From: Acts 11:19-26; 13:1-3
The Beginning of the Church in Antioch (Continuation)
[21] A great number that believed turned to the Lord. [22] News of this
came to the ears of the Church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to
Antioch. [23] When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad; and he
exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose;
[24] for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a
large company was added to the Lord. [25] So Barnabas went to Tarsus to
look for Saul; [26] and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch.
For a whole year they met with the Church, and taught a large company of
people and in Antioch the disciples were for the first time called Christians.
The Mission of Barnabas and Paul
[1] Now in the Church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers,
Barnabas, Symeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen, a
member of the court of Herod the Tetrarch, and Saul. [2] While they
were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart
for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them."
[3] Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and
sent them off.
Commentary:
19-30. This account links up with Acts 8:1-4, which describes the
flight of Christians from Jerusalem due to the first persecution
following on the martyrdom of St. Stephen. We are now told about the
spread of the Gospel to Antioch on the Orontes, the capital of the
Roman province of Syria. Antioch was the first major city of the
ancient world where the word of Jesus Christ was preached. It was the
third city of the empire, after Rome and Alexandria, with a population
of about half a million and a sizeable Jewish colony, and was a very
important cultural, economic and religious center.
In Antioch the Gospel is proclaimed not only to Jews and proselytes.
These Hellenist Jews from Jerusalem preached the Gospel to all and
sundry as part of their ordinary everyday activity. St. Luke does not
give us any names: the preachers are ordinary Christians. "Notice",
says Chrysostom, "that it is grace which does everything. And also
reflect on the fact that this work is begun by unknown workers and only
when it begins to prosper do the Apostles send Barnabas" ("Hom. on
Acts", 25).
The Christian mission at Antioch played a key part in the spread of
Christianity. Evangelization of non-Jews becomes the norm; it is not
just something which happens in a few isolated cases. Nor is it
limited to "God-fearers"; it extends to all the Gentiles. The center
of gravity of the Christian Church begins to move from Jerusalem to
Antioch, which will become the springboard for the evangelization of
the pagan world.
22-26. The community at Jerusalem, where the Apostles were based, felt
responsible for everything that happened in the Christian mission-field.
This was why they sent Barnabas to oversee developments in Antioch.
Barnabas was a man whom the Apostles trusted, noted for his virtue (he was
mentioned in Acts 4:36).
No doubt it was because of all the work opening before the preacher of
the Gospel that Barnabas sought out Paul, who had returned to Tarsus
after his conversion and his visit to Jerusalem (9:30). Barnabas
probably knew that the future Apostle was the very man he needed to
join him in the work of evangelization about to be undertaken by the
Antiochene Church. Barnabas' sense of responsibility and his zeal to
find laborers for the Lord's harvest (cf. Matthew 9:38) lead to the
first of the great missionary journeys, in which Paul's vocation find
full scope.
26. We do not exactly know who first began to describe the disciples as
"Christians". In any event the fact that they were given a name
shows that everyone recognized them as an identifiable group. The name
also suggests that the term "Christos"--Messiah, Anointed--is no longer
regarded simply as a messianic title but also as a proper name.
Some Fathers of the Church see this name as further indication that
people do not become disciples of the Lord through human causes.
"Although the holy Apostles were our teachers and have given us the
Gospel of the Savior, it is not from them that we have taken our name:
we are "Christians" through Christ and it is for Him that we are called
in this way" (St. Athanasius, "Oratio I Contra Arianos", 2).
1. From this point onwards Luke's account centers on the Church of
Antioch. This was a flourishing community, with members drawn from all
sectors of society. In some respects its organization structure was
like that of the Jerusalem Church; in others, not. It clearly had
ordained ministers who were responsible for its government, who
preached and administered the Sacraments; along these we find prophets
(cf. 11:28) and teachers, specially trained members of the community.
In the early Church "teachers" were disciples well versed in Sacred
Scripture who were given charge of catechesis. They instructed the
catechumens and other Christians in the basic teaching of the Gospel as
passed on by the Apostles, and some of them had a capacity for
acquiring and communicating to others an extensive and profound
knowledge of the faith.
Teachers do not necessarily have to be priests or preachers. Preaching
was usually reserved to ordained ministers; teachers had an important
position in the Church: they were responsible for on-going doctrinal
and moral education and were expected faithfully to hand on the same
teaching as they themselves had received. A virtuous life and due
learning would have protected them against any temptation to invent new
teachings or go in for mere speculation not based on the Gospel (cf. 1
Timothy 4:7; 6:20; Titus 2:1).
