`edissere nobis parabolam’: explain the parable to me.’

“And you will feel the joy of contemplating the victory to come: the birds of the air
lodging in the branches of your apostolate, now only in its beginnings, and the
whole of the meal leavened” (St. J. Escriva, “The Way”, 695).

In these cases, as our Lord also pointed out, those who persecute God’s true
servants think they are serving Him: they confuse God’s interest with a deformed
idea of religion.

4. Here Jesus prophesies not only His own death (cf. Matthew 16:21-23) but also
the persecution His disciples will suffer. He forewarns them of the contradictions
they will experience so that they will not be scandalized or depressed when they
do arise; in fact, difficulties will give them an opportunity to demonstrate their faith.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

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Regina Coeli

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