6th Sunday of Easter - Cycle B
1st Reading: Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48
Peter in the House of Cornelius (Continuation)
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[25] When Peter entered, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and wor-
shipped him. [26] But Peter lifted him up, saying, "Stand up; I too am a man."
Peter's Address
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[34] And Peter opened his mouth and said: "Truly I perceive that God shows no
partiality, [35] but in every nation any one who fears him and does what is right
is acceptable to him.
The Baptism of Cornelius and His Family
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[44] While Peter was still saying this, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the
word. [45] And the believers from among the circumcised who came with Peter
were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on
the Gentiles. [46] For they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God.
Then Peter declared, [47] "Can any one forbid water for baptizing these people
who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?" [48] And he commanded
them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to re-
main for some days.
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Commentary:
25-26. It is difficult at first for pagans to realize what is happening when God
manifests himself to them, makes his will known and confers his gifts upon them
through the medium of other men: their first reaction is to think that these must
be celestial beings or gods in human form (cf. 14:11), until it is quite clear that
they are men of flesh and blood. That is how it is: men and women are the defec-
tive but essential instruments whom God normally uses to make known his plans
of salvation. God in his providence acts in this way, first in the Old Testament and
particularly in the New Testament; a prime example is to be seen in the Christian
priesthood.
"Every high priest [is] chosen from among men" (Heb 5:1) to be sent back to his
brethren as a minister of intercession and forgiveness. "He must therefore be a
member of the human race, for it is God's desire that man have one of his like to
come to his aid" (St Thomas Aquinas, "Commentary on Heb.", 5, 1).
It has been said that everything about the Gospel of Jesus Christ is quite excel-
lent, except the persons of his ministers--because these priests, who have been
consecrated by a special sacrament, are also sons of Adam, and they still have
the weak nature of sons of Adam even after being ordained.
"Most strange is this in itself [...] but not strange, when you consider it is the ap-
pointment of an all-merciful God; not strange in him. [...] The priests of the New
Law are men, in order that they may 'condole with those who are in ignorance and
error, because they too are encompassed with infirmity' (Heb 5:2)" (J. H. Newman,
"Discourses Addressed to Mixed Congregations").
If priests were not men of flesh and blood, they would not feel for others, who are
made of the same stuff; they would not understand their weakness. But in fact
they do share the human condition and do experience the same temptations.
34-43. Peter's short address is his first to non-Jews. It begins with the central
idea that God is impartial: he wants all men to be saved through the proclama-
tion of the Gospel (vv . 34-36). This is followed by a summary of Jesus' public
life (vv. 37-41) and, finally, the statement (the first time it appears in Acts) that
Jesus Christ has been made Judge of the living and the dead (v. 42). As in all
Christian preaching to Gentiles, proofs from Scripture take a secondary place
(v. 43).
34. This verse refers to 1 Samuel 16:7, where the Lord, in connection with the
anointing of David as king of Israel, tells the prophet, "Do not look on his appea-
rance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord
sees not as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord
looks on the heart." When God calls and offers salvation to his elect, he does
not judge as men do. With him distinctions regarding social class, race, sex or
education do not count.
Here St Peter proclaims that the Old Testament prophecies about the Jews and
the Gentiles forming one single nation (Is 2:2-4; Joel 2:28; Amos 9:12; Mich 4:1)
and Jesus' words calling everyone to enter his Kingdom (cf. Mt 8: 11; Mk 16:15-
16; Jn 10:16) should be interpreted literally.
44-48. This scene is reminiscent of Pentecost. There the Holy Spirit came down
on the first disciples, Jews all of them. Now he is given to Gentiles, unexpectedly
and irresistibly. It is as if the Lord wanted to confirm to Peter everything he had
so far revealed to him about the admission of Cornelius to the Church. The cen-
turion and his family are baptized on Peter's instructions, without first becoming
Jews through circumcision.
2nd Reading: 1 John 4:7-10
God is Love. Brotherly Love, the Mark of Christians
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[7] Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God, and he who loves is born
of God and knows God. [8] He who does not love does not know God; for God
is love. [9] In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent
his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. [10] In this is love,
not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation
for our sins.
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Commentary:
7-21. St John now expands on the second aspect of the divine commandment
(cf. 1 Jn 3:23)--brotherly love. The argument is along these lines: God is love
and it was he who loved us to begin with (vv. 7-10); brotherly love is the response
which God's love calls for (vv. 11-16); when our love is perfect, we feel no fear (vv.
