Friday

3rd Week of Easter

1st Reading: Acts 9:1-20

Saul on His Way to Damascus
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[1] But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord,
went to the high priest [2] and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damas-
cus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring
them bound to Jerusalem. [3] Now a he journeyed he approached Damascus, and
suddenly a light from Heaven flashed about him. [4] And he fell to the ground and
heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?" [5] And he
said, "Who are you, Lord?" And He said, "I am Jesus whom you are persecuting;
[6] but rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do." [7] The
men who were travelling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing
no one. [8] Saul arose from the ground; and when his eyes were opened, he could
see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. [9]
And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

Ananias Baptizes Saul
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[10] Now there was a disciple at Damascus called Ananias. The Lord said to him
in a vision, "Ananias." And he said, "Here I am, Lord." [11] And the Lord said to
him, "Rise and go to the street called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas
for a man of Tarsus named Saul; for behold, he is praying, [12] and he has seen
a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain
his sight." [13] But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this
man, how much evil he has done to Thy saints at Jerusalem; [14] and here he has
authority from the chief priests to bind all who call upon Thy name." [15] But the
Lord said to him, "Go for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry My name
before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; [16] for I will show him how
much he must suffer for the sake of My name." [17] So Ananias departed and
entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord
Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came, has sent me that
you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit." [18] And immediately
something like scales fell from his eyes and he regained his sight. Then he rose
and was baptized, [19] and took food and was strengthened.

For several days he was with the disciples at Damascus.

Paul Begins His Apostolate
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[20] And in the synagogues immediately he proclaimed Jesus, saying, "He is the
Son of God."

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Commentary:

1-3. Roman authorities recognized the moral authority of the Sanhedrin and even
permitted it to exercise a certain jurisdiction over members of Jewish communities
outside Palestine--as was the case with Damascus. The Sanhedrin even had the
right to extradite Jews to Palestine (cf. I Maccabees 15:21).

Damascus was about 230-250 kilometers (150 miles) from Jerusalem, depending
on which route one took. Saul and his associates, who would probably have been
mounted, would have had no difficulty in doing the journey in under a week. This
apparition took place towards the end of the journey, when they were near Damas-
cus.

2. "The Way": the corresponding word in Hebrew also means religious behavior.
Here it refers to both Christian lifestyle and the Gospel itself; indirectly it means
all the early followers of Jesus (cf. Acts 18:25ff; 19:9, 23; 22:4) and all those who
come after them and are on the way to Heaven; it reminds us of Jesus' words,
"The gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it
are few" (Matthew 7:14).

3-19. This is the first of the three accounts of the calling of Saul--occurring pro-
bably between the years 34 and 36--that are given in the Acts of the Apostles (cf.
Acts 22:5-16; 26:10-18); where important events are concerned, St. Luke does
not mind repeating himself. Once again the Light shines in the darkness (cf.
John 1:5). It does so here in a spectacular way and, as in every conversion, it
makes the convert see God, himself and others in a new way.

However, the episode on the road to Damascus is not only a conversion. It marks
the beginning of St. Paul's vocation: "What amazes you seems natural to me: that
God has sought you out in the practice of your profession!

"This is how He sought the first, Peter and Andrew, James and John, beside their
nets, and Matthew, sitting in the custom-house.

"And--wonder of wonders!--Paul, in his eagerness to destroy the seed of the
Christians" (St. J. Escriva, "The Way", 799).

The background to St. Luke's concise account is easy to fill in. There would have
been no Hellenist Christians left in Jerusalem: they had fled the city, some going
as far afield as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch. Many had sought refuge in
Damascus, and Saul must have realized that their evangelizing zeal would win
many converts among faithful Jews in that city. Saul genuinely wanted to serve
God, which explains his readiness to respond to grace. Like most Jews of his
time, he saw the Messiah as a political liberator, a warrior-king, a half-Heavenly,
half-earthly figure such as described in the apocryphal "Book of Enoch", 46: "It is
impossible to imagine how even his glance terrifies his enemies. Wherever he
turns, everything trembles; wherever his voice reaches everything is overwhelmed
and those who hear it are dissolved as wax in fire." A hero of this type does not
fall into the power of his enemies, much less let them crucify him; on the contrary,
he is a victor, he annihilates his enemies and establishes an everlasting kingdom
of peace and justice. For Saul, Jesus' death on a cross was a clear proof that He
was a false messiah; and the whole notion of a brotherhood of Jews and Gentiles
was inconceivable.

