{"id":756,"date":"2019-05-21T07:46:45","date_gmt":"2019-05-21T07:46:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/?p=756"},"modified":"2019-05-21T07:48:26","modified_gmt":"2019-05-21T07:48:26","slug":"26-may-2019-c-sixth-sunday-of-easter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/?p=756","title":{"rendered":"26 May 2019 (C) Sixth SUNDAY of Easter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A. The Bible as\nGuide in Life and Liturgy (Sunday Readings)<\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

B. Reflection & Dialogue:<\/strong> The Holy Spirit guides the Church to be\nfaithful to Christ\u2019s teaching<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A. The Bible as Guide in Life and\nLiturgy (Sunday Readings)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

First Reading <\/em>(Acts 15:1-2, 22-29). It has been decided by the Holy Spirit and\nourselves not to saddle you with any burden beyond these essentials. <\/em>Two\nessential points are made in this reading. In the early days of the Church\u2019s\nmission to the pagans (of which we read during the past two Sundays) some\nJewish Christians came from Jerusalem saying (in\nAntioch on the Orontes\npresumably) that to be saved it was necessary to be circumcised and to practice\nthe Law of Moses. This was the direct contrary to what Paul and his mission to\nthe gentiles had preached. A crisis had arisen. The unity of the Church,\nbetween Jew and Gentile, indicated that the situation be discussed and resolved\nin conjunction with the mother Church in Jerusalem.\nThe church in Jerusalem\nappears as highly organized. The apostles (some at least; James brother of John\nhad already been murdered by Herod Agrippa I, in 42 AD). There were also elders\n(their precise function not quite clear) and the head of this Jerusalem\nChristian community was James brother of the Lord, not Peter. It is implied in\nthe reading that the apostles and elders of the Church at Jerusalem firmly endorsed Paul\u2019s position\nthat neither circumcision nor the Mosaic Law was to be imposed on Christian\nconverts from paganism. The Jerusalem\nmeeting, however, was concerned about non-Jewish concern for Jewish\nsensitivity, especially to make table fellowship between Jew and non-Jew all\nthe easier. For this reason they were requested to abstain from certain things;\nthree of them ritual, the fourth, a Greek word translated variously as\n\u201cfornication\u201d, \u201cimmorality\u201d. It may mean sexual immorality (incest) arising\nfrom incestuous unions, marriage unions outside the Jewish law of the degrees\nof kindred. The four things may correspond to the matters proscribed in\nLeviticus 17-18 for aliens dwelling among the holy people Israel. The\nJerusalem Council decision was confirmed by word of mouth and letter for the\nareas concerned: Antioch, Syria and Cilicia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            The\nreadings do not quite convey the momentous significance of that Jerusalem council\n(probably in the year 49 AD). What was at stake was the mission beyond Judaism\nto pagans, without requirement of circumcision or practice of the Jewish law.\nThe Jewish Christians that came to Antioch\nbelieved that the Law revealed to Moses still held for converts from paganism\nto Christianity. At the Jerusalem\nmeeting itself a group of Christian converts from the party of the Pharisees further\nstressed the point. Peter first spoke, recalling how he himself at the\ndirection of the Holy Spirit had baptized the pagan Cornelius without requiring\ncircumcision or deference to Judaism, an action agreed to by the Jerusalem community. James,\nhead of the Jewish-Christian community, agreed with this. Paul\u2019s mission and\nthe unity of the Church had been safeguarded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Responsorial Psalm <\/em>(Psalm\n66[67]). Let the peoples praise you, O\nGod; let all the peoples praise you.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second Reading <\/em>(Apocalypse 21:10-14,\n22-23), He showed me the holy city coming\ndown from heaven.<\/em> This section is immediately preceded in the Bible with\nthe words: \u201cCome, I will show you the Bride that the Lamb has married\u201d. The New\nJerusalem of this reading is the Church in its heavenly splendour. It has some\nof the themes of last Sunday\u2019s second reading on the new heaven and the new\nearth. The New Jerusalem envisaged represents the future ideal union of God\nwith humanity. The \u201cenormous high mountain\u201d from which John sees the vision was\na traditional symbol for vision of God and union with God (Ezekiel 40:2), a site\nof paradise of the past (Ezekiel 28:14) and future (see Isaiah 11:9; 65:25),\nwith which Mount Zion was symbolically identified (Psalm 47[48]:2), where the\nTemple, to which all people would come, would stand (Isaiah 2:2). The city\u2019s\nbeauty is highlighted. It also is a summation of the Old Testament (with the\nTwelve Patriarchs) and the New (the Twelve Apostles of the Lamb). Unlike human\ncities, like Babylon\nof old that seek to reach heaven, this city comes down from heaven from God. It\nwill be lit by the radiant glory of God and the Lamb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            The\nreading, ending the book of the Apocalypse which spoke of the victory of the\nLamb and the kingdom\n of God, had a message of\ncomfort, and encouragement for its first readers. It holds a message for all\ntime, calling on humanity to expect and view even now the vision of the city of\nGod calling on us to live in keeping with this\nvision, and to beware of the temptation to build a human city like the Babylon of old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gospel <\/em>(John 14:23-29).\nThe Holy Spirit will remind you of all I\nhave said to you. <\/em>This is a very suitable reading for this the Sunday\nimmediately before the celebration of the Ascension of Jesus. It is part of\nJesus\u2019 Farewell Discourse to his disciples before his passion and departure\nvisibly from this world. It speaks of Jesus\u2019 love for his disciples and for the\nFather and the Father\u2019s love for them. They are all united in Jesus\u2019 word, and\nin the Paraclete, the Advocate, the Holy Spirit that the Father will send.\nGreat stress is laid on Jesus\u2019 \u201cword\u201d or \u201cwords\u201d. This word is much more that\nour meaning of the term. Jesus\u2019 word implies union (or its absence) with him\nKeeping his word means keeping his commandments, the commandment to believe in\nhim and to love one another. His word is the communication of his Father\u2019s plan\nof salvation. The Paraclete (in Greek parakletos<\/em>)\nwill see that Jesus\u2019 work continues. Many truths are conveyed in John\u2019s Gospel\nby this single word. The Paraclete (Holy Spirit) is an Advocate and a witness;\nhe also consoles the disciples. He has them remember Jesus\u2019 work and leads them\ninto the whole truth. In a sense the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, replaces\nJesus. He establishes continuity between believers and Jesus, not merely by\nrecalling Jesus\u2019 words and work, but by being Jesus\u2019 living presence. Because\nof this Jesus can bequeath his own peace on his disciples, a peace that will be\nwith them in earthly trials and that cannot be taken from them. Given all this,\nand the new life of the Spirit to follow on Jesus\u2019 departure to the Father, the\ndisciples should be glad rather than sad at this parting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

