May 28, 2025
Wednesday of the Sixth Week of Easter
Lectionary: 293
Reading 1
After Paul's escorts had taken him to Athens,
they came away with instructions for Silas and Timothy
to join him as soon as possible.
Then Paul stood up at the Areopagus and said:
"You Athenians, I see that in every respect
you are very religious.
For as I walked around looking carefully at your shrines,
I even discovered an altar inscribed, 'To an Unknown God.'
What therefore you unknowingly worship, I proclaim to you.
The God who made the world and all that is in it,
the Lord of heaven and earth,
does not dwell in sanctuaries made by human hands,
nor is he served by human hands because he needs anything.
Rather it is he who gives to everyone life and breath and everything.
He made from one the whole human race
to dwell on the entire surface of the earth,
and he fixed the ordered seasons and the boundaries of their regions,
so that people might seek God,
even perhaps grope for him and find him,
though indeed he is not far from any one of us.
For 'In him we live and move and have our being,'
as even some of your poets have said,
'For we too are his offspring.'
Since therefore we are the offspring of God,
we ought not to think that the divinity is like an image
fashioned from gold, silver, or stone by human art and imagination.
God has overlooked the times of ignorance,
but now he demands that all people everywhere repent
because he has established a day on which he will 'judge the world
with justice' through a man he has appointed,
and he has provided confirmation for all
by raising him from the dead."
When they heard about resurrection of the dead,
some began to scoff, but others said,
"We should like to hear you on this some other time."
And so Paul left them.
But some did join him, and became believers.
Among them were Dionysius,
a member of the Court of the Areopagus,
a woman named Damaris, and others with them.
After this he left Athens and went to Corinth.
Responsorial Psalm
R. Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Praise the LORD from the heavens;
praise him in the heights.
Praise him, all you his angels;
praise him, all you his hosts.
R. Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Let the kings of the earth and all peoples,
the princes and all the judges of the earth,
Young men too, and maidens,
old men and boys.
R. Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Praise the name of the LORD,
for his name alone is exalted;
His majesty is above earth and heaven.
R. Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
or:
R. Alleluia.
He has lifted up the horn of his people;
Be this his praise from all his faithful ones,
from the children of Israel, the people close to him.
Alleluia.
R. Heaven and earth are full of your glory.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I will ask the Father
and he will give you another Advocate
to be with you always.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Jesus said to his disciples:
"I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now.
But when he comes, the Spirit of truth,
he will guide you to all truth.
He will not speak on his own,
but he will speak what he hears,
and will declare to you the things that are coming.
He will glorify me,
because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.
Everything that the Father has is mine;
for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine
and declare it to you."
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/052825.cfm
Commentary on Acts
17:15,22—18:1
We continue to accompany Paul on his Second Missionary
Journey. After passing through Thessalonica (to whose Christians are addressed
two of Paul’s earliest letters) and Beroea (both in Macedonia), Paul’s next
destination was Athens, at that time still the cultural centre of the
Mediterranean, although political power was now in Rome. Our reading begins
with Paul arriving in the city, with instructions for Silas and Timothy to
follow on as soon as possible.
At this time, Athens was really only a shadow of its former
self. Some five centuries before Paul it had been at the height of its glory in
art, philosophy and literature, with a culture which still influences modern
life today. In the generations which followed, the city still had a reputation
for philosophical thinking, and in Paul’s day there was a leading university in
the city.
While waiting for his companions to arrive, Paul was quite
horrified at the level of idolatry he found in such a supposedly sophisticated
city. He was engaged in discussions not only with Jews and other sympathisers,
but also got involved with Stoic and Epicurean philosophers who found his
teaching rather strange. “What does this pretentious babbler want to say?” they
asked (Acts 17:18). Because of his mention of someone called ‘Jesus’ and terms
like ‘resurrection’, they said he sounded like a “proclaimer of foreign (i.e.
non-Greek) divinities”. Eventually they invited him to address the Council of
the Areopagus, an indication of how seriously they took him even though they
found his ideas outlandish.
It should have been a very important venue for Paul. If he
could win the Athenians around to accepting the message of Christ, it could
have far-reaching effects. The Greeks were famous for their intellectual
interests and their love of discussion and debate. As Luke comments rather
laconically,
Now all the Athenians and the foreigners living there
would spend their time in nothing but telling or hearing something new. (Acts
17:21)
Yet, in a way, it was this passion for discussion of ideas
which made the Greeks so outstanding in philosophy and literature (see Fr
Bernard Lonergan’s writings for discussion of the Athenians’ gift for
conversation, a source of great intellectual creativity).