He has almost reached Damascus when a light flashes; he is thrown onto the
ground and hears a voice from Heaven calling his name twice, in a tone of sad
complaint.

Saul surrenders unconditionally and places himself at the Lord's service. He
does not bemoan his past life; he is ready to start anew. No longer is the Cross
a "scandal": it has become for him a sign of salvation, the "power of God", a throne
of victory, whose praises he will sing in his epistles. Soon St. Paul will learn more
about this Way and about all that Jesus did and taught, but from this moment on-
wards, the moment of his calling, he realizes that Jesus is the risen Messiah, in
whom the prophecies find fulfillment; he believes in the divinity of Christ: he sees
how different his idea of the Messiah was from the glorified, pre-existing and eternal
Son of God; he understands Christ's mystical presence in His followers: "Why do
you persecute me?" In other words, he realizes that he has been chosen by God,
called by God, and immediately places himself at his service.

4. This identification of Christ and Christians is something which the Apostle will
later elaborate on when he speaks of the Mystical Body of Christ (cf. Colossians
1:18; Ephesians 1:22f).

St. Bede comments as follows: "Jesus does not say, 'Why do you persecute My
members?', but, 'Why do you persecute Me?', because He Himself still suffers
affronts in His body, which is the Church. Similarly Christ will take account of the
good actions done to His members, for He said, 'I was hungry and you gave Me
food...' (Matthew 25:35), and explaining these words He added 'As you did it to
one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me' (Matthew 25:40)" ("Super
Act. Expositio, ad loc.").

5-6. In the Vulgate and in many other translations these words are added between
the end of verse 5 and the start of verse 6: "It is hard for thee to kick against the
goad. And he, trembling and astonished, said: "Lord, what will Thou have me to
do? And the Lord said to him". These words do not seem to be part of the original
sacred text but rather a later explanatory gloss; for this reason the New Vulgate
omits them. (The first part of the addition comes from Paul's address in Acts
26:14).

6. The calling of Saul was exceptional as regards the manner in which God called
him; but the effect it had on him was the same as what happens when God gives
a specific calling to the apostolate to certain individual Christians, inviting them to
follow Him more closely. Paul's immediate response is a model of how those who
receive these specific callings should act (all Christians, of course, have a common
calling to holiness and apostolate that comes with Baptism).

[Pope] Paul VI describes in this way the effects of this specific kind of vocation
in a person's soul: "The apostolate is [...] an inner voice, which makes one both
restless and serene, a voice that is both gentle and imperious, troublesome and
affectionate, a voice which comes unexpectedly and with great events and then,
at a particular point, exercises a strong attraction, as it were revealing to us our
life and our destiny. It speaks prophetically and almost in a tone of victory, which
eventually dispels all uncertainty, all timidity and all fear, and which facilitates--
making it easy, desirable and pleasant--the response of our whole personality,
when we pronounce that word which reveals the supreme secret of love: Yes;
Yes, Lord, tell what I must do and I will try to do it, I will do it. Like St. Paul,
thrown to the ground at the gates of Damascus: What would You have me do?

"The roots of the apostolate run deep: the apostolate is vocation, election, interior
encounter with Christ, abandonment of one's personal autonomy to His will, to His
invisible presence; it is a kind of substitution of our poor, restless heart, inconstant
and at times unfaithful yet hungry for love, for His heart, the heart of Christ which
is beginning to pulsate in the one who has been chosen. And then comes the
second act in the psychological drama of the apostolate: the need to spread, to
do, to give, to speak, to pass on to others one's own treasure, one's own fire. [...]