The "Letter to Diognetus" describes the ideal Christian teacher: "I do
not speak of passing things nor do I go in search of new things, but,
like the disciple of the Apostles that I am, I become a teacher of
peoples. I do nothing but hand on what was given me by those who made
themselves worthy disciples of the truth" (XI, 1).
2-3. "Worship" of the Lord includes prayer, but it refers primarily to
the celebration of the Blessed Eucharist, which is at the center of all
Christian ritual. This text indirectly establishes a parallel between
the Mass and the sacrificial rite of the Mosaic Law. The Eucharist
provides a Christian with the nourishment he needs, and its celebration
"causes the Church of God to be built up and grow in stature" (Vatican
II, "Unitatis Redintegratio", 15). Significantly, the Eucharist is
associated with the start of this new stage in the expansion of the
Church.
Paul and Barnabas receive a missionary task directly from the Holy
Spirit, and by an external sign--the laying on of hands--the Antiochene
community prays to God to go with them and bless them. In His
promotion of the spread of the Church the Holy Spirit does not act at a
distance, so to speak. Every step in the progress of the Church in the
world is rightly attributed to the initiative of the Paraclete. It is
as if God were repeatedly ratifying His salvific plans to make it
perfectly plain that He is ever-faithful to His promises. "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
people" (Vatican II, "Ad Gentes", 5).
The dispatch of Paul and Barnabas is inspired by the Holy Spirit, but
it is also an ecclesial act: the Church gives them this charge,
specifying God's plans and activating the personal vocation of the two
envoys.
The Lord, "who had set me apart before I was born and had called me by
his grace [sent me] in order that I might preach Him among the
Gentiles" (Galatians 1:15-16), now arranges, through the Church, for
this mission to begin.
Fasting and prayer are the best preparation for the spiritual enterprise on
which Paul and Barnabas are about to embark. "First, prayer; then,
atonement; in the third place, very much 'in the third place', action" ([St]
J. Escriva, "The Way", 82). They know very well that their mission is not
man-made and that it will produce results only with God's help. The prayer
and penance which accompany apostolate are not just aimed at obtaining
graces from God for others: the purpose of this prayer and fasting is to
purify hearts and lips, so that the Lord will be at their side and ensure
that none of their words "fall to the ground" (1 Samuel 3:19).
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.
From: Matthew 5:33-37
Jesus and His Teaching, the Fulfillment of the Law (Continuation)
(Jesus said to His disciples,) [33] "Again you have heard that it was
said to the men of old, `You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform
to the Lord what you have sworn.' [34] But I say to you, Do not swear
at all, either by Heaven, for it is the throne of God, [35] or by the
earth, for it is His footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of
the great King. [36] And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make
one hair white or black. [37] Let what you say be simply, `Yes' or
`No'; anything more than this comes from evil."
Commentary:
33-37. The Law of Moses absolutely prohibited perjury or violation of
oaths (Exodus 20:7; Numbers 30:3; Deuteronomy 23:22). In Christ's
time, the making of sworn statements was so frequent and the casuistry
surrounding them so intricate that the practice was being grossly
abused. Some rabbinical documents of the time show that oaths were
taken for quite unimportant reasons. Parallel to this abuse of
oath-taking there arose no less ridiculous abuses to justify
non-fulfillment of oaths. All this meant great disrespect for the name
of God. However, we do know from Sacred Scripture that oath-taking is
lawful and good in certain circumstances: "If you swear, `As the Lord
lives', in truth, in justice, and in uprightness, then nations shall
bless themselves in Him, and in Him shall they glory (Jeremiah 4:2).
Jesus here lays down the criterion which His disciples must apply in
this connection. It is based on re-establishing, among married people,
mutual trust, nobility and sincerity. The devil is "the father of
lies" (John 8:44). Therefore, Christ's Church must teach that human
relationships cannot be based on deceit and insincerity. God is truth,
and the children of the Kingdom must, therefore, base mutual
relationships on truth. Jesus concludes by praising sincerity.
Throughout His teaching He identifies hypocrisy as one of the main
vices to be combatted (cf., e.g., Matthew 23:13-32), and sincerity as
one of the finest virtues (cf. John 1:47).
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.
It is to his lasting credit that he befriended the neo-convert Paul and introduced him to the apostles when everyone was still distrusting the former persecutor. More noteworthy still was his service to the universal Church by being the first to recognize Paul's potential for the cause of Christ; it was Barnabas who brought him from Tarsus to teach at Antioch. The first missionary journey (about 45-48 A.D.) the two made together, and Barnabas seems to have been the leader, at least at the beginning (Acts 13-14). Barnabas' appearance must have been dignified and impressive, otherwise the inhabitants of Lystra would not have regarded him as Jupiter. 