So Paul went to the Areopagus in the heart of the city and
spoke to the people assembled there. And it is Paul’s address which forms the
main part of today’s reading.
The Areopagus was a hill to the south of the Agora, the
central market place of Athens where people gathered. Areopagus also referred
to the Athenian supreme council which held its sessions there.
Paul chose as his topic the knowledge of God, a theme very
popular in the propaganda of contemporary Hellenistic Judaism. The pagans are
accused of not knowing God, the proof being that they worship idols. This
ignorance, Paul tells them, is culpable, since all are capable of knowing God
as creator and controller of the cosmos.
Nevertheless, Paul’s address is in a totally different style
from what he had been giving up to this time. He makes no explicit mention of
the Scriptures; he does not even mention the name of Jesus. He speaks of the
Greeks as “extremely spiritual”, although the word he used could also mean
“superstitious” (Greek, deisidaimon), depending on the context.
Paul’s meaning will emerge as he speaks. In the context, it is clear that Paul
wanted to be complimentary in order to get a hearing.
He tries to go in their door by taking as his cue an altar
he saw, dedicated to an “unknown god”. Polytheists (like the Greeks) used to
dedicate altars to ‘unknown gods’, in case they incurred the vengeance of gods
whose names they did not know. It was a kind of all-inclusive title. While it
was a way to make sure that none of the many Greek gods was left unworshipped,
it also indicated the level of superstition that co-existed with the Athenians’
much-vaunted intellectualism.
Paul uses the practice for his own ends and also turns back
the charge of preaching about ‘outlandish’ gods which people had never heard
of. And he goes on to spell out for them just who this ‘unknown’ God really is.
He is the God who made this world and all that lives in it.
This idea was common in Greek thought and Hellenistic Judaism; it is a form of
the old biblical theme found in the prophet Amos 5:8 and in Psalm 50:1-6. Paul
proclaims a personal Creator in contrast with the pantheistic God of the
Stoics.
He is a Lord who pervades the heavens and the earth and is
not confined to man-made sanctuaries. Nor does he need the help of any human.
On the contrary, it is he who gives life and breath and everything with it.
He made one the whole human race, meaning that all belong to
one family (Athenians, Romans, Greeks, ‘barbarians’, Jews and Gentiles). This
is a belief we assert every time we pray “Our Father…”. Through his creation he
made his presence evident all over the world:
…so that they would search for God and perhaps fumble
about for him and find him—though indeed he is not far from each one of us.
He is the Designer God where nothing is left to mere chance,
as the Epicureans thought. He even gives two quotations from Greek poets to
strengthen his argument:
‘In him [i.e. God] we live and move and
have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said…
This quotation is attributed to the poet Epimenides (about
600 BC) who came from Knossos in Crete, and is found in his work Cretica.
And Paul also quotes the Cilician poet Aratus (about 315 to 240 BC) in
his Phaenomen and in Cleanthes’ Hymn to Zeus:
‘For we, too, are his [i.e. God’s] offspring.’
Paul also questions the practice of worshipping objects of
stone or metal as gods:
Since we are God’s offspring, we ought not to think that
the deity is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and
imagination of mortals.
In other words, how can that God be contained in images of
gold, silver or stone—materials which are on a lower level than ourselves? Note
that it is a very different thing—as we have in the Catholic Church—to have
images representing our God or the saints. They play the same
role as family photographs, as no one believes that a picture of Uncle Joe is
really Uncle Joe.
Up to this, God had tolerated this practice which was done
in ignorance but, with the coming of Jesus, all that has changed. It is time
now to ‘repent’ (Greek, metanoia—a word which, as we have already
seen, implies a total conversion in our way of living) because God:
…will have the world judged in righteousness by a
man [Jesus] whom he has appointed…
And all this, says Paul, is confirmed by Jesus’ having been
raised from the dead.
But at the mention of “raising him from the dead”, some of
Paul’s listeners began mocking and others, perhaps with their interest whetted,
said, “We will hear you again about this.” However, it seems clear that their
interest was purely on the level of intellectual speculation and not at all on
the spiritual or religious. Immortality of the soul was accepted by the Greeks
(see Plato’s Dialogues), but not the resurrection of a dead body.
In the Greek world, even among Christians, the doctrine of
the Resurrection was strongly resisted—as we see in the First Letter to the
Corinthians (15:12). The Jerusalem Sanhedrists also condemned and attacked this
Christian dogma, whereas the Athenians of the Areopagus were content to mock
it.
