April 29, 2026
Memorial of Saint Catherine of Siena,
Virgin and Doctor of the Church
Lectionary: 281
Reading
I
The word of God
continued to spread and grow.
After Barnabas and Saul completed their relief mission,
they returned to Jerusalem,
taking with them John, who is called Mark.
Now there were in the Church at Antioch prophets and teachers:
Barnabas, Symeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene,
Manaen who was a close friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said,
“Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul
for the work to which I have called them.”
Then, completing their fasting and prayer,
they laid hands on them and sent them off.
So they, sent forth by the Holy Spirit,
went down to Seleucia
and from there sailed to Cyprus.
When they arrived in Salamis,
they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues.
Responsorial
Psalm
R.
(4) O God, let all the nations praise you!
or:
R. Alleluia.
May God have pity on us and bless us;
may he let
his face shine upon us.
So may your way be known upon earth;
among all
nations, your salvation.
R. O God, let all the nations
praise you!
or:
R. Alleluia.
May the nations be glad and exult
because you
rule the peoples in equity;
the nations
on the earth you guide.
R. O God, let all the nations
praise you!
or:
R. Alleluia.
May the peoples praise you, O God;
may all the
peoples praise you!
May God bless us,
and may all
the ends of the earth fear him!
R. O God, let all the nations
praise you!
or:
R. Alleluia.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia,
alleluia.
I am the light of the world, says the Lord;
whoever follows me will have the light of life.
R. Alleluia,
alleluia.
Gospel
Jesus cried out
and said,
“Whoever believes in me believes not only in me
but also in the one who sent me,
and whoever sees me sees the one who sent me.
I came into the world as light,
so that everyone who believes in me might not remain in darkness.
And if anyone hears my words and does not observe them,
I do not condemn him,
for I did not come to condemn the world but to save the world.
Whoever rejects me and does not accept my words
has something to judge him: the word that I spoke,
it will condemn him on the last day,
because I did not speak on my own,
but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and speak.
And I know that his commandment is eternal life.
So what I say, I say as the Father told me.”
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/042926.cfm
Commentary on Acts 12:24 – 13:5
There are three
great missionary journeys of Paul described in Acts of the Apostles and today
we see the beginning of the first. (Incidentally, he is still being called
‘Saul’ at this stage. The switch to ‘Paul’ is noted a few verses after the end
of today’s reading—see Acts 13:9.)
Saul and Barnabas
had just returned to Antioch from Jerusalem where they had brought relief
supplies to the brothers and sisters in Jerusalem who were suffering from
famine. Such mutual support of brothers in need is an essential element of
Christian community living. This is surely what the Gospel means when Jesus
tells his Apostles that, after leaving all things for him, they will find a
hundredfold mothers, brothers, sisters, houses…in a true Christian community,
no one will be in want.
With them they
brought John Mark. Was he the young man who fled naked on the night of Jesus’
arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane (Mark 14:51-52)? The writing of the second
Gospel is attributed to him and he accompanied Barnabas and Saul on part of
their first missionary journey.
We are also told
today of a number of people in the church at Antioch described as ‘prophets’
and ‘teachers’. These two terms have very specific meanings in the New
Testament and refer to particular ‘charisms’ (Greek, charis—meaning
specific spiritual gifts) with which certain people were endowed. It does not
identify in the group which was which, although there could be an overlap.
However, these two roles are usually regarded as distinct charisms. The
role of the prophet was to have a deeper insight into where God was calling the
community to serve. The prophet was a visionary and a pioneer and led the way
into new ways of proclaiming the Gospel.
The charism of the
‘teacher’ (Greek, didaskalos—from which the word ‘didactic’ is
derived), on the other hand, was his ability to instruct others on matters of
morality and doctrine—instruction usually based on the Scriptures.
The role of the
teacher was to communicate the common tradition in the community. The teacher
conserves and hands on. Paul, in a way, had both charisms, but was very much
the prophet in the sense described. He was the great innovator, in contrast to
Peter, who was the keeper of the tradition.
The five prophets
and teachers here named—Barnabas, Symeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen
(a friend of Herod the Tetrarch) and Saul—now represent the governing body of
the church of Antioch. They all seem to be Hellenistic, Greek-speaking Jews,
and it is possible that the names are listed in order of importance with
Barnabas at the head and Saul taking the last place. It seems he was still on
probation.
