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From: Acts 14:19-28

Paul Is Stoned

[19] But Jews came there from Antioch and Iconium; and having persuaded the
people, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was
dead. [20] But when the disciples gathered about him, he rose up and entered
the city; and on the next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe.

The Return Journey to Antioch

[21] When they had preached the Gospel to that city and had made many disci-
ples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, [22] strengthening
the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith and saying that
through many tribulations we must enter the Kingdom of God. [23] And when
they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting, they
committed them to the Lord in whom they believed.

[24] Then they passed through Pisidia, and came to Pamphylia. [25] And when
they had spoken the Word in Perga, they went down to Attalia; [26] and from
there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of
God for the work which they had fulfilled. [27] And when they arrived, they ga-
thered the Church together and declared all that God had done with them, and
how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. [28] And they remained no
little time with the disciples.

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Commentary:

19. Paul mentions this stoning in his Second Letter to the Corinthians. “Five
times I have received at the hands of the Jews forty lashes less one. Three
times I have been beaten with rods; once I was stoned” (11:24f).

20-22. “If you accept difficulties with a faint heart you lose joy and your peace,
and you run the risk of not deriving spiritual profit from the trial” (St. J. Escriva,
“The Way”, 696).

St. Paul is not cowed by persecution and physical suffering. He knows that this
crisis is the prelude to abundant spiritual fruit, and in fact many people in this
region do embrace the Gospel.

Even though St. Luke records the progress and success of the Word of God, he
also shows that its preachers certainly encounter the cross (cf. 13:14, 50). The
Gospel meets with acceptance everywhere—and also with opposition. “Where
there are many laurels”, St. Ambrose says, “there is fierce combat. It is good
for you to have persecutors: that way you attain more rapid success in your en-
terprises” (”Expositio in Ps 118”, 20, 43).

The Apostles have no difficulty in pointing to events to show the disciples that
suffering and difficulties form part of Christian living.

“Cross, toil, anguish: such will be your lot as long as you live. That was the way
Christ went, and the disciple is not above his master” (St. J. Escriva, “The Way”,
699). “Each of us has at some time or other experienced that serving Christ our
Lord involves suffering and hardship; to deny this would imply that we had not yet
found God [...]. Far from discouraging us, the difficulties we meet have to spur us
on to mature as Christians. This fight sanctifies us and gives effectiveness to our
apostolic endeavors” (St. J. Escriva, “Friends of God”, 28 and 216).

23. The appointment of elders in each church means that Christians were inves-
ted with a ministry of government and religious worship, by a liturgical rite of ordi-
nation. These have a share in the hierarchical and priestly ministry of the Apos-
tles, from whom their own ministry derives.

“The ministry of priests [...]”, Vatican II teaches, “shares in the authority by
which Christ Himself builds up and sanctifies and rules His Body” (”Presbytero-
rum Ordinis”, 2). The ministerial office of priests is essential to the life of every
Christian community, which draws its strength from the Word of God and the
Sacraments. Their priesthood, derived from our Lord, is essentially different from
what is called the “priesthood common to all the faithful”.

A man becomes a priest of the New Testament through a special calling from
God. “Our vocation,” Bl. John Paul II told a huge gathering of priests in Philadel-
phia, “is a gift from the Lord Jesus Himself. It is a personal, individual calling: we
have been called by our name, just as Jeremiah was” (”Homily at the Civic Cen-
ter”, 4 October 1979).

The priestly life is a sublime vocation which cannot be delegated or transferred
to anyone else. It is a lifelong vocation and means that one has to give himself
entirely to God—and this he can do, with the help of grace, because “we do not
claim back our gift once given. It cannot be that God, who gave us the impulse
to Yes, should now desire to hear us say No....

“It should not surprise the world that God’s calling through the Church should con-
tinue, offering us a celibate ministry of love and service according to our Lord Je-
sus Christ’s example. This calling from God touched the very depths of our being.
And after centuries of experience the Church knows how appropriate it is that
priests should respond in this specific way in their lives, to demonstrate the tota-
lity of the Yes they have said to our Lord” (”Ibid.”).

“Since He wishes that no one be saved who has not first believed (cf. Mark 16:
16), priests, like the co-workers of the bishops that they are, have as their first
duty to proclaim to all men the Gospel of God” (Vatican II, “Presbyterorum Ordi-
nis”, 4). To carry out this mission well, a priest needs to be in contact with our
Lord all the time — “a personal, living encounter — with eyes wide open and a
heart beating fast — with the risen Christ” (Bl. John Paul II, “Homily in Santo Do-
mingo Cathedral”, 26 January 1979).

Reminding priests of their special duty to be witnesses to God in the modern
world, Bl. John Paul invites them not only to bear in mind the Christian people,
from whom they come and whom they must serve, but also people at large; they
should not hide the fact that they are priests: “Do not help the trends towards ‘ta-
king God off the streets’ by yourselves adopting secular modes of dress and be-
havior” (”Address at Maynooth University”, 1 October 1979).

24-26. Paul and Barnabas return to Syrian Antioch, taking in the cities they have
visited—in reverse order: Derbe, Lystra, Iconium, Pisidian Antioch and Perga. At
the port of Attalia they take ship for Syria and arrive shortly afterwards in Antioch.
Their journey, which began around the year 45, has taken four years.

Despite the animosity and persecution they experienced in these cities, the two
missionaries do not avoid returning. They want to complete arrangements for the
government of the new churches and to consolidate the faith of the disciples. The
possible risks involved do not cause them any concern.

“Whosoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for My sake
and the Gospel’s will save it” (Mark 8:35). “These are mysterious and paradoxical
words,” Bl. John Paul writes. “But they cease to be mysterious if we strive to put
them into practice. Then the paradox disappears and we can plainly see the deep
simplicity of their meaning. To all of us this grace is granted in our priestly life
and in our zealous service” (”Letter to All Priests”, 8 April 1979, 5).

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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.