"The apostolate becomes a continuous expansion of one's soul, the exuberance
of a personality taken over by Christ and animated by HisSpirit; it becomes a
need to hasten, to work, to do everything one can to spread the Kingdom of God,
to save other souls, to save all souls" ("Homily", 14 October 1968).

8-11. Straight Street runs through Damascus from east to west and can still be
identified today.

13. Ananias refers to Christ's followers as "saints"; this was the word normally
used to describe the disciples, first in Palestine and then in the world at large. 
God is THE Holy One (cf. Isaiah 6:3); as the Old Testament repeatedly says,
those who approach God and keep His commandments share in this holiness:
"The Lord said to Moses, 'Say to all the congregation of the people of Israel,
You shall be holy; for I the Lord your God am holy'" (Leviticus 19:1-2).

The use of this term is an example of the spiritual sensitivity of our first brothers
and sisters in the faith: "What a moving name--saints! --the early Christians used
to address each other!...

"Learn to be a brother to your brothers" (St. J. Escriva, "The Way", 469).

15-16. Our Lord calls St. Paul His "vessel of election", which is a Hebraicism
equivalent to "chosen instrument", and He tells Ananias how much the Apostle
will have to suffer on His account. A Christian called to the apostolate is also,
by virtue of this divine vocation, an instrument in the hands of God; to be effective
he must be docile: he must let God use him and must do what God tells him.

The task God has given him is far beyond Paul's ability--"to carry My name be-
fore the Gentiles and kings and sons of Israel". In Acts we will see how Paul
fulfills his mission, with the help of God's grace and suffering a great deal on
account of His name. Down through the centuries, in diverse circumstance,
those whom the Lord elects to carry out specific missions will also be able to
perform them if they are good instruments who allow grace to act in them and
who are ready to suffer for their ideals.

19. In spite of the exceptional manner in which God called St. Paul, He desired
him to mature in the normal way--to be instructed by others and learn God's will
through them. In this case he chose Ananias to confer Baptism on Paul and
teach him the basics of the Christian faith.

In Ananias we can see a trace of the role of the spiritual director or guide in
Christian asceticism. There is a principle which states that "no one can be a
good judge in his own case, because everyone judges according to his own incli-
nations" (cf. Cassian, "Collationes", XVI, 11). A person guiding a soul has a
special "grace of state" to make God's will known to him; and even if the guide
makes a mistake, the person who is being guided will--if obedient--always do the
right thing, always do God's will. In this connection St. Vincent Ferrer says: "Our
Lord Jesus Christ, without whom we can do nothing, will not give His grace to him
who, though he has access to an expert guide, rejects this precious means of
sanctification, thinking that he can look after on his own everything that touches
on his salvation. He who has a director, whom he obeys in everything, will reach
his goal more easily and more quickly than if he had acted as his own guide,
even if he be very intelligent and have the very best of spiritual books" ("Treatise
on the Spiritual Life", 2, 1).

On the spiritual guidance of ordinary Christians, who seek holiness and carry out
apostolate in the context of everyday life, St Escriva, writes: "A Director. You
need one. So that you can give yourself to God, and give yourself fully...by
obedience. A director who understands your apostolate, who knows what God
wants: that way he will second the work of the Holy Spirit in your soul, without
taking you from your place, filling you with peace, and teaching you how to make
your work fruitful" ("The Way", 62).

20-23. In his letter to the Galatians (cf. Galatians 1:16f) St. Paul tells of how he
went into Arabia after his conversion and then returned to Damascus. He spent
almost three years away, and it was on his return that he preached the divinity of
Jesus, using all his energy and learning, now placed at the service of Christ. This
surprised and confounded the Jews, who immediately began to take action against
him.