Basically then, Paul’s mission to the Athenians was a dismal
failure. From now on he refuses to use the arguments from Greek philosophy. So
he writes later on to the Christians of Corinth:
When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come
proclaiming the testimony of God to you with superior speech or wisdom. For I
decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. (1
Cor 2:1-2)
As well, a little before that (in the same letter), he had
written:
Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scholar? Where
is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God
decided, through the foolishness of the proclamation, to save those who
believe. For Jews ask for signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim
Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to gentiles, but to
those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the
wisdom of God.
(1 Cor 1:20-24)
From now on he would rely only on the power of the gospel
message.
In spite of this, there were some converts made in Athens.
Among these was Dionysius the Areopagite. The Jerusalem Bible notes:
“Luke’s readers must have known him. He became the subject
of legend, especially since the 5th century when an author (the
‘pseudo-Dionysius’) published various mystical writings under his name. Later
legend identifies him with St Denys, the first bishop of Paris (3rd century) or
even that he was bishop of Athens.”
Another convert mentioned was Damaris. The New
International Version Bible notes:
“Some have suggested that she must have been a foreign,
educated woman to have been present at a public meeting such as the Areopagus.
It is also possible that she was a God-fearing Gentile who had heard Paul at
the synagogue.”
From Athens, Paul continued south to Corinth. He would have
gone there either by land along the isthmus, a distance of about 80 km (50
miles) or else by sea from Piraeus, the port of Athens, to Cenchrea, the port
of Corinth, on the eastern shore of the isthmus of Corinth.
Corinth had been rebuilt by no less a person than Julius
Caesar, and became capital of the Roman province of Achaia (southern Greece).
Its population was largely Roman and Latin-speaking, but it was a lively commercial
centre which attracted people of all nations. There was also a considerable
Jewish colony. The immorality of the city was famous, even by the standards of
the day.
Paul does not seem ever to have ever returned to Athens.
But, once again, we see that God’s ways are not our ways. Once again, we see
how Paul is turned in a different direction from what seemed the obvious way to
go. His next stop will be Corinth, a city, on the face of it, which—compared to
sophisticated Athens—was not at all promising, given its reputation for
lewdness and immorality.
On the positive side, we should look carefully at how Paul
presented his message in a language that would make sense to his hearers. He
did not dilute or compromise his message, but he did try to express it in
language that would give an opening to an audience totally unfamiliar with the
Jewish Scriptures. This is something we need to remember whether we are
bringing our message to a culture which has never heard the message before, or
to one which has lost it. Much of our preaching, it has to be said, is to the
converted and not to those who have not heard the message or have only heard it
in distorted forms.
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Commentary on John
16:12-15
Jesus continues to speak about the giving of the Spirit to
his followers:
I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot
bear them now.
They are still too raw in their understanding. It will take
time for them fully to absorb the meaning of Jesus’ life and teaching. By then
he will be long gone, so they will need the guidance of the Spirit to lead them
to that fuller understanding. Jesus tells them the Spirit:
…will not speak on his own but will speak whatever he
hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
The Spirit will guide them in their response:
…to the things that are to come.
Following on what Jesus has taught them, from their
understanding of the meaning of Jesus’ death and resurrection, and from their
Pentecost experience, a whole new order, a new way of looking at the world,
will result of which they will be the inaugurators.
And that guidance still is much needed for we have not
reached, and we never will reach on this earth, the fullness of the truth about
God and Jesus. The establishment of the Kingdom has still a long way to go.
Once again Jesus reminds his disciples that everything they
are learning comes originally from the Father through the Son, and from the Son
through the Spirit. These are not three separate revelations, but one message
that emanates from each one successively.
We too, as Church, as churches, as communities and as
individuals, need the constant guidance of the Spirit that we may remain
faithful to the truth that is given us and be always open to understanding it
more deeply so that we can pass it on to others with full integrity.
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https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/e1064g/
Wednesday,
May 28, 2025
Easter Time
Opening Prayer
Lord God, our Father,
you are not far away from any of us, for in
you we live and move and exist and you live in us through your Holy Spirit. Be
indeed with us, Lord, send us your Holy Spirit of truth
and through him deepen our
understanding of the life and message of your Son, that we may accept the full
truth and live by it consistently. We ask you this through Christ our Lord.
Gospel Reading - John 16: 12-15
Jesus said to his disciples: "I still
have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you to bear now.