It suddenly
becomes clear to the community in their common prayer and fasting that God is
calling Barnabas and Saul for a special evangelising work. Paul’s first
missionary journey does not arise from his own initiative, but is a response to
the call of the Spirit made known as the community prays and fasts. Then, as a
sign of missioning, all lay their hands on the two missionaries. They are to go
and preach in the name of the community which has sent them.
About the upcoming
journeys of Paul and his companions, it is recommended that during the coming
days one consult a map, often found in good Bibles or on many biblical
websites, to follow the course of the three missionary journeys and see just
where the places mentioned are to be found.
They set off by
going down to Seleucia and from there to Cyprus (Barnabas came from Cyprus).
Seleucia was the seaport of Antioch, 27 km (16 miles) to the west and 8 km (5
miles) upstream from the mouth of the Orontes River. There were many Jews on
the island and the Gospel had already been preached there.
They landed at
Salamis, a town on the east coast of the central plain of Cyprus, near
present-day Famagusta. (This town is not to be confused with the more famous
place in Greece where the Greeks had a notable victory over the Persians.)
The first
objectives of the two missionaries are the Jewish synagogues. This will become
the pattern of all the mission journeys. The idea was always to approach the
Jews first on the principle that they had the first claim to hear the Gospel.
It would be only after their refusal to accept the message that Paul would turn
to the local Gentiles.
From today’s
readings we could ask ourselves:
- To what extent do I give spiritual and
material help to those in need in my community?
- Am I a teacher or a prophet in my
community? Or do I have some other charism by which I contribute to the
well-being of my community?
- In what ways do I spread the word of
the Gospel in my immediate environment? Am I known to be a committed and
caring Christian?
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Commentary on John 12:44-50
Today we come to
the end of what is called the “Book of Signs” (chaps 1-12) of John’s
Gospel. Through these signs—seven of them—Jesus clearly indicates who he
is and what his mission is.
Today’s passage is
a recapitulation of all that has been said in the “Book of Signs.” The
text says that Jesus “cried aloud” and spoke. This gives extra emphasis
to what Jesus is proclaiming. It is once again a call to believe in Jesus
where ‘believing in’ means much more than mere acceptance of the truth of his
words. It implies that there is also a personal commitment to Jesus and
to his mission.
And to believe in
Jesus is also to believe, to surrender oneself entirely, to the One who sent
him—the Father. All through this Gospel Jesus emphasises the
inseparability of the Father and the Son.
I have come as
light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in
the darkness.
This phrase
implies Jesus’ pre-existence as the Eternal Word as well as indicating that he
came with a mission—to bring light into darkness.
To put one’s faith
in Jesus is to put one’s faith in God the Father, from whom he comes. And
whoever really has insight into Jesus knows that he is in touch with God
himself. As he has said before, Jesus is a light taking away the darkness
with which we are surrounded. He also spells out more clearly than before
what happens if we reject him and prefer darkness to light:
I do not judge anyone
who hears my words and does not keep them, for I came not to judge the world
but to save the world.
Jesus has come to
bring salvation, to bring wholeness to the world and not to condemn it. But, he
says:
The one who
rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; on the last day the word
that I have spoken will serve as judge…
The sun’s role is
to give light, but when there are obstacles to that light we get shadows.
That is not the sun’s doing. Jesus, too, is the Light of the world.
But, because of certain behaviour on our part, there are shadows and even
darkness.
The ‘word’ of
Jesus is a challenge. It offers us a way of living and of inter-relating with
God, with others and with ourselves. If we choose another way we have only
ourselves to blame when our lives go downhill. But Jesus is always there to
lift us up. We only need to stretch out our hand and he will take it into
his own.
Jesus tells us
that his Father’s commands—which he also observes—mean eternal life. Everything
that Jesus did was the carrying out of his Father’s will. We are called
to follow the same path. If only we could realise that to follow Jesus is
not to fit ourselves into a straitjacket, but is a way to total freedom.
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Wednesday, April 29, 2026
Easter Time
Opening Prayer
Lord our God,
through Your Son Jesus Christ
You assure us that He came not to condemn
us but to bring
us life, a life worth
living, a life
that is rich
and refreshing us and our world with love and a spirit of
service.
Let Jesus stay with us as the light in which we see all that is good and worth living for and let
us share in His life that has no end. We ask this through
Christ our Lord.
