REFLECTIONS TODAY
To be a Christian is to be an alter Christus, another Christ. It means to share Jesus’ life and destiny. Here at the Last Supper, Jesus forewarns his disciples of the persecution that awaits them.
Jesus is hated by the world because his values are anathema to those who live in selfishness, hypocrisy, and self-glorification. The disciples will be hated and persecuted on account of Jesus’ name. But Jesus assures them of the assistance of the paraklētos or comforter: the Holy Spirit.
In their mission to preach and give testimony to the Gospel, it is the Holy Spirit who is the main protagonist. In many surprising ways, the Holy Spirit will direct them to unexpected, often untrodden, ways to people in most need of the message of salvation. We see an example of this in the First Reading.
The Holy Spirit did not allow Paul and his companions to go to Bithynia, which was close to the Black Sea. Instead, they went to Troas where Paul received a call for help from a Macedonian. When they crossed the Aegean Sea, the evangelization of Europe began, starting with founding of the communities in Philippi and then in Thessalonica.
First Reading • Acts 16:1-10
Paul reached also Derbe and Lystra where there was a disciple named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. The brothers in Lystra and Iconium spoke highly of him, and Paul wanted him to come along with him. On account of the Jews of that region, Paul had him circumcised, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. As they traveled from city to city, they handed on to the people for observance the decisions reached by the Apostles and presbyters in Jerusalem. Day after day the churches grew stronger in faith and increased in number.
They traveled through the Phrygian and Galatian territory because they had been prevented by the Holy Spirit from preaching the message in the province of Asia. When they came to Mysia, they tried to go on into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them, so they crossed through Mysia and came down to Troas. During the night Paul had a vision. A Macedonian stood before him and implored him with these words, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” When he had seen the vision, we sought passage to Macedonia at once, concluding that God had called us to proclaim the Good News to them.
Gospel • John 15:18-21
Jesus said to his disciples: “If the world hates you, realize that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you.
Remember the word I spoke to you, ‘No slave is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. And they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know the one who sent me.
Source: “366 Days with the Lord 2024,” St. Paul’s, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 632-895-9701; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.