Pentecost Sunday - Cycle C
1st Reading: Acts 2:1-11
The Coming of the Holy Spirit
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[1] When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.
[2] And suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind,
and it filled all the house where they were sitting. [3] And there appeared to
them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them. [4] And
they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues,
as the Spirit gave them utterance.
[5] Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation
under heaven. [6] And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were
bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in his own language. [7]
And they were amazed and wondered, saying, "Are not all these who are
speaking Galileans? [8] And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native
language? [9] Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia,
Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, [10] Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt
and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews
and proselytes, [11] Cretans and Arabians, we hear them telling in our own
tongues the mighty works of God."
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Commentary:
1-13. This account of the Holy Spirit visibly coming down on the disciples who,
in keeping with Jesus' instructions, had stayed together in Jerusalem, gives
limited information as to the time and place of the event, yet it is full of content.
Pentecost was one of the three great Jewish feasts for which many Israelites
went on pilgrimage to the Holy City to worship God in the temple. It originated
as a harvest thanksgiving, with an offering of first-fruits. Later it was given the
additional dimension of commemorating the promulgation of the Law given by
God to Moses on Sinai. The Pentecost celebration was held fifty days after the
Passover, that is, after seven weeks had passed. The material harvest which
the Jews celebrated so joyously became, through God's providence, the symbol
of the spiritual harvest which the Apostles began to reap on this day.
2-3. Wind and fire were elements which typically accompanied manifestations
of God in the Old Testament (cf. Ex 3:2; l 3 :21-22; 2 Kings5:24; Ps 104:3). In
this instance, as Chrysostom explains, it would seem that separate tongues of
fire came down on each of them: they were "separated, which means they came
from one and the same source, to show that the Power all comes from the
Paraclete" ("Hom. on Acts", 4). The wind and the noise must have been so in-
tense that they caused people to flock to the place. The fire symbolizes the
action of the Holy Spirit who, by enlightening the minds of the disciples, enables
them to understand Jesus' teachings--as Jesus promised at the Last Supper (cf.
Jn 16:4-14); by inflaming their hearts with love he dispels their fear and moves
them to preach boldly. Fire also has a purifying effect, God's action cleansing
the soul of all trace of sin.
4. Pentecost was not an isolated event in the life of the Church, something over
and done with. "We have the right, the duty and the joy to tell you that Pentecost
is still happening. We can legitimately speak of the 'lasting value' of Pentecost.
We know that fifty days after Easter, the Apostles, gathered together in the same
Cenacle as had been used for the first Eucharist and from which they had gone
out to meet the Risen One for the first time, "discover" in themselves the power
of the Holy Spirit who descended upon them, the strength of Him whom the Lord
had promised so often as the outcome of his suffering on the Cross; and streng-
thened in this way, they began to act, that is, to perform their role. [. . .] Thus
is born the "apostolic Church". But even today--and herein the continuity lies--the
Basilica of St Peter in Rome and every Temple, every Oratory, every place where
the disciples of the Lord gather, is an extension of that original Cenacle" (John
Paul II, "Homily", 25 May 1980).
Vatican II (cf. Ad gentes, 4) quotes St Augustine's description of the Holy Spirit
as the soul, the source of life, of the Church, which was born on the Cross on
Good Friday and whose birth was announced publicly on the day of Pentecost:
"Today, as you know, the Church was fully born, through the breath of Christ,
the Holy Spirit; and in the Church was born the Word, the witness to and promul-
gation of salvation in the risen Jesus; and in him who listens to this promulgation
is born faith, and with faith a new life, an awareness of the Christian vocation and
the ability to hear that calling and to follow it by living a genuinely human life,
indeed a life which is not only human but holy. And to make this divine inter-
vention effective, today was born the apostolate, the priesthood, the ministry of
the Spirit, the calling to unity, fraternity and peace" (Paul VI, "Address", 25
May 1969).
"Mary, who conceived Christ by the work of the Holy Spirit, the Love of the living
God, presides over the birth of the Church, on the day of Pentecost, when the
same Holy Spirit comes down on the disciples and gives life to the mystical body
of Christians in unity and charity" (Paul VI, "Address", 25 October 1969).
