Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (To the Greater Glory of God)
From: Acts 14:19-28
Paul Is Stoned
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[19] 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
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[21] When they had preached the Gospel to that city and had made many disciples, 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 gathered 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 enterprises" ("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 invested with a ministry of government and religious worship, by a liturgical rite of ordination. These have a share in the hierarchical and priestly ministry of the Apostles, 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" ("Presbyterorum 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," Pope John Paul II told a huge gathering of priests in Philadelphia, "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 Center", 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 continue, offering us a celibate ministry of love and service according to our Lord Jesus 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 totality 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 Ordinis", 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" (Pope John Paul II, "Homily in Santo Domingo Catedral", 26 January 1979).
Reminding priests of their special duty to be witnesses to God in the modern world, Pope John Paul II 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 'taking God off the streets' by yourselves adopting secular modes of dress and behavior" ("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," Pope John Paul II 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).
The Promise of the Holy Spirit (Continuation)
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(Jesus said to His disciples,) [27] "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. [28] You have heard Me say to you, `I go away, and I will come to you.' If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced, because I go to the Father; for the Father is greater than I. [29] And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place, you may believe. [30] I will no longer talk much to you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no power over Me; [31a] but I do as the Father has commanded Me."
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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 holy 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 reconciliation of men with one another; it is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit (cf. Galatians 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 Christianity" (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 history 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 realities; it is the product of moral concerns, of ethical principles based on the Gospel message and fortified by it. [...] In his message for the 1971 Day of Peace, my revered predecessor, that pilgrim of peace, [Pope] 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 Poland. I reaffirm it here in Ireland. Every human being has inalienable rights that must be respected. Each human community--ethnic, historical, cultural or religious--has rights which must be respected. Peace is threatened every time one of these rights is violated. The moral law, guardian of human rights, protector 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 order. The law of God stands in judgment over all reasons of State. As long as injustices exist in any of the areas that touch upon the dignity of the human person, be it in the political, social or economic field, be it in the cultural or religious 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" (St Pope 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..., peace I leave you..., 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. Matthew 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 human 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, although 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 passage "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.