Gospel Reading: John 6:52-59

The Discourse on the Bread of Life (Continuation)
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(Jesus said to the Jews,) [52] The Jews disputed among themselves, saying,
"How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?" [53] So Jesus said to them,
"Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink
His blood, you have no life in you; [54] he who eats My flesh and drinks My blood
has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. [55] For My flesh is food
indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. [56] He who eats My flesh and drinks My
blood abides in Me, and I in him. [57] As the living Father sent Me, and I live
because of the Father, so he who eats Me will live because of Me. [58] This is
the bread which came from Heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he
who eats this bread will live for ever." This He said in the synagogue, as He
taught in Capernaum.

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Commentary:

49-51. The manna during the Exodus was a figure of this bread--Christ himself--
which nourishes Christians on their pilgrimage through this world. Communion
is the wonderful banquet at which Christ gives Himself to us: "the bread which I
shall give for the life of the world is My flesh". These words promise the manifes-
tation of the Eucharist at the Last Supper: "This is My body which is for you" (1
Corinthians 11:24). The words "for the life of the world" and "for you" refer to the
redemptive value of the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. In some sacrifices of the
Old Testament, which were a figure of the sacrifice of Christ, part of the animal
offered up was later used for food, signifying participation in the sacred rite (cf.
Exodus 11:3-4). So, by receiving Holy Communion, we are sharing in the sacri-
fice of Christ: which is why the Church sings in the Liturgy of the Hours on the
Feast of Corpus Christi: "O sacred feast in which we partake of Christ: His suf-
ferings are remembered, our minds are filled with His grace and we receive a
pledge of the glory that is to be ours" ("Magnificat Antiphon", Evening Prayer II).

52. Christ's hearers understand perfectly well that He means exactly what He
says; but they cannot believe that what He says could be true; if they had under-
stood Him in a metaphorical, figurative or symbolic sense there would be no
reason for them to be surprised and nothing to cause an argument. Later, Jesus
reaffirms what He has said--confirming what they have understood Him to say
(cf. verses 54-56).

53. Once again Jesus stresses very forcefully that it is necessary to receive Him
in the Blessed Eucharist in order to share in divine life and develop the life of grace
received in Baptism. No parent is content to bring children into the world: they
have to be nourished and looked after to enable them to reach maturity. "We
receive Jesus Christ in Holy Communion to nourish our souls and to give us an
increase of grace and the gift of eternal life" ("St. Pius X Catechism", 289).

54. Jesus clearly states that His body and blood are a pledge of eternal life and
a guarantee of the resurrection of the body. St. Thomas Aquinas gives this
explanation: "The Word gives life to our souls, but the Word made flesh nourishes
our bodies. In this Sacrament is contained the Word not only in His divinity but
also in His humanity; therefore, it is the cause not only of the glorification of our
souls but also of that of our bodies" ("Commentary on St. John, in loc.").

Our Lord uses a stronger word than just "eating" (the original verb could be trans-
lated as "chewing") which shows that Communion is a real meal. There is no
room for saying that He was speaking only symbolically, which would mean that
Communion was only a metaphor and not really eating and drinking the Body and
Blood of Christ. "All these invitations, promises and threats sprang from the great
desire which (Jesus) had of giving us Himself in the holy Sacrament of the altar.
But why should Jesus so ardently desire us to receive Him in Holy Communion?
It is because love always sighs for, and tends to a union with, the object beloved.
True friends wish to be united in such a manner as to become only one. The love
of God for us being immense, He destined us to possess Him not only in Heaven,
but also here below, by the most intimate union, under the appearance of bread in
the Eucharist. It is true we do not see Him; but He beholds us, and is really
present; yes, He is present in order that we may possess Him and He conceals
Himself, that we may desire Him, and until we reach our true homeland Jesus
Christ wishes in this way to be entirely ours, and to be perfectly united to us"
(St. Alphonsus Liguori, "The Love of Our Lord Jesus Christ Reduced to Practice",
Chapter 2).

