Fwd: JOHN 15:26-16:4: MONDAY'S GOSPEL FOR REFLECTION
Obi OBIEKWE
Subject: JOHN 15:26-16:4: MONDAY'S GOSPEL FOR REFLECTION
Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (To the Greater Glory of God)
For: Monday, May 29, 2000
6th Week of Easter
From: John 15:26-16:4
A Hostile World (Continuation)
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(Jesus said to His disciples,) [26] "But when the Counsellor comes,
whom I shall send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, who
proceeds from the Father, He will bear witness to Me; [27] and you also
are witnesses, because you have been with Me from the beginning.
The Action of the Holy Spirit
-----------------------------
[1] "I have said all this to you to keep you from falling away.
[2] They will put you out of the synagogues; indeed, the hour is coming
when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God.
[3] And they will do this because they have not known the Father, nor
Me. [4] But I have said these things to you, that when their hour
comes you may remember that I told you of them."
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Commentary:
26-27. Just before the Ascension our Lord will again charge the
Apostles with the mission to bear witness to Him (cf. Acts 1:8). They
have been witnesses to the public ministry, death and resurrection of
Christ, which is a condition for belonging to the Apostolic College, as
we see when Matthias is elected to take the place of Judas (cf. Acts
1:21-22). But the public preaching of the Twelve and the life of the
Church will not start until the Holy Spirit comes.
Every Christian should be living witness to Jesus, and the Church as a
whole is a permanent testimony to Him: "The mission of the Church is
carried out by means of that activity through which, in obedience to
Christ's command and moved by the grace and love of the Holy Spirit,
the Church makes itself fully present to all men and peoples in order
to lead them to the faith, freedom and peace of Christ by the example
of its life and preaching, by the sacraments and other means of grace"
(Vatican II, "Ad Gentes", 5).
2-3. Fanaticism can even bring a person to think that it is permissible
to commit a crime in order to serve the cause of religion--as happened
with those Jews who persecuted Jesus to the point of bringing about His
death, and who later persecuted the Church. Paul of Tarsus was a
typical example of misguided zeal (cf. Acts 22:3-16); but once Paul
realized he was wrong he changed and became one of Christ's most
fervent apostles. As Jesus predicted, the Church has often experienced
this sort of fanatical, diabolical hatred. At other times this false
zeal, though not so obvious, takes the form of systematic and unjust
opposition to the things of God. "In the moments of struggle and
opposition, when perhaps `the good' fill your way with obstacles, lift
up your apostolic heart: listen to Jesus as He speaks of the grain of
mustard seed and of the leaven. And say to Him: `edissere nobis
parabolam': explain the parable to me.'
"And you will feel the joy of contemplating the victory to come: the
birds of the air lodging in the branches of your apostolate, now only
in its beginnings, and the whole of the meal leavened" ([Blessed] J.
Escriva, "The Way", 695).
In these cases, as our Lord also pointed out, those who persecute God's
true servants think they are serving Him: they confuse God's interest
with a deformed idea of religion.
4. Here Jesus prophesies not only His own death (cf. Matthew 16:21-23)
but also the persecution His disciples will suffer. He forewarns them
of the contradictions they will experience so that they will not be
scandalized or depressed when they do arise; in fact, difficulties will
give them an opportunity to demonstrate their faith.
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+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+ Set your mind on God's kingdom +
+ and His justice before everything else, +
+ and all the rest will come to you as well. +
+ (Matthew 6:33) +
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++**************
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