From: Acts 14:19-28
Paul Is Stoned
The Return Journey to Antioch
[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.
From: John 14:27-31a
The Promise of the Holy Spirit (Continuation)
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Commentary:
27. Wishing a person peace was, and still is, the usual form of greeting among
Jews and Arabs. It is the greeting Jesus used, and which the Apostles continued
to use, as we can see from their letters (cf. 1 Peter 1:3; 3 John 15; Romans 1:7;
etc.). The Church still uses it in the liturgy: for example, before Communion the
celebrant wishes those present peace, a condition for worthily sharing in the ho-
ly sacrifice (cf. Matthew 5:23) and also a fruit of that sacrifice.
On our Lord’s lips this common greeting acquires its deepest meaning; peace is
one of the great messianic gifts (cf. Isaiah 9:7; 48:18; Micah 5:5; Matthew 10:22;
Luke 2:14; 19:38). The peace which Jesus gives us completely transcends the
peace of the world, which can be superficial and misleading and compatible with
injustice. The peace of Christ is, above all, reconciliation with God and reconci-
liation of men with one another; it is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit (cf. Gala-
tians 5:22-23); it is “serenity of mind, tranquility of soul, simplicity of heart, a
bond of love, a union of charity: no one can inherit God if he does not keep His
testament of peace, or live in unity with Christ if he is separated from Christiani-
ty” (St. Augustine, “De Verbis Domini Serm.”, 58).
“Christ ‘is our peace’ (Ephesians 2:14). And today and forever He repeats to us:
‘My peace I give to you, My peace I leave with you’. [...] Never before in the histo-
ry of mankind has peace been so much talked about and so ardently desired as
in our day. [...] And yet again and again, one can see how peace is undermined
and destroyed. [...] Peace is the result of many converging attitudes and reali-
ties; it is the product of moral concerns, of ethical principles based on the Gos-
pel message and fortified by it. [...] In his message for the 1971 Day of Peace,
my revered predecessor, that pilgrim of peace, Paul VI, said: “True peace must
be founded upon justice, upon a sense of the untouchable dignity of man, upon
the recognition of an indelible and happy equality between men, upon the basic
principle of human brotherhood, that is, of the respect and true love due to each
man, because he is man’. This same message I affirmed in Mexico and in Po-
land. I reaffirm it here in Ireland. Every human being has inalienable rights that
must be respected. Each human community — ethnic, historical, cultural or re-
ligious — has rights which must be respected. Peace is threatened every time
one of these rights is violated. The moral law, guardian of human rights, protec-
tor of the dignity of man, cannot be set aside by any person or group, or by the
State itself, for any cause, not even for security or in the interests of law and or-
der. The law of God stands in judgment over all reasons of State. As long as in-
justices exist in any of the areas that touch upon the dignity of the human per-
son, be it in the political, social or economic field, be it in the cultural or reli-
gious sphere, true peace will not exist. [...]
“Peace cannot be established by violence, peace can never flourish in a climate
of terror, intimidation and death. It is Jesus Himself who said: ‘All who take the
sword will perish by the sword’ (Matthew 26:52). This is the word of God, and it
commands this generation of violent men to desist from hatred and violence and
to repent” (Bl. John Paul II, “Homily at Drogheda”, 29 September 1979). The
peace and joy which Christ brings us should be typical of believers: “Get rid of
those scruples that deprive you of peace. What takes away your peace of soul
cannot come from God. “When God comes to you, you will feel the truth of those
greetings: My peace I give to you. . . , my peace I leave you . . . , my peace be
with you. . . , and you will feel it even in the midst of troubles.” (St. J. Escriva,
“The Way”, 258).
28. Jesus Christ, as Only-begotten Son of God, possesses divine glory for all
eternity; but while He is on earth this glory is veiled and hidden behind His holy
human nature (cf. 17:5; Philippians 2:7). It only shows itself on a few occasions,
such as when He performs miracles (cf. 2:11) or at the Transfiguration (cf. Mat-
thew 17:1-8 and paragraph). Now, through His death, resurrection and ascension
into Heaven Jesus will be glorified—in His body also—as He returns to the Father
and enters into His glory. Therefore, His departure from this world should be a
source of joy for His disciples; but they do not properly understand what He is
saying, and they are saddened because they are more aware of the Master
being physically separated from them than the glory which awaits Him.
When Jesus says that the Father is greater than He, He is thinking about His hu-
man nature; as man Jesus is going to be glorified, ascending as He does to the
right hand of the Father. Jesus Christ “is equal to the Father in His dignity, less
than the Father in His humanity” (”Athanasian Creed”). St. Augustine exhorts us
to “acknowledge the twofold nature of Christ — the divine, by which He is equal to
the Father; the human, by which He is less than the Father. But the one and the
other are together not two, but one Christ’ (”In Ioann. Evang.”, 78, 3). However, al-
though the Father and the Son are equal in nature, eternity and dignity, our Lord’s
words can also be understood by taking “greater” to refer to His origin: only the
Father is “beginning without beginning”, whereas the Son proceeds eternally from
the Father by way of a generation which is also eternal. Jesus Christ is God from
God, Light from Light, True God from True God (cf. Nicene Creed).
30. Clearly the world is good, for it has been created by God, and God loved it so
much that He sent His Only-begotten Son (cf. John 3:16). However, in this pas-
sage “world” means all those who reject Christ; and “the ruler of the world” is the
devil (cf. John 1:10; 7:7; 15:18-19). The devil opposed the work of Jesus right from
the start of His public life when he tempted Him in the desert (cf. Matthew 4:1-11
and paragraph). Now, in the passion, he will apparently overcome Christ. This is
the hour of the power of darkness when, availing of Judas’ treachery (cf. Luke 22:
53; John 13:27), the devil manages to have our Lord arrested and crucified.
*********************************************************************************************
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.