However, when the Spirit of truth comes he will lead you to the complete truth,
since he will not be speaking of his own accord, but will say only what he has
been told; and he will reveal to you the things to come. He will glorify me,
since all he reveals to you will be taken from what is mine. Everything the
Father has is mine; that is why I said: all he reveals to you will be taken
from what is mine."
Reflection
In these weeks of Easter Time, the Gospels
of each day are almost always taken from chapters 12 to 17 of the Gospel of
John. That reveals something regarding the origin and the destination of these
chapters. They show not only what happened before the Passion and the death of
Jesus, but also and above all, the living out of faith of the first communities
after the resurrection. They express the Paschal faith which animated them.
•
John 16: 12: I still have many things to say to
you. The Gospel today begins with this phrase: “I still have many things to say
to you, but they would be too much for you to bear now.” In these words of
Jesus there are two things: the environment of the farewell, which
characterized the Last Supper, and the concern of Jesus, the older brother, for
his younger brothers, who within a brief time will remain without his presence.
The time left was very short. Within a short time, Jesus will be arrested. The
work begun was not yet complete. The disciples were just at the beginning of
their apprenticeship. Three years are a very short time to change life and to
begin to live and to think in a new image of God. Their formation was not yet
finished. Much was still lacking, and Jesus had still many things to teach them
and to transmit to them, but he knows his disciples. They are not among the
most intelligent. They would not be capable to know now all the consequences
and implications of discipleship. They would become discouraged. They would not
be able to bear this.
•
John 16: 13-15: The Holy Spirit will come to
their help. “However, when the Spirit of truth comes, he will lead you to the
complete truth, since he will not be speaking of his own accord but will say
only what he has been told; and he will reveal to you the things to come. He
will glorify me, since all he reveals to you will be taken from what is mine.”
This affirmation of Jesus shows the experience of the first communities. In the
measure in which they sought to imitate Jesus, trying to interpret and apply
his Word to the various circumstances of their life, they experienced the
presence and the light of the Spirit. And this happens even today in the
communities which try to incarnate the Word of Jesus in their life. The root of
this experience is the words of Jesus: “Everything the Father has is mine that
is why I said: all he reveals to you will be taken from what is mine.”
•
The action of the Holy Spirit in the Gospel of
John. John uses many images and symbols to signify the action of the Holy
Spirit. Like in creation (Gen 1: 1), the Spirit also descends on Jesus, “in the
form of a dove, come from Heaven” (Jn 1: 32). It is the beginning of the new
creation! Jesus speaks the words of God and communicates the Sprit without
reserve to us (Jn 3: 34). His words are Spirit and Life (Jn 6: 63). When Jesus
bids farewell, he said that he would have sent another Paraclete, Consoler,
another defender, who will remain with us. It is the Holy Spirit (Jn 14:
16-17). By his Passion, death and Resurrection, Jesus won for us the gift of
the Holy Spirit. By Baptism all of us have received this same Spirit of Jesus
(Jn 1: 33). When he appeared to the apostles, he breathed on them and said:
“Receive the Holy Spirit!” (Jn 20: 22). The Spirit is like the water which
springs from within the persons who believe in Jesus (Jn 7: 37-39; 4: 14). The
first effect of the action of the Spirit in us is reconciliation: “If you
forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven; if you retain anyone’s sins, they are
retained.” (Jn 20: 23). The Spirit which Jesus communicates to us has multiple
actions: consoles and spreads (Jn 14: 16), he communicates truth (Jn 14: 17;
16: 13), makes us remember what Jesus taught (Jn 14: 26); will give witness of
Jesus (Jo 15: 26); manifests the glory of Jesus (Jn 16: 14); will convince the
world concerning sin, justice (Jn 16: 8). The Spirit is given to us so that we can
understand the complete meaning of the words of Jesus (Jn 14: 26); 16: 1213).
Encouraged by the Spirit of Jesus we can adore God in any place (Jn 4: 2324).
Here lies the liberty of the Spirit of which Saint Paul speaks: “Where the
Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (2 Co 3: 17).
Personal Questions
•
How do I live my adherence to Jesus: alone or in
community?
•
Has my participation in the community led me,
sometimes, to experience the light and the force of the Holy Spirit?
Concluding Prayer
The name of the Lord is sublime, his splendor transcends
earth and heaven. For he heightens the strength of his people, to the praise of
all his faithful, the people close to him. (Ps 148: 13-14)
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