5-11. In his account of the events of Pentecost St Luke distinguishes "devout
men" (v. 5), Jews and proselytes (v. 11). The first-mentioned were people who
were residing in Jerusalem for reasons of study or piety, to be near the only
temple the Jews had. They were Jews--not to be confused with "God-fearing
men", that is, pagans sympathetic to Judaism, who worshipped the God of the
Bible and who, if they became converts and members of the Jewish religion by
being circumcised and by observing the Mosaic Law, were what were called
"proselytes", whom Luke distinguishes from the "Jews", that is, those of Jewish
race.
People of different races and tongues understand Peter, each in his or her own
language. They can do so thanks to a special grace from the Holy Spirit given
them for the occasion; this is not the same as the gift of "speaking with tongues"
which some of the early Christians had (cf. 1 Cor 14), which allowed them to
praise God and speak to him in a language which they themselves did not
understand.
11. When the Fathers of the Church comment on this passage they frequently
point to the contrast between the confusion of languages that came about at
Babel (cf. Gen 11:1-9)--God's punishment for man's pride and infidelity--and the
reversal of this confusion on the day of Pentecost, thanks to the grace of the
Holy Spirit. The Second Vatican Council stresses the same idea: "Without
doubt, the Holy Spirit was at work in the world before Christ was glorified. On the
day of Pentecost, however, he came down on the disciples that he might remain
with them forever (cf. Jn 14;16); on that day the Church was openly displayed to
the crowds and the spread of the Gospel among the nations, through preaching,
was begun. Finally, on that day was foreshadowed the union of all peoples in the
catholicity of the faith by means of the Church of the New Alliance, a Church
which speaks every language, understands and embraces all tongues in charity,
and thus overcomes the dispersionof Babel" ("Ad Gentes", 4).
Christians need this gift for their apostolic activity and should ask the Holy Spirit
to give it to them to help them express themselves in such a way that others can
understand their message; to be able so to adapt what they say to suit the
outlook and capacity of their hearers, that they pass Christ's truth on: "Every
generation of Christians needs to redeem, to sanctify, its own time. To do this,
it must understand and share the desires of other men--their equals--in order to
make known to them, with a 'gift of tongues', how they are to respond to the
action of the Holy Spirit, to that permanent outflow of rich treasures that comes
from our Lord's heart. We Christians are called upon to announce, in our own
time, to this world to which we belong and in which we live, the message--old
and at the same time new--of the Gospel" (St. J. Escriva, "Christ Is Passing
By", 132).
2nd Reading: 1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13
Kinds of Spiritual Gifts
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[3] Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God
ever says "Jesus be cursed!" and no one can say "Jesus is Lord" except by the
Holy Spirit.
[4] Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; [5] and there are varieties
of service, but the same Lord; [6] and there are varieties of working, but it is the
same God who inspires them all in every one. [7] To each is given the manifes-
tation of the Spirit for the common good.
Unity and Variety in the Mystical Body of Christ
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[12] For just as the body is one and has many member, and all the members of
the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. [13] For by one Spirit
we were all baptized into one body Jews or Greeks, slaves or free and all were
made to drink of one Spirit.
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Commentary:
3. This provides a general principle for discerning signs of the Holy Spirit--recog-
nition of Christ as Lord. It follows that the gifts of the Holy Spirit can never go
against the teaching of the Church. "Those who have charge over the Church
hould judge the genuineness and proper use of these gifts [...], not indeed to
extinguish the Spirit, but to test all things and hold fast to what is good (cf.
Thess 5:12 and 19-21)" ("Lumen Gentium", 12).
4-7. God is the origin of spiritual gifts. Probably when St Paul speaks of gifts,
service (ministries), "varieties of working", he is not referring to graces which
are essentially distinct from one another, but to different perspectives from which
these gifts can be viewed, and to their attribution to the Three Divine Persons.