17-18); brotherly love is an expression of love of God (vv. 19-21).
This is not tiresome repetition of the ideas already discussed (2:7-11; 3:11-18):
contrary to the false teaching which is beginning to be spread, charity is the sure
mark, the way to recognize the genuine disciple. St Jerome hands down a
tradition concerning the last years of St John's life: when he was already a very
old man, he used always say the same thing to the faithful: "My children, love
one another!" On one occasion, he was asked why he insisted on this: "to which
he replied with these words worthy of John: 'Because it is the Lord's command-
ment, and if you keep just this commandment, it will suffice"' ("Comm. in Gal.",
Ill. 6, 10).
7. The divine attributes, God's perfections, which he has to the highest degree,
are the cause of our virtues: for example, because God is holy, we have been
given a capacity to be holy. Similarly, because God is love, we can love. True
love, true charity, comes from God.
8. "God is love": without being strictly speaking a definition (in 1:5 he says "God
is light"), this statement reveals to us one of the most consoling attributes of
God: "Even if nothing more were to be said in praise of love in all the pages of
this epistle", St Augustine explains, "even if nothing more were to be said in all
the pages of Sacred Scripture, and all we heard from the mouth of the Holy Spirit
were that 'God is love', there would be nothing else we would need to look for"
("In Epist. Ioann. ad Parthos", 7, 5).
God's love for men was revealed in Creation and in the preternatural and super-
natural gifts he gave man prior to sin; after man's sin, God' s love is to be seen,
above all, in forgiveness and redemption (as St John goes on to say: v. 9), for
the work of salvation is the product of God's mercy: "It is precisely because sin
exists in the world, which 'God so loved...that he gave his only Son' (Jn 3:16),
that God, who 'is love' (1 Jn 4:8), cannot reveal himself other than as mercy.
This corresponds not only to the most profound truth of that love which God is,
but also to the whole interior truth of man and of the world which is man 's
temporary homeland" (John Paul II, "Dives In Misercordia", 13).
9. God has revealed his love to men by sending his own Son; that is, it is not
only Christ's teachings which speak to us of God's love, but, above all, his
presence among us: Christ himself is the fullness of revelation of God (cf. Jn
1:18; Heb 1:1) and of his love for men. "The source of all grace is God's love
for us, and he has revealed this not just in words but also in deeds. It was
divine love which led the second Person of the most holy Trinity, the Word,
the son of God the Father, to take on our flesh, our human condition, every-
thing except sin. And the Word, the Word of God, is the Word from which
Love proceeds (cf. "Summa Theologiae", I, q. 43, a. 5, quoting St Augustine,
"De Trinitate", IX, 10).
"Love is revealed to us in the incarnation, the redemptive journey which Jesus
Christ made on our earth, culminating in the supreme sacrifice of the cross. And
on the cross it showed itself through a new sign: 'One of the soldiers pierced his
side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water' (Jn 19:34). This
water and blood of Jesus speaks to us of a self-sacrifice brought to the last
extreme: 'It is finished' (Jn 19:30)--everything is achieved, for the sake of love" (J.
Escriva, "Christ Is Passing By", 162).
"Among us": it is difficult to convey in English everything the Greek contains.
The Greek expression means that the love of God was shown to those who
witnessed our Lord's life (the Apostles) and to all other Christians, whose partici-
pate in this apostolic witness (cf. note on 1 Jn 1:1-3; this idea is repeated in vv.
14 and 16). But it also means "within us", inside us, in our hearts, insofar as we
partake of God's own life by means of sanctifying grace: every Christian is a
witness to the fact that Christ has come so that men "may have life, and have it
abundantly" (Jn 10:10).
10. Given that love is an attribute of God (v. 8), men have a capacity to love
insofar as they share in God's qualities. So, the initiative always lies with God.
When explaining in what love consists, St John points to its highest form of
expression: "he sent (his Son) to be the expiation of our sins" (cf. 2:2). Similar
turns of phrase occur throughout the letter: the Son of God manifested himself "to
destroy the works of the devil" (3:8); "he laid down his life for us" (3:16). All these
statements show that: 1) Christ's death is a sacrifice in the strict sense of the
word, the most sublime act of recognition of God's sovereignty; 2) it is an atoning
sacrifice, because it obtains God's pardon for the sins of men; 3) it is the supreme
act of God's love, so much so that St John actually says, "in this is love."
