Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (To the Greater Glory of God)
First Reading:
From: Acts 11:19-26
The Beginning of the Church in Antioch (Continuation)
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[19] Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen travelled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to none except Jews. [20] But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Greeks also, preaching the Lord Jesus. [21] A great number that believed turned to the Lord. [22] News of this came to the ears of the Church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. [23] When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad; and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose; [24] for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a large company was added to the Lord. [25] So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul; [26] and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the Church, and taught a large company of people and in Antioch the disciples were for the first time called Christians.
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Commentary:
19-30. This account links up with Acts 8:1-4, which describes the flight of Christians from Jerusalem due to the first persecution following on the martyrdom of St. Stephen. We are now told about the spread of the Gospel to Antioch on the Orontes, the capital of the Roman province of Syria. Antioch was the first major city of the ancient world where the word of Jesus Christ was preached. It was the third city of the empire, after Rome and Alexandria, with a population of about half a million and a sizeable Jewish colony, and was a very important cultural, economic and religious center.
In Antioch the Gospel is proclaimed not only to Jews and proselytes. These Hellenist Jews from Jerusalem preached the Gospel to all and sundry as part of their ordinary everyday activity. St. Luke does not give us any names: the preachers are ordinary Christians. "Notice", says Chrysostom, "that it is grace which does everything. And also reflect on the fact that this work is begun by unknown workers and only when it begins to prosper do the Apostles send Barnabas" ("Hom. On Acts", 25).
The Christian mission at Antioch played a key part in the spread of Christianity. Evangelization of non-Jews becomes the norm; it is not just something which happens in a few isolated cases. Nor is it limited to "God-fearers"; it extends to all the Gentiles. The center of gravity of the Christian Church begins to move from Jerusalem to Antioch, which will become the springboard for the evangelization of the pagan world.
22-26. The community at Jerusalem, where the Apostles were based, felt responsible for everything that happened in the Christian mission-field. This was why they sent Barnabas to oversee developments in Antioch. Barnabas was a man whom the Apostles trusted, noted for his virtue (he was mentioned in Acts 4:36).
No doubt it was because of all the work opening before the preacher of the Gospel that Barnabas sought out Paul, who had returned to Tarsus after his conversion and his visit to Jerusalem (9:30). Barnabas probably knew that the future Apostle was the very man he needed to join him in the work of evangelization about to be undertaken by the Antiochene Church. Barnabas' sense of responsibility and his zeal to find laborers for the Lord's harvest (cf. Matthew 9:38) lead to the first of the great missionary journeys, in which Paul's vocation find full scope.
26. We do not exactly know who first began to describe the disciples as "Christians". In any event the fact that they were given a name shows that everyone recognized them as an identifiable group. The name also suggests that the term "Christos"--Messiah, Anointed--is no longer regarded simply as a messianic title but also as a proper name.
Some Fathers of the Church see this name as further indication that people do not become disciples of the Lord through human causes. "Although the holy Apostles were our teachers and have given us the Gospel of the Savior, it is not from them that we have taken our name: we are "Christians" through Christ and it is for Him that we are called in this way" (St. Athanasius, "Oratio I Contra Arianos", 2).
From: John 10:22-30
Jesus and the Father are One
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[22] It was the feast of the Dedication at Jerusalem; [23] it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon. [24] So the Jews gathered round Him and said to Him, "How long will You keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly." [25] Jesus answered them, "I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father's name, they bear witness to Me; [26] but you do not believe, because you do not belong to My sheep. [27] My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; [28] and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of My hand. [29] My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. [30] I and the Father are one."
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Commentary:
22. This feast commemorates an episode in Jewish history (cf. 1 Maccabees 4:36-59; 2 Maccabees 1-2:19; 10:1-8) when Judas Maccabeus, in the year 165 B.C., after liberating Jerusalem from the control of the Seleucid kings of Syria, cleansed the temple of the profanations of Antiochus Epiphanes (1 Maccabees 1:54). From then onwards, on the twenty-fifth day of the month of Kislev (November-December) and throughout the following week, all Judea celebrated the anniversary of the dedication of the new altar. It was also known as the "Festival of Lights" because it was customary to light lamps, a symbol of the Law, and put them in the windows of the houses (cf. 2 Maccabees 1:18).
24-25. When these Jews ask Jesus if He is the Messiah, "they speak in this way", St. Augustine comments, "not because they desire truth, but to prepare the way for calumny" ("In Ioann. Evang.", 48, 3). We have already seen Jesus reveal, by His words and deeds, that He is the Only Son of God (5:19ff; 7:16ff; 8:25ff). In view of their good dispositions, He explicitly told the Samaritan woman (4:26) and the man born blind (9:37) that He was the Messiah and Savior. Now He reproaches His listeners for refusing to recognize the works He does in His Father's name (cf. 5:36; 10:38). On other occasions He referred to works as a way to distinguish true prophets from false ones: "You will know them by their fruits" (Matthew 7:16; cf. Matthew 12:33).
26-29. Certainly faith and eternal life cannot be merited by man's own efforts: they are a gift of God. But the Lord does not deny anyone grace to believe and be saved, because He `wishes all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the Truth" (1 Timothy 2:4). If someone tries to avoid receiving the gift of faith, his unbelief is blameworthy. On this point St. Thomas Aquinas teaches: "I can see, thanks to the light of the sun; but if I close my eyes, I cannot see: this is no fault of the sun, it is my own fault, because by closing my eyes, I prevent the sunlight from reaching me" ("Commentary on St. John, ad loc.").
But those who do not oppose divine grace do come to believe in Jesus. They are known to and loved by Him, enter under His protection and remain faithful with the help of His grace, which is a pledge of the eternal life which the Good Shepherd will eventually give them. It is true that in this world they will have to strive and in the course of striving they will sustain wounds; but if they stay united to the Good Shepherd nothing and no one will snatch Christ's sheep from Him, because our Father, God, is stronger than the Evil One. Our hope that God will grant us final perseverance is not based on our strength but on God's mercy: this hope should always motivate us to strive to respond to grace and to be more faithful to the demands of our faith.
30. Jesus reveals that He and the Father are one in substance. Earlier He proclaimed that God was His Father, "making Himself equal with God"--which is why a number of times the Jewish authorities think of putting Him to death (cf. 5:18; 8:59). Now He speaks about the mystery of God, which is something we can know about only through Revelation. Later on He will reveal more about this mystery, particularly at the Last Supper (14:10; 17:21-22). It is something the evangelist reflects on at the very beginning of the Gospel, in the prologue (cf. John 1:1 and note).
"Listen to the Son Himself", St. Augustine invites us. "`I and the Father are one.' He did not say, `I am the Father' or `I and the Father are one [Person].' But when He says, `I and the Father are one,' notice the two words `[we are]' and `one'...For if they are one, then they are not diverse; if `[we] are', then there is both a Father and a Son" ("In Ioann. Evang.", 36, 9). Jesus reveals that He is one in substance with the Father as far as divine essence or nature is concerned, but He also reveals that the Father and the Son are distinct Persons: "We believe then in the Father who eternally begets the Son; in the Son, the Word of God, who is eternally begotten; in the Holy Spirit, the uncreated Person who proceeds from the Father and the Son as their eternal Love. Thus in the three divine Persons, "coaeternae sibi et coaequales", the life and beatitude of God perfectly One superabound and are consummated in the supreme excellence and glory proper to uncreated Being, and always `there should be venerated Unity in the Trinity and Trinity in the Unity'" (Pope St Paul VI, "Creed of the People of God," 10).