Insofar as they are gratuitously bestowed they are attributed to the Holy Spirit,
as he confirms in v. 11; insofar as they are granted for the benefit and service
of the other members of the Church, they are attributed to Christ the Lord, who
came "not to be served but to serve" (Mk 10:45); and insofar as they are operative
and produce a good effect, they are attributed to God the Father. In this way the
various graces which the members of the Church receive are a living reflection of
God who, being essentially one, in so is a trinity of persons. "The whole Church
has the appearance of a people gathered together by virtue of the unity of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (St Cyprian, "De Dominica Ora-
tione", 23). Therefore, diversity of gifts and graces is as important as their basic
unity, because all have the same divine origin and the same purpose--the com-
mon good (v. 7): "It is the Holy Spirit, dwelling in those who believe and pervading
and ruling over the entire Church, who brings about that wonderful communion of
the faithful and joins them together so intimately in Christ that he is the principle
of the Church's unity. By distributing various kinds of spiritual gifts and ministries
he enriches the Church of Jesus Christ with different functions 'in order to equip
the saints for the work of service, so as to build up the body of Christ' (Eph 4:12)"
(Vatican II, Unitatis Redintegratio", 2).
12-13. In Greek and Latin literature, society is often compared to a body; even
today we talk of "corporations", a term which conveys the idea that all the citi-
zens of a particular city are responsible for the common good. St Paul, starting
with this metaphor, adds two important features: 1) he identifies the Church with
Christ: "so it is with Christ" (v. 12); and 2) he says that the Holy Spirit is its life-
principle: "by one Spirit we were all baptized..., and all made to drink of the Spirit"
(v. 13). The Magisterium summarizes this teaching by defining the Church as the
"mystical body of Christ", an expression which "is derived from and is, as it were,
the fair flower of the repeated teaching of Sacred Scripture and the holy Fathers"
(Pius XII, "Mystici Corporis").
"So it is with Christ": "One would have expected him to say, so it is with the
Church, but he does not say that [...]. For, just as the body and the head are
one man, so too Christ and the Church are one, and therefore instead of 'the
Church' he says 'Christ"' (Chrysostom, "Hom. on 1 Cor", 30, "ad loc".). This iden-
tifiction of the Church with Christ is much more then a mere metaphor; it makes
the Church a society which is radically different from any other society: "The
complete Christ is made up of the head and the body, as I am sure you know
well. The head is our Savior himself, who suffered under Pontius Pilate and now,
after rising from the dead, is seated at the right hand of the Father. And his body
is the Church. Not this or that church, but the Church which is to be found all ove
the world. Nor is it only that which exists among us today, for also belonging to
it are those who lived before us and those who will live in the future, right up to the
end of the world. All this Church, made up of the assembly of the faithful--for all
the faithful are members of Christ--has Christ as its head, governing his body from
heaven. And although this head is located out of sight of the body, he is, however,
joined to it by love" (St Augustine, "Enarrationes in Psalmos", 56, 1).
The Church's remarkable unity derives from the Holy Spirit who not only assem-
bles the faithful into a society but also imbues and vivifies its members, exercising
the same function as the soul does in a physical body: "In order that we might be
unceasingly renewed in him (cf. Eph 4:23), he has shared with us his Spirit who,
being one and the same in head and members, gives life to, unifies and moves
the whole body. Consequently, his work could be compared by the Fathers to the
function that the principle of life, the soul, fulfils in the human body" (Vatican II,
"Lumen Gentium", 7).
"All were made to drink of one Spirit": given that the Apostle says this imme-
diately after mentioning Baptism, he seems to be referring to a further outpouring
of the Holy Spirit, possibly in the sacrament of Confirmation. It is not uncommon
for Sacred Scripture to compare the outpouring of the Spirit to drink, indicating
that the effects of his presence are to revive the parched soul; in the Old Testa-
ment the coming of the Holy Spirit is already compared to dew, rain, etc.; and
St. John repeats what our Lord said about "living water" (Jn 7:38; cf. 4:13-14).
