나바르 매일미사 독서/묵상

5th Sunday of Easter - Cycle C

1st Reading: Acts 14:21-27

The Return Journey to Antioch
-----------------------------
[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 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.

************************************************************************* Commentary:

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). **********

2nd Reading: Revelation 21:1-5a

A New World Comes Into Being. The New Jerusalem
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

[1] Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first
earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. [2] And I saw the holy city,
new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride ador-
ned for her husband; [3] and I heard a great voice from the throne saying, "Be-
hold, the dwelling of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they shall be
his people, and God himself will be with them; [4] he will wipe away every tear
from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor
crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away."

[5a] And he who sat upon the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new."

*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:

1-4. The prophet Isaiah depicted the messianic times as a radical change in the
fortunes of the people of Israel--so radical that, as he put it, God was going to cre-
ate new heavens and a new earth, a new Jerusalem full of joy, where the sound
of weeping would never more be heard, where God would make himself plain for
all to see and where everything would be as it was in paradise before sin (cf. Is
65:12-25).

The author of the Apocalypse uses this same format to describe the future
Kingdom of God. The imagery of a new heaven and a new earth (taken in
a physical sense) was very much in vogue in Jewish writing around the time of
the Apocalypse (cf. 1 Enoch 72:1; 91:16), and is probably reflected also in 2 Pe-
ter 3:10-13 and Matthew 19:28. Scripture nowhere indicates what form the new
heaven and the new earth will take. However, what is clear is that there will be a
radical "renewal" of the present cosmos, contaminated as it is by the sin
of man and the powers of evil (cf. Gen 2:8-3:24; Rom 8:9-13); through this
renewal all creation will be "recapitulated" in Christ (cf. Eph 1:10; Col 1:16-20).
No reference is made to the sea, probably because in Jewish literature it symbolized
the abyss, the abode of demonic powers hostile to God.

요한 묵시록의 저자는 미래의 하느님의 나라(the future Kingdom of God, 즉 예수 재림
시에 완성될 하느님의 나라)를 묘사하기 위하여 바로 이 동일한 형식(format)을 사용합니다.
(형이하학적 의미로 취하여진) 새 하늘과 새 땅(*)에 대한 이 묘사(imagery)는 이 묵시록의
시기 쯤에 유다인들의 저술에 있어 대단히 유행하였으며(1에녹 72,1; 91,16 참조), 그리고
아마도 2베드로 3,10과 마태오 복음서 19,28에도 또한 반향되고(reflected) 있을 것입니다.
성경 본문 어디에도 새 하늘과 새 땅이 어떠한 형태를 취할 것인지를 나타내지 않습니다.
그러나, 분명한 바는, 사람의 죄와 악의 힘들(the powers of evil, 악의 세력)(**)에
의하여 오염된 (창세 2,8,-3,24; 로마 8,9-13 참조), 현재의 우주(present cosmos)의
발본적인 "갱신" (radical "renewal")이 있을 것이며, 그리고 바로 이 갱신(renewal)을
통하여 모든 피조물은 그리스도 안에서 "총괄 복귀될(recapitulated)" 것입니다
(에페소 1,10; 콜로새 1,16-20 참조).(***) 바다에 대한 언급이 전혀 없는데, 아마도
이것은 유다인들의 문헌에 있어 바다가, 하느님께 적대적인 악마적 힘들의 거처인,
심연(the abyss)을 상징하였기 때문일 것입니다.

-----
(*) 번역자 주: 여기서 말하는 "새(new)"의 의미는 평소에 우리가 알고 있는 의미가 아니다.
이에 대하여 다음의 주소에 있는 글을 필히 읽도록 하라:
http://ch.catholic.or.kr/pundang/4/soh/859.htm

(**) 번역자 주: "악의 세력/악의 힘들(the powers of evil)" 이라는 용어의 정의(definition)는
다음에 있다:
http://ch.catholic.or.kr/pundang/4/soh/1446.htm

