May 2, 2026
Memorial of Saint Athanasius, Bishop and
Doctor of the Church
Lectionary: 284
Reading
1
On the following
sabbath
almost the whole city
gathered to hear the word of the Lord.
When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy
and with violent abuse contradicted what Paul said.
Both Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said,
“It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first,
but since you reject it
and condemn yourselves as unworthy of eternal life,
we now turn to the Gentiles.
For so the Lord has commanded us,
I have made you a light to the Gentiles,
that you may be an instrument of salvation
to the ends of the earth.”
The Gentiles were
delighted when they heard this
and glorified the word of the Lord.
All who were destined for eternal life came to believe,
and the word of the Lord continued to spread
through the whole region.
The Jews, however, incited the women of prominence who were worshipers
and the leading men of the city,
stirred up a persecution against Paul and Barnabas,
and expelled them from their territory.
So they shook the dust from their feet in protest against them
and went to Iconium.
The disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.
Responsorial
Psalm
R.
(3cd) All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power
of God.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Sing to the LORD a new song,
for he has done wondrous deeds;
His right hand has won victory for him,
his holy arm.
R. All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of
God.
or:
R. Alleluia.
The LORD has made his salvation known:
in the sight of the nations he has revealed his justice.
He has remembered his kindness and his faithfulness
toward the house of Israel.
R. All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of
God.
or:
R. Alleluia.
All the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation by our God.
Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands;
break into song; sing praise.
R. All the ends of the earth have seen the saving power of
God.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia,
alleluia.
If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples,
and you will know the truth, says the Lord.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Jesus said to his
disciples:
“If you know me, then you will also know my Father.
From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
Philip said to Jesus,
“Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.”
Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time
and you still do not know me, Philip?
Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.
How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?
The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own.
The Father who dwells in me is doing his works.
Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me,
or else, believe because of the works themselves.
Amen, amen, I say to you,
whoever believes in me will do the works that I do,
and will do greater ones than these,
because I am going to the Father.
And whatever you ask in my name, I will do,
so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
If you ask anything of me in my name, I will do it.”
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/050226.cfm
Commentary on Acts
13:44-52
We are still with Paul and Barnabas in Asia Minor, where
they are proclaiming the message about Jesus as Lord in Pisidian Antioch.
They now have the whole city coming to hear them speak the word of God.
But they now have also incurred the jealousy of some Jews who hurled abuse at
the the two men. Perhaps they believed that the word of God was only for
them and not for Gentiles—pearls were not to be thrown to swine.
Paul and Barnabas (Paul is now regularly mentioned first)
took this as a sign to transfer their energies to preaching among the Gentiles,
who responded enthusiastically. While Paul’s fellow-Jews in Antioch had
shown themselves unfit to hear the gospel:
It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken
first to you. Since you reject it and judge yourselves to be unworthy of
eternal life, we are now turning to the gentiles.
He had to speak to them first—and he will do this in other
places as well—because the gospel came to and was intended for the Jews
first. And Paul, of course, was himself a Jew and had great compassion
for his people. This is expressed very well in his letter to the Romans
(see Rom 9:1-5; 10:1-3).
We are told that the two Apostles spoke out these words
“boldly”. The courage and confidence of the Apostles has been already
stressed by Luke on a number of occasions. Luke repeatedly attributes
these qualities to Paul, and Paul himself lays emphasis on them in a number of
his letters. Fortitude is one of the four cardinal virtues which should be the
characteristic of every Christian.
On the other hand, they turn to the Gentiles because the
Lord had told them to be:
…a light for the gentiles,
so that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.
This is a rendering of the Septuagint (Greek) reading from
Isaiah:
I will give you as a light to the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth. (Is 49:6)
The words may be taken either as referring to Paul himself,
Apostle and teacher of the Gentiles, or to the risen Christ. Christ is the
light of the Gentiles—he himself had said “I AM the Light of the World”—but
since only the Apostles’ witness can spread this light, Paul considers this
prophecy as a command that he must carry out. In the Sermon on the Mount,
Jesus had told his disciples:
You are the light of the world. (Matt 5:14)
This phrase conveys the sense that they are being called to
transmit the Light that is Christ.
