Saturday
6th Week of Easter
1st Reading: Acts 18:23-28
Galatia and Phrygia
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[23] After spending some time there he (Paul) departed and went from place to
place through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.
Apollos in Ephesus and Corinth
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[24] Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He
was an eloquent man, well versed in the scriptures.[25] He had been instructed
in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately
the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John. [26] He
began to speak boldly in the synagogue; but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him,
they took him and expounded to him the way of God more accurately. [27] And
when he wished to cross to Achaia, the brethren encouraged him, and wrote to
the disciples to receive him. When he arrived, he greatly helped those who
through grace had believed, [28] for he powerfully confuted the Jews in public,
showing by the scriptures that the Christ was Jesus.
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Commentary:
18:23-21:26. Paul's third apostolic journey starts, like the earlier ones, from
Antioch, but it ends with his imprisonment in Jerusalem (Acts 21:27ff). It was a
long journey, but Luke devotes most attention to events in Ephesus.
To begin with Paul tours the cities he already evangelized in Galatia and Phrygia:
this would have taken him from the last months of 53 to early 54. Then he goes
to Ephesus, where he stays for almost three years and meets up with all kinds
of contradictions (cf. 2 Cor 1:8), as he describes it in his letter to the Corinthians
in spring 57: "To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are ill-clad and buf-
feted and homeless.... We have become, and are now, as the refuse of the world,
the offscourings of all things" (1 Cor 4:11, 13). Despite this, or perhaps because
of it, his apostolate was very fruitful and the Christian message spread through
all proconsular Asia, to important cities like Colossae, Laodicae, Hierapolis, etc.
and to countless towns; as he put it in a letter to the Corinthians (1 Cor 16:9),
"a wide door for effective work has opened to me".
The Apostle had to leave Ephesus on account of the revolt of the silversmiths,
moving on towards Macedonia and Achaia to visit the churches he founded on
his second journey--Philippi, Thessalonica and Corinth. He stayed there the
three months of the winter of 57/58. On his return journey (to Jerusalem, to
bring money collected) he went via Macedonia to avoid a Jewish plot. He em-
barked at Neapolis (the port near Philippi), stopping off at Troas, Miletus
(where he met with the elders from Ephesus whom he had called to come to
him), Tyre and Caesarea, and managing to reach Jerusalem in time for the
Passover.
24. Priscilla and Aquila knew how valuable a man with Apollos' qualities would
be if he could be got to dedicate himself to the Lord's service; so they took the
initiative and spoke to him. Monsignor Escriva sees this episode as a good les-
son about boldness in speaking about God, as "an event that demonstrates the
wonderful apostolic zeal of the early Christians. Scarcely a quarter of a century
had passed since Jesus had gone up to heaven and already his fame had
spread to many towns and villages. In the city of Ephesus a man arrived, Apol-
los by name, 'an eloquent man, well versed in the scriptures'. . . . A glimmer of
Christ's light had already filtered into the mind of this man. He had heard about
our Lord and he passed the news on to others. But he still had some way to
go. He needed to know more if he was to acquire the fulness of the faith and so
come to love our Lord truly. A Christian couple, Aquila and Priscilla, hear him
speaking; they are not inactive or indifferent. They do not think: 'This man alrea-
dy knows enough; it's not our business to teach him.' They were souls who were
really eager to do apostolate and so they approached Apollos and 'took him and
expounded to him the way of God more accurately"' ("Friends of God", 269).
This was the kind of zeal the first Christians had; a little later on St Justin wrote:
"We do our very best to warn them [Jews and heretics], as we do you, not to be
deluded, for we know full well that whoever can speak out the truth and fails to
do so shall be condemned by God" ("Dialogue with Tryphon", 82, 3).
27. God uses people, in this case Apollos, to channel his grace to the faithful.
They are instruments of his; they preach his word and reap an apostolic harvest,
but it is God himself who makes the harvest grow, by providing his grace. "It de-
pends not upon man's will or exertion, but upon God's mercy" (Romans 9:16).
"It is not we who save souls and move them to do good. We are quite simply in-
struments, some more, some less worthy, for fulfilling God's plans for salvation.
If at any time we were to think that we ourselves were the authors of the good we
do, then our pride would return, more twisted than ever. The salt would lose its
flavor, the leaven would rot and the light would turn into darkness" (St. J. Escriva,
"Friends of God", 250).
Hence the importance of supernatural resources in apostolic activity: building is
in vain if God does not support it (cf. Psalm 127:1). "All the exterior effort is a
waste of time, if you lack Love. It's like sewing with a needle and no thread" (St.
J. Escriva, "The Way", 967).
Gospel Reading: John 16:23b-28
Fullness of Joy (Continuation)
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[Jesus said to His disciples,] [23b] Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask anything
of the Father, He will give it to you in My name. [24] Hitherto you have asked
nothing in My name; ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.
[25] "I have said this to you in figures; the hour is coming when I shall no longer
speak to in figures but tell you plainly of the Father. [26] In that day you will ask
in My name; and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; [27] for
the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that
I came from the Father. [28] I came from the Father and have come into the
world; again, I am leaving the world and going to the Father."
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Commentary:
25-30. As can be seen also from other passages in the Gospels, Jesus spent
time explaining His doctrine in more detail to His Apostles than to the crowd (cf.
Mark 4:10-12 and paragraph)--to train them for their mission of preaching the
Gospel to the whole world (cf. Matthew 28:18-20). However, our Lord also used
metaphors or parables when imparting instruction to the Apostles, and He does
so in this discourse of the Last Supper--the vine, the woman giving birth, etc.:
He stimulates their curiosity and they, because they do not understand, ask Him
questions (cf. verses 17-18). Jesus now tells them that the time is coming when
He will speak to them in a completely clear way so that they will know exactly
what He means. This He will do after the Resurrection (cf. Acts 1:3). But even
now, since He knows their thoughts, He is making it ever plainer to them that He
is God, for only God can know what is happening inside someone (cf. 2:25).
Verse 28, "I came from the Father and have come into the world; again, I am
leaving the world and going to the Father" summarizes the mystery of Christ's
Person (cf. John 1:14; 20:31).
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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.
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