From: Acts 20:17-27
Speech of farewell to the elders of Ephesus
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Commentary:
18-35. Paul’s address to the elders of Ephesus is his third great discourse related
in Acts (the others being his address to Jews in Pisidian Antioch—13:16ff—and to
pagans at Athens—17:22ff). It is, as it were, an emotional farewell to the churches
which he had founded.
The address divides into two parts. The first (vv. 18-27) is a brief resume of Paul’s
life of dedication to the church of Ephesus, which he founded and directed, with
hints of the difficulties which he expects to meet in the immediate future. Two
parallel sections (vv. 18-21 and 26-27) frame the central passages of this section
(vv. 22-25).
In the second section the Apostle speaks movingly about the mission and role of
elders. Two series of recommendations (vv. 28-31 and 33-35) hinge on the central
verse (v. 32).
The pathos, vigor and spiritual depth of the discourse clearly show that it is Paul
who is speaking. Here we have the Paul of the letters addressing a community
which has already been evangelized, and inviting them to get to know their faith
better and practise it better.
18-20. Paul is not embarrassed to set himself as an example of how to serve
God and the disciples in the cause of the Gospel (cf. 1 Cor 11:1). He has worked
diligently, steadily, out of love for Jesus Christ and the brethren, doing his duty,
conscious that this kind of patient, persevering work is the way of perfection and
holiness that God expects him to follow.
The Apostle has learned to imitate Christ both in his public life and in the long
years of his hidden life, ever deepening in his love. In this connection, St Francis
de Sales writes: “Those are spiritually greedy who never have enough of exerci-
ses of devotion, so keen are they, they say, to attain perfection; as if perfection
consisted in the amount of things we do and not in the perfection with which we
do them. [...] God has not made perfection to lie in the number of acts we do to
please him, but in the way in which we do them: that way is to do the little we
have to do according to our calling, that is, to do it in love, through love and for
love” (”Sermon on the first Sunday of Lent”).
St Catherine of Siena understood our Lord to say to her something along the
same lines: “I reward every good which is done, great or small, according to the
measure of the love of him who receives the reward” (”Dialogue”, chap. 68).
As in his letters, Paul associates the idea of service with humility (cf. 2 Cor 10:1;
1 Thess 2:6), tears (cf. Rom 9:2; Phil 3:18) and fortitude to keep on working des-
pite persecution (cf. 2 Cor 11:24; 1 Thess 2:14-16). The Apostle’s true treasure is
humility, for it allows him to discover his shortcomings and at the same time tea-
ches him to rely on God’s strength. As St Teresa says, “The truly humble person
will have a genuine desire to be thought little of, and condemned unjustly, even in
serious matters. For, if she desires to imitate the Lord, how can she do so better
than in this? And no bodily strength is necessary here, nor the aid of anyone but
God “ (”Way of Perfection”, 15, 2).
21. This very brief summary of Paul’s preaching to Jews and pagans mentions re-
pentance and faith as inseparable elements in the new life Jesus confers on Chris-
tians. “It is good to know”, Origen writes, “that we will be judged at the divine judg-
ment seat not on our faith alone, as if we had not to answer for our conduct; nor
on our conduct alone, as if our faith were not to be scrutinized. What justifies is
our uprightness on both scores, and if we are short on either we shall deserve
punishment” (”Dialogue with Heraclides”, 8).
The presence of grace and faith in the soul equips it to fight the Christian fight,
which ultimately leads to rooting out sins and defects. “From the very day faith
enters your soul,” Origen also says, “battle must be joined between virtues and
vices. Prior to the onslaught of the Word, vices were at peace within you, but
from the moment the Word begins to judge them one by one, a great turmoil ari-
ses and a merciless war begins. ‘For what partnership have righteousness and
iniquity?’ (2 Cor 6:14)” (”In Ex Hom.”, III, 3).
22. The Apostle is convinced that God is guiding his steps and watching over him
like a father; but he is also unsure about what lies ahead: this uncertainty about
the future is part of the human condition. “Grace does not work on its own. It re-
spects men in the actions they take, it influences them, it awakens and does not
entirely dispel their restlessness” (Chrysostom, “Hom. on Acts”, 37).