The Gentiles responded enthusiastically. After receiving the
Word from Paul and Barnabas:
…they were glad and praised the word of the Lord, and as
many as had been destined for eternal life became believers.
‘Eternal life’ refers to the life of the world to
come. These are the ones whose names are “written in heaven” (Luke 10:20)
and in “the book of life”. Actually, “destined for eternal life” was a
common rabbinic expression. For Christians, the first and necessary
condition for this predestination to glory is faith in Christ.
As a result of the Gentiles’ enthusiasm for the message,
“the word of the Lord spread throughout the region.” In other words, well
beyond the bounds of the city.
However, some of the Jews continued their harassments.
They incited prominent women who were believers (though not necessarily Jews) and
leading men to stir up attacks on the two missionaries. And they
eventually managed to drive the two Apostles from the city.
Following the teaching of the Gospel, they shook the dust of
the city from their feet (see Matt 10:14; Luke 9:5). In doing this, they
showed the severance of responsibility and the repudiation of those who had
rejected their message and had brought suffering to the servants of the Lord.
They now continued on to the town of Iconium, lying to the
east of Antioch on the southern borders of the province of Galatia. Its
modern name is Konya. In Paul’s time it was an important crossroads and
an agricultural centre for the central plain of Galatia.
Far from being discouraged by their experience in Antioch,
we are told that:
…the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy
Spirit.
It teaches us a lesson we continually need to learn.
The preaching of the gospel, in spite of its message of love and forgiveness
and justice and its rejection of all forms of violence, can incur vicious and
violent opposition. We should neither be surprised nor discouraged at
this.
On the contrary, like the Apostles, we should rejoice that,
with Jesus, we suffer for proclaiming the message of life and love:
Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of
righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
(Matt 5:10)
We think of the story of the three men thrown into the fiery
furnace by an angry King Nebuchnadnezzar, joyfully singing the praises of God
or, in much more recent times (and with more historical validity), of the civil
rights marchers under Martin Luther King, Jr singing ‘We shall overcome’ as
they were carried off to jail.
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Commentary on John
14:7-14
Once again we have to be thankful for a disciple’s
question. Jesus has just said that those who really know him also know
his Father. In fact, he says, they have already seen him. But after
all this talk about the Father, Philip, the naive one, is puzzled:
Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.
Perhaps, like some of the other Jews, he was expecting some
dramatic sign, some striking manifestation of the Father.
Jesus replies patiently:
Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still
do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father…believe me that I am in
the Father and the Father is in me, but if you do not, then believe because of
the works themselves.
Philip still lacked that faith that could see the Father
clearly working in and through Jesus.
Of course, what Jesus says has to be understood properly. In
a sense, when we see Jesus we do see the Father; but in another sense, we do
not see the Father, at least not fully. When Jesus speaks, the Father speaks;
when Jesus forgives, the Father forgives; when Jesus heals, the Father heals;
when Jesus gives life, it is the Father who gives life.
Jesus is the Word of God; he is the utterance of God; he is
God expressing himself and communicating himself to us. In his person,
Jesus is totally united with the Father. But in Jesus’ humanity, which is
where we meet him, the Father only comes through in the dimmest fashion.
As Paul wrote to the Christians of Corinth:
For now we see only a reflection, as in a mirror, but
then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully,
even as I have been fully known. (1 Cor 13:12)
The love that Jesus shows is the love of the Father, but
reflected through his human nature; it is only the faintest image of the full
reality of that love. It is so important for us to understand this. That
is why Jesus calls himself the Way—he is the Way, not the End. The Father
is the End and Goal of all living.
