May 15, 2026
Friday of the Sixth
Week of Easter
Lectionary: 295
Reading 1
One night while Paul was in Corinth, the Lord said to him in
a vision,
"Do not be afraid.
Go on speaking, and do not be silent, for I am with you.
No one will attack and harm you,
for I have many people in this city."
He settled there for a year and a half
and taught the word of God among them.
But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia,
the Jews rose up together against Paul
and brought him to the tribunal, saying,
"This man is inducing people to worship God contrary to the law."
When Paul was about to reply, Gallio spoke to the Jews,
"If it were a matter of some crime or malicious fraud,
I should with reason hear the complaint of you Jews;
but since it is a question of arguments over doctrine and titles
and your own law, see to it yourselves.
I do not wish to be a judge of such matters."
And he drove them away from the tribunal.
They all seized Sosthenes, the synagogue official,
and beat him in full view of the tribunal.
But none of this was of concern to Gallio.
Paul remained for quite some time,
and after saying farewell to the brothers he sailed for Syria,
together with Priscilla and Aquila.
At Cenchreae he had shaved his head because he had taken a vow.
Responsorial Psalm
R. (8a) God is king of all the earth.
or:
R. Alleluia.
All you peoples, clap your hands,
shout to God with cries of gladness,
For the LORD, the Most High, the awesome,
is the great king over all the earth.
R. God is king of all the earth.
or:
R. Alleluia.
He brings people under us;
nations under our feet.
He chooses for us our inheritance,
the glory of Jacob, whom he loves.
R. God is king of all the earth.
or:
R. Alleluia.
God mounts his throne amid shouts of joy;
the LORD, amid trumpet blasts.
Sing praise to God, sing praise;
sing praise to our king, sing praise.
R. God is king of all the earth.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Christ had to suffer and to rise from the dead,
and so enter into his glory.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Jesus said to his disciples:
"Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn,
while the world rejoices;
you will grieve, but your grief will become joy.
When a woman is in labor, she is in anguish because her hour has arrived;
but when she has given birth to a child,
she no longer remembers the pain because of her joy
that a child has been born into the world.
So you also are now in anguish.
But I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice,
and no one will take your joy away from you.
On that day you will not question me about anything.
Amen, amen, I say to you,
whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you."
Commentary on Acts
18:9-18
We pick up on yesterday’s reading and Paul is still in
Corinth. His missionary work is going well. He now receives encouragement in a
vision in which the Lord tells him to keep speaking out. The Lord is with him;
he has many friends in the city; and no harm will come to him. This is just one
of three visions of the Lord which Paul is said to have had. So Paul stays in
the city for a year and a half preaching the Good News. It is possible that,
during this time, he may have extended his evangelising work to other parts of
the province of Achaia, where Corinth was situated.
However, as often was the case, during this same time some
Jews in the city who were opposed to him brought him to the civil court,
accusing him of telling people to worship in ways which were against the law.
They brought their case to Gallio, the pro-consul of Achaia. Achaia was the
Roman province in southern Greece in which Corinth was situated.
We know a certain amount about this Gallio, who was a
brother of Seneca, the famous Roman philosopher and tutor of the emperor Nero.
The New International Version Bible notes:
“Gallio was admired as a man of exceptional fairness and
calmness. From an inscription found at Delphi, it is known that Gallio was
proconsul of Achaia in AD 51-52. This information enables us to date Paul’s
visit to Corinth on his second journey as well as his writing of the
Thessalonian letters.”
The Jews accused Paul of breaking the law, but did not specify
whether it was Jewish or Roman law. But the Jews were claiming that Paul was
advocating a religion not recognised by Roman law, as Judaism was. However, if
he had been given the opportunity to speak, Paul could have argued that the
message he was preaching arose from the faith of his fellow-Jews and thus was
actually within the terms of Roman law.
After listening to their arguments, Gallio decided they were
fighting over the interpretation of purely religious matters in which he
personally had no competence or interest. If it had been a case of a crime or
malicious fraud, he said he would have taken it more seriously. Instead, he
summarily dismissed the charge.
The disappointed plaintiffs then set on a man called
Sosthenes, a leader in the synagogue, and beat him up in the presence of the
court. It is not clear whether it was the crowd in general who picked on
Sosthenes as an excuse to attack the Jews or whether it was his own people
beating their synagogue ruler for losing the case. Whatever the reason, Gallio
showed no interest whatever in what was going on.
In the opening of the First Letter to the Corinthians, Paul
refers to “our brother Sosthenes” (1 Cor 1:1). If it is the same person, then
he was the second ruler of a synagogue to become a Christian in Corinth as a
result of Paul’s preaching.
When he felt the time was right, Paul, in the company of his
friends and fellow-workers, Priscilla and Aquila, set off home for Antioch in
Syria, the headquarters of the missionary church where they would report their
experiences. Priscilla’s name is put first, which may indicate either her more
prominent role in the church or her higher social standing.
Finally, before embarking at the port of Cenchreae, Paul
shaved his head because of a vow he had taken. The original Greek is not clear
and it seems that it was Paul, not Aquila, who took the vow. To take a vow was
to be nazir for the period it covered, usually 30 days, and
among other obligations it meant leaving the hair uncut during that time.
(Samson was a Nazirite and we know what happened when Delilah gave him a
haircut!) Different vows were frequently taken to express thanks for
deliverance from grave dangers, and indeed Paul’s time in Corinth had been
relatively free from trouble. It is not known whether the vow was taken by Paul
at Cenchreae or whether it expired there. Later on in Acts, Paul will again
perform the rite with four other Jews in fulfilment of a vow.