Together with the sacraments of Christian initiation, the Eucharist plays a special
role in building up the unity of the body of Christ. "Really sharing in the body of
the Lord in the breaking of the eucharistic bread, we are taken up into communion
with him and with one another. 'Because the bread is one, we, who are many,
are one body, for we all partake of one bread' (1 Cor 10:17). In this way all of us
are made members of his body (cf. 1 Cor 12;27), 'and individual members of one
another' (Rom 12:5)" ("Lumen Gentium", 7).
Alternate 2nd Reading: Romans 8:8-17
Life in the Spirit
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[8] And those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
[9] But you are not in the flesh, you are in the Spirit, if the Spirit of God really
dwells in you. Any one who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong
to him. [10] But if Christ is in you, although your bodies are dead because of
sin, your spirits are alive because of righteousness. [11] "If the Spirit of him who
raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the
dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit who dwells in you."
[12] So then, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the
flesh--[13] for if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit
you put to death the deeds of the body you will live.
Christians Are Children of God
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[14] For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. [15] For you did not
receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit
of sonship. When we cry, "Abba! Father!" [16] it is the Spirit himself bearing wit-
ness with our spirit that we are children of God, [17] and if children, then heirs,
heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that
we may also be glorified with him.
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Commentary:
10-11. Once he is justified the Christian lives in the grace of God and confidently
hopes in his future resurrection; Christ himself lives in him (cf. Gal 2:20; 1 Cor
15:20-23). However, he is not spared the experience of death, a consequence of
original sin (cf. Rom 5:12; 6:23). Along with suffering, concupiscence and other
limitations, death is still a factor after Baptism; it is something which motivates
us to struggle and makes us to be like Christ. Almost all commentators interpret
the expression "your bodies are dead because of sin" as referring to the fact that,
due to sin, the human body is destined to die. So sure is this prospect of death
that the Apostle sees the body as "already dead".
St. John Chrysostom makes an acute observation: if Christ is living in the Chris-
tian, then the divine Spirit, the Third Person of the Trinity, is also present in him.
If this divine Spirit is absent, then indeed death reigns supreme, and with it the
wrath of God, rejection of His laws, separation from Christ, and expulsion of our
Guest. And he adds: "But when one has the Spirit within, what can be lacking?
With the Spirit one belongs to Christ, one possesses Him, one vies for honor
with the angels. With the Spirit, the flesh is crucified, one tastes the delight of
an immortal life, one has a pledge of future resurrection and advances rapidly
on the path of virtue. This is what Paul calls putting the flesh to death" ("Hom.
on Rom.", 13).
14-30. The life of a Christian is sharing in the life of Christ, God's only Son. By
becoming, through adoption, true children of God we have, so to speak, a right
to share also in Christ's inheritance – eternal life in heaven (vv. 13-18). This di-
vine life in us, begun in Baptism through rebirth in the Holy Spirit, will grow under
the guidance of this Spirit, who makes us ever more like Christ (vv. 14, 26-27).
So, our adoption as sons is already a fact – we already have the first fruits of the
Spirit (v. 23) – but only at the end of time, when our body rises in glory, will our
redemption reach its climax (vv. 23-25). Meanwhile we are in a waiting situation
– not free from suffering (v. 18), groans (v. 23) and weakness (v. 26) – a situation
characterized by a certain tension between what we already possess and are,
and what we yearn for. This yearning is something which all creation experien-
ces; by God's will, its destiny is intimately linked to our own, and it too awaits
its transformation at the end of the world (vv. 19-22). All this is happening in ac-
cordance with a plan which God has, a plan established from all eternity which
is unfolding the course of time under the firm guidance of divine providence (vv.
28-30).
14-15 St. Josemaria Escriva taught thousands of people about this awareness
of divine filiation which is such an important part of the Christian vocation. Here
is what he says, for example, in The Way, 267: "We've got to be convinced that
God is always near us. We live as though he were far away, in the heavens high
above, and we forget that he is also continually by our side.
"He is there like a loving Father. He loves each of us more than all the mothers
in the world can love their children -- helping, inspiring us, blessing . . . and for-
giving.