And so Jesus goes on to make a statement that at first seems
strange:
Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will
also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these,
because I am going to the Father.
How can we possibly do greater, far greater things than
Jesus? Yet, in a way, it is very true.
Because of his human nature, Jesus’ accomplishments were
limited during his short time here on earth. He lived in one very small place
and likely spoke only one language, although he might have picked up a
smattering of Greek; he reached relatively few people and was intimate with
only a small number.
There are many Christians today who, with the means of
travel and communications available to them, can bring the message of Jesus to
far greater numbers and often more efficiently. The pope in a major
address or at a Christmas Mass can reach a potential audience of billions
through television, radio and via the Web. Jesus could do none of these things.
Jesus, now in his risen Body, the Church, can indeed “do
greater works than these”, and this was made possible by his going back to the
Father and passing on his work into our hands. Given the instruments at
our disposal, we have a great responsibility to do those “greater works”.
But to do that work we need, of course, to rely on the help
and guidance of Jesus through his Spirit. As he says in conclusion today:
If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.
He has left us, but is still with us.
And to pray in his name is not just to use his name like a
talisman or charm. In invoking Jesus’ name, we also fully identify ourselves
with his Way and his will. It is not an invitation to make any kind of
arbitrary request to suit our own personal whims. Primarily, it is to ask
his help in spreading his gospel. That is a prayer which he will surely
answer.
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Saturday, May 2, 2026
Easter Time
Opening Prayer
Lord our God,
you are distant and unknown, and yet
so near that you know and love and save us through your Son Jesus Christ.
May he be present
in us and in our actions that we may do the same works of justice, truth and
loving service and thus become the sign to the world that your Son is alive and
that you are a saving God now and forever.
Gospel Reading - John 14: 7-14
Jesus said to his disciples: "If
you know me, you will know my Father too. From this moment you know him and
have seen him.
Philip said, 'Lord, show us the
Father and then we shall be satisfied.' Jesus said to him,
'Have I been with you all this time,
Philip, and you still do not know me? 'Anyone who has seen me has seen the
Father, so how can you say, "Show us the Father"? Do you not believe
that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? What I say to you I do not
speak of my own accord: it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his works.
You must believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me;
or at least believe it on the evidence of these works.
In all truth I tell you,
whoever believes in me will perform the same works as I do myself, and will
perform even greater works, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask
in my name I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you
ask me anything in my name, I will do it.
Reflection
•
John 14: 7: To know Jesus is to know the Father.
The text of today’s Gospel is the continuation of that of yesterday. Thomas had
asked: “Lord we do not know where you are going, how can we know the way?”
Jesus answers: “I am the Way, I am Truth and Life! No one can come to the
Father except through me.” And he adds: “If you know me, you will know the
Father too. From this moment you know him and have seen him”. This is the first
phrase of today’s Gospel. Jesus always speaks of the Father, because it was the
life of the Father which appeared in all that he said and did. This constant
reference to the Father provokes Philip’s question.
•
John 14: 8-11: Philip asks: “Lord, show us the
Father and then we will be satisfied!” This was the desire of the disciples,
the desire of many persons of the communities of the Beloved Disciple and it is
the desire of many people today: What do people do to see the Father of whom
Jesus speaks so much? The response of Jesus is very beautiful and is valid even
now: “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me!
Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father!” People should not think that God
is far away from us, distant and unknown. Anyone who wants to know how and who
God the Father is, it suffices that he looks at Jesus. He has revealed him in
his words and gestures of his life! “I am in the Father and the Father is in
me!” Through his obedience, Jesus identified himself totally with the Father.
At every moment he did what the Father asked him to do (Jn 5: 30; 8: 28-29,
38). This is why, in Jesus everything is revelation of the Father! And the
signs and the works are the works of the Father! As people say: “The son is the
face of the father!” This is why in Jesus and for Jesus, God is in our midst.