What is amazing, St Alphonsus teaches, "is that he could have saved us without
suffering or dying and yet he chose a life of toil and humiliation, and a bitter and
ignominious death, even death on a cross, something reserved for the very worst
offenders. And why was it that, when he could have redeemed us without suffering,
he chose to embrace death on the Cross? To show us how much he loved us"
("The Love of Jesus Christ", chap. 1).
Gospel Reading: John 15:9-17
The Vine and the Branches (Continuation)
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(Jesus said to His disciples,) [9] "As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved
you; abide in My love. [10] If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My
love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. [11]
These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy
may be full.
The Law of Love
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[12] "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
[13] Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
[14] You are My friends if you do what I command you. [15] No longer do I call
you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have
called you friends, for all that I have heard from My Father I have made known to
you. [16] You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you
should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide; so that whatever you
ask the Father in My name, He may give it to you. [17] This I command you,
to love one another."
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Commentary:
9-11. Christ's love for Christians is a reflection of the love the Three Divine
Persons have for one another and for all men: "We love, because He first loved
us" (1 John 4:19).
The certainty that God loves us is the source of Christian joy (verse 11), but it is
also something which calls for a fruitful response on our part, which should take
the form of a fervent desire to do God's will in everything, that is, to keep His
commandments, in imitation of Jesus Christ, who did the will of His Father (cf.
John 4:34).
12-15. Jesus insists on the "new commandment", which He Himself keeps by
giving His life for us. See note on John 13:34-35.(*)
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(*) 번역자 주: (1) 다음은,
예수님의 새 계명이 또한 제시되어 있는, RSVCE 요한 복음서
13,34-35 전문 및 해설 전문이다:
(발췌 시작)
34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
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Commentary:
34-35 After announcing that he is leaving them (v. 33), Christ summarizes
his commandments in one — the New Commandment. He will repeat it a
number of times during the discourse of the Supper (cf. Jn 15:12, 17),(*)
and St John in his first letter will insist on the need to practise this
commandment of the Lord and on the demands it implies (cf. 1 Jn 2:8; 3:7-21).(*)
-----
(*) 번역자 주: 다음의 주소들에
접속하면, 이들에 대하여 학습할 수 있다:
http://ch.catholic.or.kr/pundang/4/navarre/Dec29.htm
http://ch.catholic.or.kr/pundang/4/navarre/Jan4.htm
http://ch.catholic.or.kr/pundang/4/navarre/Jan5.htm
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Love of neighbour was already commanded in the Old Testament (cf. Lev 19:18) — and Jesus ratified this when he specified that it was the second precept of the whole Law and similar to the first: Love God with all your heart and soul and mind (cf. Mt 22:37-40). But Jesus gives the precept of brotherly love new meaning and content by saying “even as I have loved you”. The love of neighbour called for by the Old Law did also in some way extend to one’s enemies (Ex 23:4-5); however, the love which Jesus preaches is much more demanding and includes returning good for evil (cf. Mt 5:43-44), because Christian love is measured not by man’s heart but by the heart of Christ, who gives up his life on the Cross to redeem all men (cf. I Jn 4:9-1 1). Here lies the novelty of Jesus’ teaching, and our Lord can rightly say that it is his commandment, the principal clause in his last will and testament.
Love of neighbour cannot he separated from love of God: “The greatest commandment of the law is to love God with one’s whole heart and one’s neighbour as oneself (cf. Mt 22:37-40). Christ has made this love of neighbour his personal commandment and has enriched it with a new meaning when he willed himself, along with his brothers, to be the object of this charity, saying: ‘As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me’ (Mt 25:40). In assuming human nature he has united to himself all humanity in a supernatural solidarity which makes of it one single family. He has made charity the distinguishing mark of his disciples, in the words: ‘By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another’” (Vatican II, Apostolicam actuositatem, 8).
Even though Christ is purity itself, and temperance and humility, he does not, however, make any one of these virtues the distinguishing marks of his disciples: he makes charity that mark. “The Master’s message and example are clear and precise. He confirmed his teaching with deeds. Yet I have often thought that, after twenty centuries, it is indeed still a new commandment, for very few people have taken the trouble to practise it. The others, the majority of men, both in the past and still today, have chosen to ignore it. Their selfishness has led them to the conclusion: ‘Why should I complicate my life? I have more than enough to do just looking after myself.’