“The true minister of Christ is conscious of his own weakness and labors in humi-
lity. He searches to see what is well-pleasing to God (cf. Eph 5:10) and, bound
as it were in the Spirit (cf. Acts 20:22), he is guided in all things by the will of him
who wishes all men to be saved He is able to discover and carry out that will in
the course of his daily routine” (Vatican II, “Presbyterorum Ordinis”, 15).
23. “No man, whether he be a Christian or not, has an easy life. To be sure, at
certain times it seems as though everything goes as we planned. But this gene-
rally lasts for only a short time. Life is a matter of facing up to difficulties and of
experiencing in our hearts both joy and sorrow. It is in this forge that a person
can acquire fortitude, patience, magnanimity and composure [...].
“Naturally, the difficulties we meet in our daily lives will not be as great or as nu-
merous as St Paul encountered. We will, however, discover our own meanness
and selfishness, the sting of sensuality, the useless, ridiculous smack of pride,
and many other failings besides: so very many weaknesses. But are we to give
in to discouragement? Not at all. Together with St Paul, let us tell our Lord, ‘For
the sake of Christ, I am content with weakness, insults, hardships, persecutions
and calamities; for when I am weak, then I am strong’ (2 Cor 12:10)” (St. J. Es-
criva, “Friends of God”, 17, 212).
24. Paul has come to love Jesus Christ so much that he gives himself no impor-
tance: he sees his life as having no meaning other than that of doing what God
wants him to do (cf. 2 Cor 4:7; Phil 1:19-26; Col 1:24). He sees holiness as a
constant, uninterrupted striving towards his encounter with the Lord; and all the
great Fathers of the Church have followed him in this: “On the subject of virtue,”
St Gregory of Nyssa, for example, writes, “we have learned from the Apostle him-
self that the only limit to perfection of virtue is that there is no limit. This fine, no-
ble man, this divine Apostle, never ceases, when running on the course of virtue,
to ‘strain forward to what lies ahead’ (Phil 3:13). He realizes it is dangerous to
stop. Why? Because all good, by its very nature, is unlimited: its only limit is
where it meets its opposite: thus, the limit of life is death, of light darkness, and
in general of every good its opposite. Just as the end of life is the beginning of
death, so too if one ceases to follow the path of virtue one is beginning to follow
the path of vice” (”On the Life of Moses”, I, 5).
26. “He considers himself innocent of the blood of the disciples because he has
not neglected to point out to them their defects” (St Bede, “Super Act Expositio,
ad loc.”). Paul not only preached the Gospel to them and educated them in the
faith: he also corrected their faults, putting into practice the advice he gave to the
Galatians: “if any man trespass, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spi-
rit of gentleness. Look to yourself, lest you too be tempted” (Gal 6:1). “A disciple
of Christ will never treat anyone badly. Error he will call error, but the person in
error he will correct with kindness. Otherwise he will not be able to help him, to
sanctify him” (St. J. Escriva, “Friends of God”, 9).
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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 17:1-11a
The Priestly Prayer of Jesus
[6] “I have manifested Thy name to the men who Thou gavest Me out of the world;
Thine they were, and Thou gavest them to Me, and they have kept Thy word. [7]
Now they know that everything Thou hast given Me is from Thee; [8] for I have gi-
ven them the words which Thou gavest Me, and they have received them and
know in truth that I came from Thee; and they have believed that thou didst send
Me. [9] I am praying for them; I am not praying for the world but for those whom
Thou hast given Me, for they are Thine; [10] all Mine are Thine, and Thine are
Mine, and I am glorified in them. [11a] And now I am no more in the world, but
they are in the world, and I am coming to Thee.”
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Commentary:
1-26. At the end of the discourse of the Last Supper (Chapters 13-16) begins
what is called the Priestly Prayer of Jesus, which takes up all of Chapter 17. It
is given that name because Jesus addresses His Father in a very moving dia-
logue in which, as Priest, He offers Him the imminent sacrifice of His passion
and death. It shows us the essential elements of His redemptive mission and
provides us with teaching and a model for our own prayer. “The Lord, the Only-
begotten and co-eternal with the Father, could have prayed in silence if neces-
sary, but He desired to show Himself to the Father in the attitude of a suppli-
cant because He is our Teacher. [...] Accordingly this prayer for His disciples
was useful not only to those who heard it, but to all who would read it” (St.
Augustine, “In Ioann. Evang.”, 104, 2).