Gospel Reading - John 12: 44-50
Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me believes
not only in me but
also in the one who sent me, and whoever
sees me sees the one who sent me. I came into the world as light, so that everyone who believes
in me might not remain in darkness. And if anyone
hears my words and does not observe
them, I do not condemn him,
for I did not come to condemn the world but to save the
world. Whoever rejects
me and does not accept my
words has something to judge him: the word that I spoke,
it will condemn
him on the last day, because I did
not speak on my own, but the Father who sent
me commanded me what to say and speak. And I know
that his commandment is eternal life.
So what I say, I say as the Father told me.”
Reflection
Today’s Gospel presents to us the last part of the Book of Signs (from
1 to 12), in which the Evangelist draws up a
balance. Many believed in Jesus and had the courage to manifest their faith publicly,
but they were
afraid to be expelled from the
Synagogue and many did not believe: “Though
they had been present when He
gave so many
signs, they did not believe
in Him; this was to fulfill the words
of the prophet Isaiah:
“Lord, who has given credence
to what they have heard from us? And who has seen in it a revelation of the Lord’s arm?” (Jn 12: 37-38).
After this confirmation, John looks back on some of the central themes of his Gospel:
•
John 12: 44-45: To believe in Jesus is to believe in
Him who sent Him. This sentence is a summary of the Gospel of John. It is the theme that appears and reappears
in many ways. Jesus is so united to the Father that He does not speak in His
own name, but always in the name of the Father. He who sees Jesus, sees the Father.
If you want to know God, look at Jesus. God is Jesus!
•
John 12: 46:
Jesus is the light who comes into the world. Here John comes back to what he had already said in the prologue:
“The Word was the real light that
gives light to everyone (Jn 1: 9). “The
light shines in darkness, and darkness could
not overpower it” (Jn 1: 5). Here he repeats: “I have come into the
world as light, to prevent anyone who believes in Me from staying in the
dark anymore”. Jesus is a living response
to the great questions which move and inspire
the search of the human being. It is a light which enlightens the horizon. It makes one discover the luminous side of the darkness of faith.
•
John 12: 47-48:
I have not come to condemn the world. Getting
to the end of a stage, a
question arises: “How will judgment be? In these two verses the Evangelist
clarifies the theme of judgment. The judgment is not done according
to threats, with maledictions. Jesus says, “If anyone hears My words and does not keep them faithfully, it is not I who shall judge
such a person, since I have come not to judge the world,
but to save the world.
Anyone who rejects Me and refuses
My words has his judge already:
the word itself that I have spoken will be his judge on the last day. The judgment consists in the way in
which the person defines himself through his choices and actions in relation to
Him.
•
John 12: 49-50: The Father commanded Me what to say. The last words of the Book of Signs are a summary of everything that Jesus says and does up until now. He reaffirms what He affirmed
from the beginning: “For I have not spoken of My own accord, but the Father
who sent Me commanded Me what
to say and what to speak, and I know that His commands mean eternal
life. And, therefore, what the Father has told Me is what I speak.” Jesus is
the faithful reflection of the Father. For this reason, He does not offer
proofs or arguments to those who provoke Him to legitimize His credentials. It
is the Father who legitimizes Him through the works that He does, and in referring to works, He does not refer to great miracles,
but to all that He says and does, even the most minute thing. Jesus Himself is the sign of the Father. He is the walking miracle, the total transparency. He does not belong to Himself, but is
entirely the property of the Father. The credentials of an ambassador do not come from
Him, but from
the One He represents. They
come from the Father.
Personal Questions
•
John draws up an account
of the revealing activity of God. If I made
an account of my life, what would reveal the activity of God in me?
•
Is there something
in me which condemns me?
Concluding Prayer
Let the nations rejoice
and sing for
joy, for You judge the world with justice, You judge the peoples with fairness, You
guide the nations on earth.
Let the nations praise You, God, let all the nations praise You. (Ps 67: 4-5)
Saint
Catherine of Siena, Virgin and Doctor
Catherine of Siena
was a member of the Third Order of the Dominicans (Order of Preachers, OP), a
scholar, philosopher and theologian. She was born in Siena, Italy, on 25 March,
1347. Her parents were Giacomo di Benincasa, a cloth-dyer, and Lapa Piagenti,
daughter of a local poet. She was their 23rd child out of 25. Catherine’s twin
sister, the 24th, died at birth.
The family
belonged to the lower middle class of tradesmen and minor notaries, known as
the “Party of the Twelve”, which, between revolutions, ruled the Republic of
Siena from 1355 to 1368. Catherine received no formal education and could
neither read nor write. At the age of seven she consecrated her virginity to
Christ against the wishes of her family who wanted her to live a normal life
and marry. Against her parents’ will, she dedicated her life to praying,
meditating and living in total solitude into her late teens.
