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).