John 16:23b-28

Acts 18:23-28

Psalm 47:2-3, 8-9, 10

John 16:23b-28

Jesus said to his disciples:

“Amen, amen, I say to you,

whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.

Until now you have not asked anything in my name;

ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.

“I have told you this in figures of speech.

The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures

but I will tell you clearly about the Father.

On that day you will ask in my name,

and I do not tell you that I will ask the Father for you.

For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me

and have come to believe that I came from God.

I came from the Father and have come into the world.

Now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.”

Opening Prayer: Lord God, I thank you today for introducing me through your Son and Spirit into your own divine life. I do not in any way deserve this great gift and yet you generously offer it to me out of love. I pray that all people may enjoy the gift of divine life.

Encountering the Word of God

1. Praying to the Father in Union with Jesus and Animated by the Spirit: In the Gospel of John, Jesus focuses his Farewell Discourse on the disciples’ life after his Resurrection from the dead and his Ascension into Heaven. By reading the discourse during Easter, the Church looks forward to the celebration of Pentecost and the sending of the Holy Spirit. Jesus has spoken at length about the consoling activity of the Holy Spirit (John 14:16-17, 26; 15:26; 16:7-14) and how the disciple’s temporary grief will become lasting joy. They will be filled with the supernatural joy of divine communion. “Through the Holy Spirit, the risen Jesus will draw his disciples to share in his communion with the Father, and an indication of this new relationship will be their praying to the Father in Jesus’ name” (Martin and Wright, The Gospel of John, 272). When the disciples pray in union with Jesus, their prayers will be answered. This is because it will not be a selfish prayer or a petition for something outside of God’s loving will. It will be a prayer that the Father’s will be done (Matthew 6:10). “By being united to Jesus and animated by the Spirit of love and obedience, the disciples will know joy that is perfect and complete, a joy that comes only from participating in the divine communion” (Martin and Wright, The Gospel of John, 272).

2. From Figures about the Father to Clarity: Jesus contrasts how he spoke about and revealed the Father to his disciples and the crowds during his public ministry and how he will do so after his Resurrection. During his public ministry, Jesus used figures of speech and parables. We can recall, for example, the Parable of the Prodigal Son in Luke’s Gospel, which speaks in veiled language about the Father and his mercy. After his Resurrection from the dead and Ascension into Heaven, Jesus will send the Holy Spirit, who will guide the Church to the fullness of the truth about God. The figures and allusions will be made clear through the teaching action of the Spirit. Jesus came from the Father and now returns to the Father. This is the path we are called to follow. We came from God and were created by God. We have been introduced into the life of the Trinity through faith and Baptism. Only at the end of our earthly lives will we enter the definitive fullness of divine life. We come from the Father and return to the Father in the Spirit and through the Son.

3. The Ministry of Apollos: The First Reading narrates the beginning of Paul’s Third Missionary Journey (A.D. 53) and describes the preaching of Apollos in the city of Ephesus during Paul’s absence and before Paul’s arrival (Acts 19:1). Apollos had a Greek name but was a Jew from Alexandria in Egypt. While Apollos was able to preach accurately about Jesus, John’s preaching about preparing the way of the Lord, and the baptism of John, he needed Priscilla and Aquila to explain the Way of God more accurately. Apollos knew about some of Jesus’ deeds and sayings but not with the full truth of Jesus’ identity as the Christ, Jesus’ mission, and the Sacrament of Baptism. Priscilla and Aquila likely taught Apollos that “the Lord proclaimed by John is the crucified and risen Lord Jesus and that ‘the Way of the Lord’ is the path of discipleship that one enters through baptism into Christ” (Kurz, Acts of the Apostles, 288). After this, Apollos left Ephesus and went to Corinth in Achaia and proclaimed from the Scriptures that Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah (the Christ). “The success of Apollos in establishing the faith was noted by Paul (1 Corinthians 3:6), who said that Apollos had watered what Paul had planted. A group of Christians, however, formed a separatist faction in the Corinthian community in Apollos’ name. Paul did not consider Apollos at all responsible for the formation of the faction (1 Corinthians 3:3-9; 4:6), as Paul clearly respected Apollos as a fellow laborer. Instead Paul tries in 1 Corinthians to break down the divisions among the Corinthian Christians” (Hahn (ed.), Catholic Bible Dictionary, “Apollos,” 58).

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, you have revealed to me the mystery of divine life and how I am called to share in that life. Teach me to pray and converse with the Father in union with you. May the Holy Spirit animate my prayer and inspire me to ask for good things from the heavenly Father.

Living the Word of God: Apollos and Paul each placed their natural gifts and talents at the service of the Gospel. What gifts and talents do I have from God that could benefit the extension of God’s Kingdom?