Saturday of the Sixth Week of Easter St Isidore

Title

I Will Tell You Clearly About My Father

Outline

I like Father Brown stories,

partly because he is fumbly and bumbly and I can identify with that, partly because he has insight in human psychology, and partly because he often sees, but does not see clearly - until the end

But that is also the way religious life goes on

Take Apollos,

He was trained in rhetoric in Alexandria

He had learned Scripture, including that they had a spiritual meaning - in Alexandria

Somehow he had realized that they pointed to Jesus as Messiah - perhaps even that Jesus was resurrected

But his sacramental theology ended with the baptism of John - a baptism of repentance

And apparently he knew nothing about the church, the Eucharist, or the way of Christian devotion

But as he pursued and preached what he did know, he kept an open heart and Priscilla and Aquila were able to reveal to him the rest of the story

I wonder if, as the penny dropped, he did not clap his hand to his head and say, “Well, of course! Why did I not see that before? It is all in the Scriptures! But then I did not have the facts that you just told me about his life and resurrection.”

And with that realization he quickly became an evangelist for the fullness of truth

Jesus is speaking to his disciples right before his “glorification”

Four verses earlier Jesus has mentioned to them that they had wanted to ask him something, for they were confused and dismayed by what he was saying

Now he is telling them, knowing that he is going to leave, that they can [on that day] put their questions to the Father directly, based on their relationship with and commitment to Jesus - the Father will answer

[In other words, this is not about things or miracles, but about understanding the grand story and understanding God]

On that day Jesus will still speak to them, but, more than that, he will not have to address the Father for them, but they will ask the Father themselves and he will explain to them.

Why will the Father do this? Because they love and are committed to Jesus and to the revelation that they have from Jesus about his nature. Therefore the Father loves them. And, with Jesus back with him, the Father will give them understanding.

But Jesus does not say that they will be able to express this understanding clearly - it could be they people will hear them speaking in parables and figures of speech.

Sisters, this is our life and the life of the church

We follow the revelation that we have, and that is good - it is also good to know what we do not know it all.

In his timing, as we seek the Father’s face, he explains more to us, although it may be in our hearts in a way we cannot fully explain to others.

This, as St John Henry Newman classically put it, is the development of doctrine, or, as the Rector of Our Lady of Walsingham put it, the unfolding of the wedding dress.

Sometimes we see and understand what we had not seen in scripture, sometimes we just “get” a teaching we have heard, sometimes we God tells us something that we had no idea was real - the timing and the means are his.

We live that truth out in our lives, and perhaps teach it to others as well - I am now reading more about St Catherine of Sienna although for most of us it will be in a smaller way - but we are left with a different hunger, for we realize that there is still more.

Eventually will come the time of fulfillment, when Jesus brings us to the Father and, I am sure wordlessly, every question is answered and every desire met - even those we do not know we have, a timeless feast of heart-knowing forever.

That is what we see in the New Testament, that is the story of the councils and the saints, and that is what we mean by the development of doctrine, not just temporally, but eternally.

Readings

Catholic Daily Readings Saturday of the Sixth Week of Easter

FIRST READING

Acts 18:23–28

23 After staying there some time, he left and traveled in orderly sequence through the Galatian country and Phrygia, bringing strength to all the disciples.

24 A Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, an eloquent speaker, arrived in Ephesus. He was an authority on the scriptures. 25 He had been instructed in the Way of the Lord and, with ardent spirit, spoke and taught accurately about Jesus, although he knew only the baptism of John. 26 He began to speak boldly in the synagogue; but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the Way [of God] more accurately. 27 And when he wanted to cross to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples there to welcome him. After his arrival he gave great assistance to those who had come to believe through grace. 28 He vigorously refuted the Jews in public, establishing from the scriptures that the Messiah is Jesus.

RESPONSE

Psalm 47:8a

8 For God is king over all the earth;

sing hymns of praise.

PSALM

Psalm 47:2–3, 8–10

2 All you peoples, clap your hands;

shout to God with joyful cries.

3 For the LORD, the Most High, is to be feared,

the great king over all the earth,

8 For God is king over all the earth;

sing hymns of praise.

9 God rules over the nations;

God sits upon his holy throne.

10 The princes of the peoples assemble

with the people of the God of Abraham.

For the shields of the earth belong to God,

highly exalted.

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION

John 16:28

28 I came from the Father and have come into the world. Now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.”

GOSPEL

John 16:23b–28

23 On that day you will not question me about anything. Amen, amen, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you. 24 Until now you have not asked anything in my name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.

25  “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. 26 On that day you will ask in my name, and I do not tell you that I will ask the Father for you. 27 For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have come to believe that I came from God. 28 I came from the Father and have come into the world. Now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.”

Notes

Catholic Daily Readings Saturday of the Sixth Week of Easter

EASTER

SATURDAY OF THE SIXTH WEEK OF EASTER

YEARS 1 & 2 | ROMAN MISSAL | LECTIONARY

First Reading Acts 18:23–28

Response Psalm 47:8a

Psalm Psalm 47:2–3, 8–10

Gospel Acclamation John 16:28

Gospel John 16:23b–28