“Such an attitude is not good enough for us Christians. If we profess the same faith and are really eager to follow in the clear footprints left by Christ when he walked on this earth, we cannot be content merely with avoiding doing unto others the evil that we would not have them do unto us. That is a lot, but it is still very little when we consider that our love is to be measured in terms of Jesus’ own conduct. Besides, he does not give us this standard as a distant target, as a crowning point of a whole lifetime of struggle. It is — it ought to be, I repeat, so that you may turn it into specific resolutions — our starting point, for our Lord presents it as a sign of Christianity: ‘By this shall all men known that you are my disciples’” (J. Escrivá, Friends of God, 223).
And this is what in fact happened among Christians in the early centuries in the midst of pagan society, so much so that Tertullian, writing around the end of the second century, reported that people could indeed say, looking at the way these Christians lived: “See how they love one another” (Apologeticum, XXXIX).
(2) 그리고 다음의 주소에 접속하면, 예수님의
새 계명이 포함되어 있는 "예수님의 최후의 만찬 강도(講道)"(요한
복음서 13,33-17,26)의 내용 전반에 대한
요약 해설인, 요한 복음서 13,33의 해설을
학습할 수 있다. 필자에 의하여 마련된 우리말 번역도
제공되고 있으니, 꼭 필독하도록 하라:
http://ch.catholic.or.kr/pundang/4/navarre/palm_tue.htm
<----- 필독 권고
(이상, 발췌 끝)
-----
Christ's friendship with the Christian, which our Lord expresses in a very special
way in this passage, is something very evident in St.Escriva's preaching: "The
life of the Christian who decides to behave in accordance with the greatness of
his vocation is so to speak a prolonged echo of those words of our Lord, 'No
longer do I call you My servants; a servant is one who does not understand what
his master is about, whereas I have made known to you all that My Father has
told Me; and so I have called you My friends' (John 15:15). When we decide to
be docile and follow the will of God, hitherto unimagined horizons open up before
us.... 'There is nothing better than to recognize that Love has made us slaves
of God. From the oment we recognize this we cease being slaves and become
friends, sons' (St. J. Escriva, "Friends of God", 35).
"Sons of God, friends of God.... Jesus is truly God and truly Man, He is our
Brother and our Friend. If we make the effort to get to know Him well 'we will
share in the joy of being God's friends' ["ibid.", 300]. If we do all we can to keep
Him company, from Bethlehem to Calvary, sharing His joys and sufferings, we
will become worthy of entering into loving conversation with Him. As the Liturgy
of the Hours sings, "calicem Domini biberunt, et amici Dei facti sunt" (they drank
the chalice of the Lord and so became friends of God).
"Being His children and His friends are two inseparable realities for those who
love God. We go to Him as children, carrying on a trusting dialogue that should
fill the whole of our lives; and we go to Him as friends.... In the same way our
divine sonship urges us to translate the overflow of our interior life into apostolic
activity, just as our friendship with God leads us to place ourselves at 'the service
of all men. We are called to use the gifts God has given us as instruments to
help others discover Christ' ["ibid.", 258]" (Monsignor A. del Portillo in his preface
to St. J. Escriva's, "Friends of God").
16. There are three ideas contained in these words of our Lord. One, that the
calling which the Apostles received and which every Christian also receives does
not originate in the individual's good desires but in Christ's free choice. It was not
the Apostles who chose the Lord as Master, in the way someone would go about
choosing a rabbi; it was Christ who chose them. The second idea is that the
Apostles' mission and the mission of every Christian is to follow Christ, to seek
holiness and to contribute to the spread of the Gospel. The third teaching refers
to the effectiveness of prayer done in the name of
Christ; which is why the Church
usually ends the prayers of the liturgy with the invocation "Through Jesus Christ
our Lord...".
The three ideas are all interconnected: prayer is necessary if the Christian life is
to prove fruitful, for it is God who gives the growth (cf. 1 Corinthians 3:7); and the
obligation to seek holiness and to be apostolic derives from the fact that it is
Christ Himself who has given us this mission. "Bear in mind, son, that you are
not just a soul who has joined other souls in order to do a good thing.
"That is a lot, but it's still little. You are the Apostle who is carrying out an im-
perative command from Christ" (St. J. Escriva, "The Way", 942).
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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. We encourage readers to purchase
The Navarre Bible for personal study. See Scepter Publishers for details.
[참고: 이 파일은 저서명 "가톨릭 교회의 말씀 전례에 따른 성경공부 해설서"(엮은이: 소순태, 출판사: 가톨릭출판사)의 각주의 연장으로 마련되었습니다].