(**) 번역자 주: "새 하와(the new Eve)"라는 동정 마리아에 대한 칭호(title)의 신학적
근거인, 2세기의 교부인 리옹의 성 이레네오(St. Irenaeus of Lyons)에 의하여
처음으로 도입된 그리스도교 신학의 기초/근거인 그의 "recapitulation(총괄복귀/수렴)"
개념에 대한 글들은 다음의 주소들에 있으니 필독하도록 하라:
http://ch.catholic.or.kr/pundang/4/soh/intro2new_Eve.htm
http://ch.catholic.or.kr/pundang/4/soh/intro2new_Adam.htm
http://ch.catholic.or.kr/pundang/4/soh/intro2recapitulation_of_St_Irenaeus.htm
-----

Those who will inhabit this new world (symbolized by the Holy City, the new Jeru-
salem) are the entire assembly of the saved, the entire people of God (cf. vv. 12-
14)--a holy people disposed to live in loving communion with God (as reflected by
the image of the adorned bride: cf. vv. 2, 9). The promise of a new covenant (Ezek
37:27) will be fulfilled to the letter: God will see to it that none of the evil, suffering
or pain found in this world will find its way into the new world.

This passage of the Book of Revelation strengthens the faith and hope of the
Church--not only St John's own generation but all generations down the ages for
as long as the Church makes its way through this valley of tears.(***) The Second
Vatican Council says: "We know neither the moment of the consummation of
the earth and of man nor the way the universe will be transformed. The form of
this world, distorted by sin, is passing away and we are taught that God is pre-
paring a new dwelling and a new earth in which righteousness dwells, whose
happiness will fill and surpass all the desires of peace arising in the hearts of men.
Then with death conquered the children of God will be raised in Christ and what was
sown in weakness and dishonor will put on the imperishable: charity and its work
will remain, and all of creation which God made for man, will be set free from its
bondage to decay" ("Gaudium Et Spes", 39).

-----
(***) 번역자 주: "성모 찬송(Salve, Regina; 살베 레지나)" 기도문에서 또한 언급되고
있는 이 독특한 표현의 유래 및 의미에 대하여서는 다음의 글을 읽도록 하라:
http://ch.catholic.or.kr/pundang/4/soh/1304.htm
-----

5-8. For the first and only time in the entire book God himself speaks. He does
so as absolute Lord of all, to ratify what has just been expounded. While the au-
thor and his readers are still in this world of suffering, God affirms that he--even
now--is creating a new world. There is, then, a connection between present hu-
man suffering and the future world which is taking shape thanks to the mercy of
God.

Although that new world will emerge in its complete form on the last day, the re-
newal of all things has already begun; it began with the life, death and resurrec-
tion of Christ. "The kingdom of life has begun," St Gregory of Nyssa teaches,
"and the empire of death has been undone. Another generation, another life, ano-
ther way of loving has made its appearance: our very nature is being transformed.
What type of generation am I referring to? A generation which results not from
blood or carnal love or human love, but from God. Are you wondering how that
can be? I shall explain it in a few words. This new creature is begotten by faith;
the regeneration of Baptism brings it to birth; the Church, its nurse, weans it by
her teaching and institutions and nourishes it with her heavenly bread. This new
creature matures through holiness of life; its marriage is marriage with Wisdom;
its children, hope; its home, the Kingdom; its inheritance and its riches, the de-
lights of paradise; its final destiny is not death, but eternal and joyful life in the
dwelling-place of the saints" ("Oratio I In Christi Resurrectionem"). We should
remember that "the Kingdom is mysteriously present here on earth; when the
Lord comes it will enter into its perfection" ("Gaudium Et Spes", 39).

The promise of a world to come is so sure that although that world has not a-
chieved its full perfection, it can be categorically stated that it is a promise "al-
ready kept"--"It is done": God himself, the Lord of history guarantees it (cf. note
on Rev 1:8)....

Gospel Reading: John 13:31-33a, 34-35

The New Commandment
------------------------------------
[31] When he (Judas Iscariot) had gone out, Jesus said, "Now is the Son of
Man glorified, and in Him God is glorified; [32] if God is glorified in Him, God will
also glorify Him in Himself, and glorify Him at once. [33] Little children, yet a little
while I am with you. [34] A new commandment I give you, that you love one an-
other; 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 love one another."