"How often we have misbehaved and then cleared the frowns from our parents'
brows, telling them: I won't do it any more! -- That same day, perhaps, we fall
again . . . -- And our father, with feigned harshness in his voice and serious face,
reprimands us while in his heart he is moved, realizing our weakness and think-
ing: poor child, how hard he tries to behave well!
"We've got to be filled, to be imbued with the idea that our Father, and very much
our Father, is God who is both near us and in heaven."
This awareness of God as Father was something which the first chancellor of
the University of Navarre experienced with special intensity one day in 1931:
"They were difficult times, from a human point of view, but even so I was quite
sure of the impossible -- this impossibility which you can now see as an accom-
plished fact. I felt God acting within me with overriding force, filling my heart and
bringing to my lips this tender invocation -- Abba! Pater! I was out in the street,
in a tram; being out in the street is no hindrance for our contemplative dialogue;
for us, the hustle and bustle of the world is a place for prayer" (St. J. Escrivá,
quoted in Bernal, p. 214).
Gospel Reading: John 20:19-23
Jesus Appears to the Disciples
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[19] On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors shut where
the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and
said to them, "Peace be with you." [20] When He had said this, He showed
them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the
Lord. [21] Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has
sent Me, even so I send you." [22] And when He had said this, He breathed on
them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. [23] If you forgive the sins of
any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."
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Commentary:
19-20. Jesus appears to the Apostles on the evening of the day of which He rose.
He presents Himself in their midst without any need for the doors to be opened,
by using the qualities of His glorified body; but in order to dispel any impression
that He is only a spirit He shows them His hands and His side: there is no longer
any doubt about its being Jesus Himself, about His being truly risen from the
dead. He greets them twice using the words of greeting customary among the
Jews, with the same tenderness as He previously used put into this salutation.
These friendly words dispel the fear and shame the Apostles must have been
feeling at behaving so disloyally during His passion: He has created the normal
atmosphere of intimacy, and now He will endow them with transcendental powers.
21. Pope Leo XIII explained how Christ transferred His own mission to the Apos-
tles: "What did He wish in regard to the Church founded, or about to be founded?
This: to transmit to it the same mission and the same mandate which He had
received from the Father, that they should be perpetuated. This He clearly
resolved to do: this He actually did. 'As the Father hath sent Me, even so I send
you' (John 20:21). 'As Thou didst send Me into the world, so I have sent them
into the world' (John 17:18). [...] When about to ascend into Heaven, He sends
His Apostles in virtue of the same power by which He had been sent from the
Father; and He charges them to spread abroad and propagate His teachings (cf.
Matthew 28:18), so that those obeying the Apostles might be saved, and those
disobeying should perish (cf. Mark 16:16). [...] Hence He commands that the
teaching of the Apostles should be religiously accepted and piously kept as if it
were His own: 'He who hears you hears Me, and he who rejects you rejects Me'
(Luke 10:16). Wherefore the Apostles are ambassadors of Christ as He is the
ambassador of the Father" ([Pope] Leo XIII, "Satis Cognitum"). In this mission
the bishops are the successors of the Apostles: "Christ sent the Apostles as He
Himself had been sent by the Father, and then through the Apostles made their
successors, the bishops, sharers in His consecration and mission. The function
of the bishops' ministry was handed over in a subordinate degree to priests so that
they might be appointed in the order of the priesthood and be co-workers of the
episcopal order for the proper fulfillment of the apostolic mission that had been
entrusted to it by Christ" (Vatican II, "Presbyterorum Ordinis", 2).
22-23. The Church has always understood--and has in fact defined--that Jesus
Christ here conferred on the Apostles authority to forgive sins, a power which is
exercised in the Sacrament of Penance. "The Lord then especially instituted the
Sacrament of Penance when, after being risen from the dead, He breathed upon
His disciples and said: "Receive the Holy Spirit...' The consensus of all the
Fathers has always acknowledged that by this action so sublime and words so
clear the power of forgiving and retaining sins was given to the Apostles and their
lawful successors for reconciling the faithful who have fallen after Baptism"
(Council of Trent, "De Paenitentia", Chapter 1).