55. In the same way as bodily food is necessary for life on earth, Holy Commu-
.nion is necessary for maintaining the life of the soul, which is why the Church
exhorts us to receive this Sacrament frequently: "Every day, as is desirable,
and in the greatest possible numbers, the faithful must take an active part in
the sacrifice of the Mass, avail themselves of the pure, holy refreshment of Holy
Communion and make a suitable thanksgiving in return for this great gift of Christ
the Lord. Here are the words they should keep in mind: 'Jesus Christ and the
Church desire all Christ's faithful to approach the sacred banquet every day. 
The basis of this desire is that they should be united to God by the sacrament
and draw strength from it to restrain lust, to wash away the slight faults of daily
occurrence and to take precautions against the more serious sins to which
human frailty is liable' (Decree of the S.C. of the Council, 20 December 1905)"
(Paul VI, "Mysterium Fidei").

"The Savior has instituted the most august sacrament of the Eucharist, which
truly contains His flesh and His blood, so that he who eats this bread may live
forever; whosoever, therefore, makes use of it often with devotion so strengthens
the health and the life of his soul, that it is almost impossible for him to be poi-
soned by any kind of evil affection. We cannot be nourished with this flesh of life,
and live with the affections of death. [...]. Christians who are damned will be
unable to make any reply when the just Judge shows them how much they are
to blame for dying spiritually, since it was so easy for them to maintain them-
selves in life and in health by eating His Body which He had left them for this
purpose. Unhappy souls, He will say, why did you die, seeing that you had at
your command the fruit and the food of life?" (St. Francis de Sales, "Introduction
to the Devout Life", II, 20, 1).

56. The most important effect of the Blessed Eucharist is intimate union with
Jesus Christ. The very word "communion" suggests sharing in the life of our Lord
and becoming one with Him; if our union with Jesus is promoted by all the sacra-
ments through the grace which they give us, this happens more intensely in the
Eucharist, for in it we receive not only grace but the very Author of grace: "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, though many, are one body, all of us who partake of the one bread' (1
Corinthians 10:17)" (Vatican II, "Lumen Gentium", 7). Precisely because the
Eucharist is the sacrament which best signifies and effects our union with Christ,
it is there that the whole Church manifests and effects its unity: Jesus Christ
"instituted in His Church the wonderful sacrament of the Eucharist, by which the
unity of the Church is both signified and brought about" (Vatican II, "Unitatis
Redintegratio", 2).

57. In Christ, the Incarnate Word sent to mankind, "the whole fullness of deity,
dwells bodily (Colossians 2:9) through the ineffable union of His human nature
and His divine nature in the Person of the Word. By receiving in this sacrament
the body and blood of Christ indissolubly united to His divinity, we share in the
divine life of the second Person of the Blessed Trinity. We will never be able to
appreciate enough the intimacy with God Himself--Father, Son and Holy Spirit--
that we are offered in the eucharistic banquet.

"We can therefore do nothing more agreeable to Jesus Christ than to go to Com-
munion with the dispositions suitable to so great an action, since we are then
united to Jesus Christ, according to the desire of this all-loving God. I have said
with 'suitable' and not 'worthy' disposition, for who could communicate if it was
necessary to be worthy of so great a Savior? No one but a God would be worthy
to receive a God. But by this word suitable, or convenient, I mean such a dispo-
sition as becomes a miserable creature, who is clothed with the unhappy flesh
of Adam. Ordinarily speaking, it is sufficient that we communicate in a state of
grace and with an anxious desire of advancing in the love of Jesus Christ" (St.
Alphonsus Liguori, "The Love of Our Lord Jesus Christ Reduced to Practice",
Chapter 2).

8. For the third time (cf. 6:31-32 and 6:49) Jesus compares the true bread of life,
His own body, with the manna God used to feed the Israelites every day during
their forty years in the wilderness--thereby inviting us to nourish our soul fre-
quently with the food of His body.

"Going to Communion every day for so many years! Anybody else would be a
saint by now, you told me, and I...I'm always the same!' Son, I replied, keep up
your daily Communion, and think: what would I be if I had not gone'" (St J. Es-
criva, "The Way", 534).
　

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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].