B. Reflection & Dialogue<\/em><\/strong>: The Holy Spirit\nguides the Church to be faithful to Christ\u2019s teaching<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A theme running through the first\nreading and the Gospel reading today is the guiding presence of the Holy Spirit\nwith the Church. The Christian mission from its very beginnings to our own day\nhas been one of developments, development in the understanding of God\u2019s message\nto Israel\nthrough Moses and the Prophets and developments in the understanding of the\nrelation of the Son with the Father. These are developments that demanded, and\nstill demand, faith. Jesus in his own lifetime was sent to the lost sheep of\nthe house of Israel.\nAfter his resurrection the apostles were commanded by him to preach the Gospel\nto all peoples. Paul was chosen by God to be the apostle to the pagans, the\ngentiles, to preach salvation through faith in Jesus, without the prior\nrequirement of the Jewish law. Jesus had left no blueprint how this was to be\nworked out. It had to be done under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We see\nfrom the first reading how this occurred.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            The\nHoly Spirit, the Paraclete, links the church of each age with Jesus, reminding\nit of all Jesus has said. This does not apply just to development in doctrine,\nas for instance in the relation of Jesus to the Father, as God of God, begotten\nnot made, and such like. The Holy Spirit also reminds the Church of Jesus\u2019\nlove for all strata of humanity, the marginalized and all others, challenging\neach generation to renew itself after the model of Jesus, m devotion, in the\nbreaking of bread (the Eucharist, the Mass) and in prayer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A. The Bible as Guide in Life and Liturgy (Sunday Readings) B. Reflection & Dialogue: The Holy Spirit guides the Church to be faithful to Christ\u2019s teaching A. The Bible … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sunday-readings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=756"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/756\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":757,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/756\/revisions\/757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundayscriptureonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}