The Sacrament of Penance is the most sublime expression of God's love and
mercy towards men, described so vividly in Jesus' parable of the prodigal son (cf.
Luke 15:11-32). The Lord always awaits us, with His arms wide open, waiting for
us to repent--and then He will forgive us and restore us to the dignity of being His
sons.
The Popes have consistently recommended Christians to have regular recourse
to this Sacrament: "For a constant and speedy advancement in the path of virtue
we highly recommend the pious practice of frequent Confession, introduced by
the Church under the guidance of the Holy Spirit; for by this means we grow in
a true knowledge of ourselves and in Christian humility, bad habits are uprooted,
spiritual negligence and apathy are prevented, the conscience is purified and the
will strengthened, salutary spiritual direction is obtained, and grace is increased
by the efficacy of the Sacrament itself" (Pius XII, "Mystici Corporis").
Alternate Gospel Reading: John 14:15-16, 23b-26
The Promise of the Holy Spirit
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Jesus said to His disciples: [15] "If you love Me, you will keep My command-
ments. [16] And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Counsellor,
to be with you for ever.
[23b] "If a man loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and
We will come to him and make Our home with him. [24] He who does not love
Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the
Father's who sent Me.
[25] "These things I have spoken to you, while I am still with you. [26] But the
Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach
you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you."
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Commentary:
15. Genuine love must express itself in deeds. "This indeed is love: obeying and
believing in the loved one" (St. John Chrysostom, "Hom. on St. John", 74). There-
fore, Jesus wants us to understand that love of God, if it is to be authentic, must
be reflected in a life of generous and faithful self-giving obedient to the Will of God:
he who accepts God's commandments and obeys them, he it is who loves Him
(cf. John 14:21). St. John himself exhorts us in another passage not to "love in
word or speech but in deed and in truth" (1 John 3:18), and he teaches us that
"this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments" (1 John 5:3).
16-17. On a number of occasions the Lord promises the Apostles that He will
send them the Holy Spirit (cf. 14:26; 15:36; 16:7-14; Matthew 10:20). Here He
tells them that one result of His mediation with the Father will be the coming of
the Paraclete. The Holy Spirit in fact does come down on the disciples after our
Lord's ascension (cf. Acts 2:1-13), sent by the Father and by the Son. In promi-
sing here that through Him the father will send them the Holy Spirit, Jesus is
revealing the mystery of the Blessed Trinity.
"Consoler": the Greek word sometimes anglicized as "paraclete" means etymo-
logically "called to be beside one" to accompany, to console, protect, defend.
Hence the word is translated as Consoler, Advocate, etc. Jesus speaks of the
Holy Spirit as "another Consoler", because He will be given them in Christ's
place as Advocate or Defender to help them, since Jesus is going to ascend to
Heaven. In 1 John 2:1 Jesus Christ is described as a Paraclete: "We have an ad-
vocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous". Jesus Christ, then, also is
our Advocate and Mediator in Heaven where He is with the Father (cf. Hebrews
7:25). It is now the role of the Holy Spirit to guide, protect and vivify the Church,
"for there are, as we know, two factors which Christ has promised and arranged
in different ways to continue His mission [...]: the apostolate and the Spirit. The
apostolate is the external and objective factor, it forms the material body, so to
speak, of the Church and is the source of her visible and social structures. The
Holy Spirit acts internally within each person, as well as on the whole communi-
ty, animating, vivifying, sanctifying" (Paul VI, "Opening Address at the Third Ses-
sion of Vatican II", 14 September 1964).
The Holy Spirit is our Consoler as we make our way in this world amid difficul-
ties and the temptation to feel depressed. "In spite of our great limitations, we
can look up to Heaven with confidence and joy: God loves us and frees us from
our sins. The presence and the action of the Holy Spirit in the Church are a fore-
taste of eternal happiness, of the joy and peace for which we are destined by
God" (St. J. Escriva, "Christ Is Passing By", 128).