*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:

게시자 주: 다음의 주소에 접속하면, 아래의 본문의 우리말 번역문을 읽을 수
있습니다:

http://ch.catholic.or.kr/pundang/4/navarre/palm_tue.htm <----- 필독 권고

31-32. This glorification refers above all to the glory which Christ will receive
once He is raised up on the cross (John 3:14; 12:32). St. John stresses that
Christ's death is the beginning of His victory: His very crucifixion can be consi-
dered the first step in His ascension to His Father. At the same time it is glori-
fication of the Father, because Christ, by voluntarily accepting death out of love,
as a supreme act of obedience to the Will of God, performs the greatest sacri-
fice man can offer for the glorification of God. The Father will respond to this
glorification which Christ offers Him by glorifying Christ as Son of Man, that is,
in His holy human nature, through His resurrection and ascension to God's
right hand. Thus the glory which the Son gives the Father is at the same time
glory for the Son.

Christ's disciple will also find His highest motivation by identifying himself with
Christ's obedience. St. Paul teaches this very clearly when he says: "Far be it
from me to glory except in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ" (Galatians 6:14).

33. From this verse onwards the evangelist recounts what is usually called the
discourse of the Last Supper; in it we can distinguish three parts. In the first, our
Lord begins by proclaiming the New Commandment (verses 33-35) and predicts
Peter's denials (verses 36-38); He tells them that His death means His going to
the Father (Chapter 4), with Whom He is one because He is God (verses 1-14);
and He announces that after His resurrection He will send them the Holy Spirit,
who will guide them by teaching them and reminding them of everything He told
them (verses 15-31).

The second part of the discourse is contained in Chapters 15 and 16. Jesus pro-
mises to those who believe in Him a new life of union with Him, as intimate as
that of a vine and its branches (15:1-18). To attain this union one must keep His
New Commandment (verses 9-18). He forewarns them about the contradictions
they will suffer, and He encourages them by promising the Holy Spirit who will
protect them and console them (verses 18-27). The action of the Paraclete or
Consoler will lead them to fulfill the mission Jesus has entrusted to them (16:1-
15). The fruit of the presence of the Holy Spirit will be fullness of joy (verses 16-
33).

The third part (Chapter 7) gives Jesus' priestly prayer, in which He asks the Fa-
ther to glorify Him through the cross (verses 1-5). He prays also for His disciples
(verses 6-19) and for all those who through them will believe in Him, so that, sta-
ying in the world without being of the world, the love of God should be in them
and they should bear witness to Christ being the envoy of the Father (verses 20-
26).

34-35. After announcing that He is leaving them (verse 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. John 15:12, 17), and St. John in
his First Letter will insist on the need to practice this commandment of the Lord
and on the demands it implies (cf. 1 John 2:8; 3:7-21).

Love of neighbor was already commanded in the Old Testament (cf. Leviticus 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. Matthew 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 neighbor
called for by the Old Law did also in some way extend to one's enemies (Exo-
dus 23:4-5); however, the love which Jesus preaches is much more demanding
and includes returning good for evil (cf. Matthew 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. 1 John 4:9-11). 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 neighbor cannot be separated from love of God: "The greatest command-
ment of the law is to love God with one's whole heart and one's neighbor as one-
self (cf. Matthew 22:37-40). Christ has made this love of neighbor 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' (Matthew 25:40). In assu-
ming human nature He has united to Himself all humanity in a supernatural soli-
darity which makes of it one single family. He has made charity the distingui-
shing 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 Actuosi-
tatem", 8).

Even though Christ is Purity itself, and Temperance and Humility, He does not,
however, make any one of these virtues the distinguishing mark 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, af-
ter twenty centuries, it is indeed still a NEW commandment, for very few people
have taken the trouble to practice 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 oth-
ers 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 know that you are
My disciples'" (St. J. Escriva, "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).
　

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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.