The Priestly Prayer consists of three parts: in the first (verses 1-5) Jesus asks
for the glorification of His holy human nature and the acceptance, by His Father,
of His sacrifice on the cross. In the second part (verses 6-19) He prays for His
disciples, whom He is going to send out into the world to proclaim the redemp-
tion which He is now about to accomplish. And then (verses 20-26) He prays
for unity among all those who will believe in Him over the course of the centu-
ries until they achieve full union with Him in Heaven.
1-5. The word “glory” here refers to the splendor, power and honor which ‘belong
to God’. The Son is God equal to the Father, and from the time of His Incarnation
and birth and especially through His death and resurrection His divinity has been
made manifest. “We have beheld His glory, glory as the only Son from the Father”
(John 1:14). The glorification of Jesus has three dimensions to it. 1) It promotes
the glory of the Father, because Christ, in obedience to God’s redemptive decree
(cf. Philippians 2:6), makes the Father known and so brings God’s saving work to
completion. 2) Christ is glorified because His divinity, which He has voluntarily dis-
guised, will eventually be manifested through His human nature which will be seen
after the Resurrection invested with the very authority of God Himself over all crea-
tion (verses 2, 5). 3) Christ, through His glorification, gives man the opportunity to
attain eternal life, to know God the Father and Jesus Christ, His only Son: this in
turn redounds to the glorification of the Father and of Jesus Christ while also invol-
ving man’s participation in divine glory (verse 3).
“The Son glorifies You, making You known to all those You have given Him. Fur-
thermore, if the knowledge of God is life eternal, we the more tend to life, the
more we advance in this knowledge. [...] There shall the praise of God be without
end, where there shall be full knowledge of God; and because in Heaven this know-
ledge shall be full, there shall glorifying be of the highest” (St. Augustine, “In Ioann.
Evang.”, 105, 3).
6-8. Our Lord has prayed for Himself; now He prays for His Apostles, who will con-
tinue His redemptive work in the world. In praying for them, Jesus describes some
of the prerogatives of those who will form part of the Apostolic College.
First, there is the prerogative of being chosen by God: “Thine they were...”. God
the Father chose them from all eternity (cf. Ephesians 1:3-4) and in due course
Jesus revealed this to them: “The Lord Jesus, having prayed at length to the Fa-
ther, called to Himself those whom He willed and appointed twelve to be with Him,
whom He might send to preach the Kingdom of God (cf. Mark 3:13-19; Matthew
10:1-42). These apostles (cf. Luke 6:13) He constituted in the form of a college or
permanent assembly, at the head of which He placed Peter, chosen from among
them (cf. John 21:15-17)” (Vatican II, “Lumen Gentium”, 19). Also, the Apostles
enjoy the privilege of hearing God’s teaching direct from Jesus. From this teaching,
which they accept with docility, they learn that Jesus came from the Father and
that therefore He is God’s envoy (verse 8): that is, they are given to know the rela-
tionships that exist between the Father and the Son.
The Christian, who also is a disciple of Jesus, gradually acquires knowledge of
God and of divine things through living a life of faith and maintaining a personal
relationship with Jesus Christ.
“Recalling this human refinement of Christ, who spent His life in the service of
others, we are doing much more than describing a pattern of human behavior; we
are discovering God. Everything Christ did has a transcendental value. It shows
us the nature of God and beckons us to believe in the love of God who created us
and wants us to share His intimate life” (St. J. Escriva, “Christ Is Passing By”,
109).
11-19. Jesus now asks the Father to give His disciple four things—unity, perseve-
rance, joy and holiness. By praying Him to keep them in His name (verse 11) He
is asking for their perseverance in the teaching He has given them (cf. verse 6)
and in communion with Him. An immediate consequence of this perseverance is
unity: “that they may be one, even as We are one”; this unity which He asks for
His disciples is a reflection of the unity of the Three Divine Persons.
He also prays that none of them should be lost, that the Father should guard and
protect them, just as He Himself protected them while He was with them. Thirdly,
as a result of their union with God and perseverance they will share in the joy of
Christ (verse 13): in this life, the more we know God and the more closely we are
joined to Him, the happier will we be; in eternal life our joy will be complete, be-
cause our knowledge and love of God will have reached its climax.
Finally, He prays for those who, though living in the world, are not of the world,
that they may be truly holy and carry out the mission He has entrusted to them,
just as He did the work His Father gave Him to do.
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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.