•
John 14: 12-14: The Promise of Jesus. Jesus
makes a promise to say that his intimacy with the Father is not his privilege
only, but that it is possible for all those who believe in him. We also,
through Jesus, can succeed in doing beautiful things for others as Jesus did
for the people of his time. He intercedes for us. Everything that people ask
him for; he asks the Father and always obtains it. as long as it is to render
service. Jesus is our advocate, he defends us. He leaves but he does not leave
us defenseless. He promises that he will ask the Father and the Father will
send another advocate or consoler, the Holy Spirit. Jesus even says that it is
necessary for him to leave, because otherwise the Holy Spirit will not be able
to come (Jn 16: 7). And the Holy Spirit will fulfil the things of Jesus in us,
if we act in the name of Jesus and we observe the great commandment of the
practice of love.
Personal Questions
•
To know Jesus is to know the Father. In the
Bible the word “to know a person” is not only an intellectual understanding,
but it also presupposes a profound experience of the presence of the person in
one’s life. Do I know Jesus?
•
Do I know the Father?
Concluding Prayer
The whole wide world has seen the saving power of our God.
Acclaim Yahweh, all the earth, burst into shouts of joy!
(Ps 98: 3-4)
Saint Athanasius,
Bishop and Doctor
Athanasius was born in Alexandria, in northern Egypt, in
293. He was a theologian, Patriarch of Alexandria, a Church Father, and a noted
Egyptian leader of the fourth century. He is best remembered for his role in
the conflict with Arius and Arianism. At the first Council of Nicaea in 325,
Athanasius argued against Arius and his doctrine that Christ is of a distinct
substance from the Father; in other words, that Christ was not divine. He is
chronologically the first Doctor of the Church as designated by the Catholic
Church and counted as one of the four Great Doctors of the Eastern Church.
Athanasius received his philosophical and theological
training at Alexandria and was ordained a deacon by Patriarch Alexander of
Alexandria in 319. In 325, he served as Alexander’s secretary at the First
Council of Nicaea. As a recognised theologian and ascetic, he was the obvious
choice to replace Alexander as the Patriarch of Alexandria on the latter’s
death in 328, although the Arians were opposed to his appointment.
In the first years he visited the people in his diocese and
also the desert monks and hermits. Soon after, however, he became much involved
in disputes with the Byzantine Empire and Arians and these would occupy much of
his life.
In 335, he was deposed by the Arians at a meeting of bishops
in Tyre. Later, he was exiled by Emperor Constantine I to Trier in the
Rhineland. On the death of the emperor, Athanasius returned to Alexandria only
to be banished again by the new emperor, Constantius II. Athanasius then went
to Rome, but kept in contact with his people through his annual ‘Festal
Letters’. Efforts by Pope Julius I for Athanasius’ reinstatement proved
fruitless, but in 346 he was able to return to Alexandria. His return was
welcomed by the majority of the people of Egypt, who saw him as a national
hero.
This was the start of a ‘golden decade’ of peace and
prosperity, during which time Athanasius assembled several documents relating
to his exiles and returns from exile in the Apology Against the Arians.
However, in 350, Athanasius was once again banished and took refuge in desert
monasteries. During this time he wrote a number of important works attacking
the Arians.
In 361, he was able to return again to Alexandria and made
appeals for church unity, but in 362 there began another series of expulsions
for him. Altogether he spent 17 of the 46 years of his episcopate in exile.
After long years of struggle he died peacefully 2 May, 373.
He left behind a large corpus of writings and was hailed as “the pillar of the
Church” by Gregory of Nazianzus. He is now numbered as one of the Doctors of
the Church.
Athanasius was originally buried in Alexandria, but his body
was later transferred to Italy. During Patriarch Shenouda III’s visit to Rome
in 1973, Pope Paul VI gave him the relics of St Athanasius. They are now
preserved in the new St Mark Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in Deir El-Anba Rowais,
Abbassiya, Cairo, Egypt.
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