The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to be open to deepening our relationship with Jesus and the Father through the gift of understanding from the Holy Spirit.
Understanding Clarified
The reading from the Acts of the Apostles describes the ministry of Apollos.
* [18:24, 25] Apollos appears as a preacher who knows the teaching of Jesus in the context of John’s baptism of repentance. Aquila and Priscilla instruct him more fully. He is referred to in 1 Cor 1:12; 3:5–6, 22.1
Psalm 47 declares God’s Rule over the Nations.
* [Psalm 47] A hymn calling on the nations to acknowledge the universal rule of Israel’s God (Ps 47:2–5) who is enthroned as king over Israel and the nations (Ps 47:6–9).2
In the Gospel of John, Jesus offers clarification and peace for the disciples.
* [16:25] See note on Jn 10:6. Here, possibly a reference to Jn 15:1–16 or Jn 16:21.3
Nancy Shirley comments that every time she has a reflection to write she has more questions than answers. She is challenged to really examine who she is and how that is lived and conveyed to others.
I am of the vintage that I remember well the change in Church music following Vatican II. The music of the “folk masses” filled my heart. One of the earliest songs that I remember from this is They’ll know We are Christians by our Love and the lyric that we are one in the Spirit. So many of the songs in that era (many from the beloved St Louis Jesuits) proclaimed our beliefs in a way that demanded/encouraged actions consistent with our professions of faith. So, the question remains for me, will they know I am Christian???4
Don Schwager quotes “Offer prayers in Christ's name,” by Cyril of Alexandria, 376-444 A.D.
"He urges the disciples to seek for spiritual gifts and at the same time gives them confidence that, if they ask for them, they will not fail to obtain them. He adds the word Amen, that he might confirm their belief that if they ask the Father for anything they would receive it from him. He would act as their mediator and make known their request and, being one with the Father, grant it. For this is what he means by 'in my name'. For we cannot draw near to God the Father in any other way than through the Son. For it is by him that we have access in the one Spirit to the Father (Ephesians 2:8). It was because of this that he said, 'I am the door. I am the way. No one comes to the Father but by me' (John 10:7; 14:6). For as the Son is God, he being one with the Father provides good things for his sanctified people and is found to be generous of his wealth to us... Let us then offer our prayers in Christ's name. For in this way, the Father will most readily consent to them and grant his graces to those who seek them, that receiving them we may rejoice." (excerpt from COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 11.2)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on John 16:23-28 asks if no matter how many times we pray the Lord’s Prayer, is it difficult to believe, deep down, that God loves you? Think of the kinds of thoughts that can creep into our minds: Sure God loves humanity in general, but he must be disappointed with me. God has given me so many blessings, but I still fall short; how could he love someone like that? Whenever these thoughts arise, imagine Jesus telling you in his strong voice, “The Father himself loves you” (John 16:27).
This truth is so revolutionary that it has changed the course of history—and it is changing your life as well! Spend some of your prayer time today sitting with this verse. Read it over and over again, or recite it aloud to yourself: “The Father himself loves you” (John 16:27). Ask the Holy Spirit to bring this truth home to you. As you do, imagine Jesus at your side, encouraging you to go to the Father. Put aside any thought of God as being cruel or angry or unforgiving. Instead, focus on John’s unflinching faith in this truth: “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son” (3:16). God loves you. Whoever you are and whatever you’ve done, he still loves you. Come to him in prayer today. Dare to call him your Father. “Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus, hear my prayer.”6
Friar Jude Winkler comments on the mission of Apollos and the important letter of Paul to the Galatians. Martin Luther suggested that the grammar and style of the Letter to the Hebrews pointed to Apollos as the author since it is so different from the grammar and style of Paul. Friar Jude reminds us that prayer is a relational activity.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, comments few Christians have a sense of what it feels like to be loved by God. We might get it intellectually or even sense it in our hearts, but the marriage of the soul and God is experienced on a deeper level when we make ourselves vulnerable to being overtaken by God’s overwhelming desire for us. Fr. Richard offers this contemplative reflection from Carmelite nun Ruth Burrows on prayer as an experience of allowing God to love us.
We must realize [therefore,] that what we have to do is allow ourselves to be loved, to be there for Love to love us. . . . True prayer means wanting GOD not ego. The great thing is to lay down this ego-drive. This is the ‘life’ we must lose, this the ‘self’ we must abandon if we are to have true life and become that self God wants us to be, which only God can know and ultimately only God can bring into being. . . . The essential thing we have to do is believe in the enfolding, nurturing, transforming Love of God which is the Reality: the Reality that is absolutely, totally there whether we avert to It or not. Prayer, from our side, is a deliberate decision to avert to It, to respond to It in the fullest way we can. To do this we must set time aside to devote exclusively to the ‘Yes’ of faith. . . .7
The relationship we have with God awaits our “yes” to clarify our understanding of our mission.
References
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