22-23. It was commonly held by the Jews that when the Messiah came He
would be revealed to the whole world as King and Savior. The Apostles take Je-
sus's words as a revelation for themselves alone, and they are puzzled. Hence
the question from Judas Thaddeus. It is interesting to note how easy the Apos-
tles' relations with our Lord are: they simply ask Him about things they do not
know and get Him to clear up any doubts they have. This is a good example of
how we should approach Jesus, who is also our Teacher and Friend.
Jesus' reply may seem evasive but in fact, by referring to the form His manifesta-
tion takes, He explains why He does not reveal Himself to the world: He makes
Himself known to him who loves Him and keeps His commandments. God repea-
tedly revealed Himself in the Old Testament and promised to dwell in the midst
of the people (cf. Exodus 29:45; Ezekiel 37:26-27; etc.); but here Jesus speaks
of a presence of God in each person. St. Paul refers to this presence when he
asserts that each of us is a temple of the Holy Spirit (cf. 2 Corinthians 6:16-17).
St. Augustine, in reflecting on God's ineffable nearness in the soul, exclaims,
"Late have I loved You, O Beauty so ancient and so new, late have I loved You!
You were within me, and I was in the world outside myself. I searched for You
in the world outside myself.... You were with me, but I was not with You. The
beautiful things of this world kept me far from You and yet, if they had not been
in You, they would have no being at all. You called me; You cried aloud to me;
You broke my barrier of deafness; You shone upon me; Your radiance enve-
loped me; You cured my blindness" ("Confessions", X, 27, 38).
Jesus is referring to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the soul renewed by grace:
"Our heart now needs to distinguish and adore each one of the Divine Persons.
The soul is, as it were, making a discovery in the supernatural life, like a little
child opening his eyes to the world about him. The soul spends time lovingly with
the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and readily submits to the work of the
lifegiving Paraclete, who gives Himself to us with no merit on our part, bestowing
His gifts and the supernatural virtues!" (St. J. Escriva, "Friends of God", 306).
25-26. Jesus has expounded His teaching very clearly, but the Apostles do not
yet fully understand it; they will do so later on, when they receive the Holy Spirit
who will guide them unto all truth (cf. John 16:13). "And so the Holy Spirit did
teach them and remind them: He taught them what Christ had not said because
they could not take it in, and He reminded them of what the Lord had taught and
which, either because of the obscurity of the things or because of the dullness
of their minds, they had not been able to retain" (Theophylact, "Enarratio in Evan-
gelium Ioannis, ad loc").
The word translated here as "bring to your remembrance" also includes the idea
of "suggesting": the Holy Spirit will recall to the Apostles' memory what they had
already heard Jesus say--and He will give them light to enable them to discover
the depth and richness of everything they have seen and heard. Thus, "the Apos-
tles handed on to their hearers what He had said and done, but with that fuller
understanding which they, instructed by the glorious events of Christ (cf. John
2:22) and enlightened by the Spirit of truth, now enjoyed: (Vatican II, "Dei Ver-
bum", 19).
"Christ has not left His followers without guidance in the task of understanding
and living the Gospel. Before returning to His Father, He promised to send His
Holy Spirit to the Church: 'But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father
will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remem-
brance all I have said to you'" (John 14:26).
"This same Spirit guides the successors of the Apostles, your bishops, united
with the Bishop of Rome, to whom it was entrusted to preserve the faith and to
'preach the Gospel to the whole creation' (Mark 16:15). Listen to their voices,
for they bring you the word of the Lord" (John Paul II, "Homily at Knock Shrine"
30 September 1979).
In the Gospels is consigned to writing, under the charism of divine inspiration,
the Apostles' version of everything they had witnessed--and the understanding of
it, which they obtained after Pentecost. So it is that these sacred writers "faithful-
ly hand on what Jesus, the Son of God, while He lived among men, really did and
taught for their eternal salvation, until the day when He was taken up (cf. Acts 1:
1-2)" (Vatican II, "Dei Verbum", 19). This is why the Church so earnestly recom-
mends the reading of Sacred Scripture, particularly the Gospels. "How I wish
your bearing and conversation were such that, on seeing or hearing you, people
would say: This man reads the life of Jesus Christ" (St. J. Escriva, "The Way",
2).
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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].