At the age of
sixteen, she took the habit of the Dominican Tertiaries. Catherine gathered a
group of companions, both women and men, and travelled with them throughout
Northern Italy. They called for a reform of the clergy, the launching of a new
crusade and told people that true repentance and renewal could only be achieved
through a “total love for God”. Catherine also dedicated her life to the study
of religious texts.
About 1366, at the
age of 19, Catherine experienced what she described in her letters as a
“Mystical Marriage” with Jesus, after which she began to tend the sick and
serve the poor, taking care of them in hospitals or homes.
In 1370, when she
was 23, she received a series of visions of Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven, after
which she heard a command to leave her secluded life and enter the world of
public life. Although illiterate, she dictated letters to people in positions
of authority, especially calling for peace between the squabbling republics and
principalities of Italy and also for the return of the papacy from its exile in
Avignon, in the south of France, back to Rome.
She carried on a
long correspondence with Pope Gregory XI, also calling on him both to reform
the clergy and the administration of the Papal States, which had become
embroiled with a war with Florence. In June of 1376, Catherine went to Avignon
herself, as the ambassador of Florence, to make peace with the Papal States and
to urge Pope Gregory to return to Rome. She was not successful, but the
following year, at the beginning of 1377, she had impressed the pope so much
that he did return to Rome.
After Gregory’s
death in 1378, the cardinals, mostly French, elected an Italian Pope, Urban VI,
who turned out, among other defects, to be arrogant and tyrannical. The cardinals
met again, declared that the first election had been under duress from the
Roman mob and hence invalid. They elected a new pope, Clement VII, who
established his residence at Avignon.
Catherine, now in
Rome, worked tirelessly to persuade Urban to mend his ways. Her letters to him
are respectful, but uncompromising. As one historian has said, she perfected
the art of kissing the Pope’s feet while simultaneously twisting his arm, and
she worked to persuade dissidents that the peace and unity of the Church
required the recognition of Urban as lawful Pope. Despite her efforts, the
Western Schism continued until 1417. It greatly weakened the prestige of the
Bishops of Rome and helped to pave the way for the Protestant Reformation in
the following century.
Driven by politics
rather than any real theological disagreement, the schism was ended by the
Council of Constance (1414-1418). Catherine remained at the papal court and
tried to convince the nobility and cardinals that Urban was the rightful pope.
The problems of the Western Schism would trouble her to the end of her life.
Catherine’s dictated letters are considered among the great works of early
Tuscan literature. More than 300 of her letters have survived. In her letters
to the Pope, she often referred to him affectionately as “Papa” or “Daddy” (Babbo in
Italian). Her major work is the Dialogue of Divine Providence.
After a prolonged
period of suffering lasting three months, which she endured with total
acceptance, she died on 29 April, 1380. Her last political achievement,
accomplished practically from her death-bed, was the reconciliation of Pope
Urban VI with the Roman Republic in 1380. After her death, the people of Siena
wished to have her body interred in their city.
There is a legend
which explains how Catherine’s head did reach the city, where it is now
entombed in the basilica of San Domenico. The people of Siena knew they could
not get her whole body past Papal State guards and so decided to take only her
head, which they placed in a bag. They were still stopped by guards and prayed
to Catherine to help them because they knew Catherine would rather lie in her native
city. When they opened the bag to show the guards, it no longer held her head,
but was full of rose petals. Once they got back to Siena they reopened the bag
and her head was there.
Because of this
legend, Catherine is often shown holding a rose. Her body is buried in the
basilica of Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome, close to the Pantheon. Catherine
was canonised in 1461. Her feast day at first was not included in the
Tridentine Calendar. When it was later added to the Roman Calendar, it was put
on 30 April, the day after her date of death which had already been taken by
the feast of St Peter of Verona. In the 1969 revision of the Roman Catholic
calendar, it was decided to leave his celebration to local calendars, as he was
less known outside of Italy. St Catherine’s feast was then finally put on 29
April, the date of her death.
In 1970, Pope Paul
VI gave her the title of Doctor of the Church, making her the first woman,
along with Saint Teresa of Ávila, to receive this honour. In 1999, Pope John
Paul II made her one of the patrons of Europe, together with Saints Benedict,
Cyril and Methodius, Bridget of Sweden, and Teresa Benedicta of the Cross
(Edith Stein). She is also, together with St Francis of Assisi, the patron
saint of Italy.
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