Perhaps contrary to Paul’s expectations, those 18 months had
been extremely fruitful and many people had found their way to Christ. We now
have two wonderful letters, which are perhaps the condensation of four letters
altogether, sent by Paul to his converts in the city—letters which still have a
great deal to say to us about following Christ. In due course, we will be
reading them during our Sunday and weekday Masses.
Comments Off
Commentary on John
16:20-23
Today’s Gospel repeats much of yesterday’s about the sorrow
the disciples will experience when Jesus goes away (in his suffering and death)
and the joy they will experience when he soon returns (in his resurrection).
Jesus compares their experience to a woman about to give birth to a child:
When a woman is in labor, she has pain because her hour
has come. But when her child is born, she no longer remembers the anguish
because of the joy of having brought a human being into the world.
The joy of seeing her newborn child face to face is worth any
pain. The disciples will have to go through a similar experience as the new
Jesus, the Risen Christ, enters his new life and the new People of God, his
post-resurrection Body, comes to birth.
Today’s passage adds the promise that, when Jesus sees them
again:
…your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy
from you.
And they will no longer have need to ask the questions they
are asking now. It does not mean that there will not be more sufferings in the
future. There will be, and some of the disciples will give their lives for
their commitment to Jesus and the Kingdom. But for those who are close to
Jesus, pain and joy are not incompatible.
Let us pray that we, too, who have the enduring presence of
the Risen Jesus with us at all times, wherever we happen to be, experience—in
spite of inevitable trials and disappointments—the same kind of joy. In fact,
we have reason to be concerned if there is not an underlying joy in our lives.
It should make us wonder just how close we really are to Jesus.
Comments Off
https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/e1066g/
Friday,
May 15, 2026
Easter Weekday
Opening Prayer
Lord God, merciful Father,
it is hard for us to accept pain, for
we know that you have made us for happiness and joy.
When suffering challenges,
us with a provocative "why me?" help us to discover the depth of our
inner freedom and love and of all the faith and loyalty of which we are
capable, together with, and by the power of, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Gospel Reading - John 16: 20-23a
Jesus said: 'In all truth I tell you,
you will be weeping and wailing while the world will rejoice; you will be
sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn to joy.
A woman in childbirth suffers, because her time has
come; but when she has given birth to the child, she forgets the suffering in
her joy that a human being has been born into the world. So, it is with you:
you are sad now, but I shall see you again, and your hearts will be full of
joy, and that joy no one shall take from you.'
Reflection
During these days between the
Ascension and Pentecost, the Gospels of the day are taken from chapters 16 to
21 of the Gospel of Saint John, and form part of the Gospel called: “Book of
Consolation or of the Revelation acting in the Community” (Jn 13: 1 to 21: 31).
This Book is divided as follows: the farewell to the friends (Jn 13: 1a to 14:
31); witness of Jesus and prayer to the Father (Jn 15: 1 to 17: 28); the
accomplished work (Jn 18: 1 to 20: 31). The environment of sadness and of
expectation. Sadness, because Jesus leaves and the nostalgia invades the heart.
Expectation, because the hour is arriving of receiving the promised gift, that
of the Consoler who will make all sadness disappear and will once again bring
the joy of the friendly presence of Jesus in the midst of the community.
•
John 16: 20: The sadness will be transformed
into joy. Jesus says: “In all truth I tell you: you will be weeping and wailing
while the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn
to joy.” The frequent reference to sadness and suffering expresses the
environment of the communities at the end of the first century in Asia Minor
(today, Turkey), for which John wrote his Gospel. They lived in a difficult
situation of persecution and oppression which caused sadness. The Apostles had
taught that Jesus would have returned afterwards, but the “parusia”, the glorious return of Jesus had not arrived and
persecution increased. Many were impatient: “Until when?” (cfr. 2 Th 2: 1-5; 2
P 3: 8-9). Besides, a person bears a situation of suffering and of persecution
when he/she knows that suffering is the way and the condition to attain perfect
joy. And thus, even having death before the eyes, the person bears and faces
suffering and pain. This is why the Gospel makes this beautiful comparison with
the pangs of childbirth.
•
John 16: 21: The comparison with pangs of
childbirth. All understand this comparison, especially mothers: “The woman in
childbirth suffers because her time has come; but when she has given birth to
the child she forgets the suffering in her joy that a human being has been born
into the world”. The suffering and sadness caused by persecution, even without
offering any horizon of improvement, are not the stertor of death, but rather
the pangs of childbirth. Mothers know all this by experience. The pain is
terrible, but they bear it, because they know that the pain, the suffering is a
source of new life. Thus, is the suffering of the persecution of Christians,
and thus, any suffering should be lived, that is, in the light of the
experience of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus.
•
John 16: 22-23a: Eternal joy. Jesus explains the
comparison: “So it is with you: you are sad now, but I shall see you again, and
your hearts will be full of joy and that joy no one shall take from you”. When
that day comes, you will not ask me any questions. This is the certainty that
gives courage to the tired and persecuted communities of Asia Minor, and which
makes one exult with joy in the midst of suffering and pain. As the poet says:
“It hurts, but I sing!” Or as the mystic Saint John of the Cross says: “In a
dark night, with an inflamed yearning for love, oh happy venture, I went out
without being noticed, in my house all slept!” The expression on that day
indicates the definitive coming of the Kingdom which brings with it its
clarity. In the light of God, there will no longer be need to ask anything. The
light of God is the full and total response to all the questions which could
arise within the human heart.
For Personal Confrontation
•
Sadness and joy. They exist together in life.
How do these exist in your life?
•
Pangs of childbirth. This experience is found in
the origin of life of each one of us. My mother suffered the pain with hope,
and this is why I am alive. Stop and think about this mystery of life.
Concluding Prayer
Clap your hands, all peoples, acclaim God with shouts of
joy.
For Yahweh, the Most High, is glorious, the great king over
all the earth. (Ps 47: 12)
