May 28, 2009

Acts 22:30-23:11
30The next day the commander wanted to know for certain the charges the Jews were making against Paul. So he released him from prison and called together the High Priest and the whole Council; and they brought Paul down and made him stand before them.
1Paul looked directly at the Council and said, “Brothers, to this day I have lived my life with a clear conscience before God.” 2At that the High Priest Ananias ordered his attendants to strike him on the mouth. 3Then Paul said, “God is about to strike you, you whitewashed wall! You sit there to judge me according to the Law, and you break the Law by ordering me to be struck!” 4At this the attendants protested, “How dare you insult God’s High Priest?” 5Paul answered, “Brothers, I did not know that he was the High Priest. For Scripture says: You shall not curse the ruler of your people.’’
6Paul knew that part of the Council were Sadducees and others Pharisees; so he spoke out in the Council, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, son of a Pharisee. It is for the hope in the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial here.”
7At these words, an argument broke out between the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the whole assembly was divided. 8For the Sadducees claim that there is neither resurrection, nor angels nor spirits, while the Pharisees acknowledge all these things.
9Then the shouting grew louder, and some teachers of the Law of the Pharisee party protested, “We find nothing wrong with this man. Maybe a spirit or an angel has spoken to him.”
10With this the argument became so violent that the commander feared that Paul would be torn to pieces by them. He therefore ordered the soldiers to go down and rescue him from their midst and take him back to the fortress.
11That night the Lord stood by Paul and said, “Courage! As you have borne witness to me here in Jerusalem, so must you do in Rome.”

Commentaries: To understand the chapters dealing with Paul’s trial we have to remember that justice in the Roman empire was very well organized. The supreme tribunal was in Rome: this was the Tribunal of Caesar, and Roman citizens fearing a mistrial in their province could appeal to the Tribunal of Caesar. There were governors (or procurators) who administered justice in each province. In the Jewish territory, the Romans who occupied the country kept the important cases for themselves, but they left the rest to the Jewish tribunals, especially religious affairs. Paul was to go through various tribunals, beginning with the Sanhedrin, or religious court of the Jews, all the way to the tribunal of Caesar.
Thus, through Paul, the words of Jesus entrusting to his apostles the mission of proclaiming him before Jewish and pagan authorities was to be fulfilled.
Paul tries to make the resurrection of Christ the theme of his declaration. There was a trial to condemn Jesus. Now, Paul tries to have the governors pay attention to the cause of the risen Jesus, and he succeeds.
In every age, such will be the zeal of the witnesses of Christ when they are accused: to demonstrate that they are not acting out of self-interest, nor from any human motive, but because they are the servants of Christ.



Psalms 16:1-11
1 Keep me safe, O God,
for in you I take refuge.
2I say to the Lord,
“You are my Lord, my only good.”
3The gods of the earth are but nothing,
cursed be those who delight in them.
4Those who run after foreign gods
only have their sorrows multiplied.
Let me not shed blood for them,
nor their names be heard on my lips.
5O Lord, my inheritance and my cup,
my chosen portion – hold secure my lot.
6The best part has been allotted to me.
Delightful indeed is my inheritance!
7I bless the Lord who counsels me;
even at night my inmost self instructs me.
8I keep the Lord always before me;
for with him at my right hand,
I will never be shaken.
9My heart, therefore, exults, my soul rejoices;
my body too will rest assured.
10For you will not abandon
my soul to the grave,
nor will you suffer your holy one
to see decay in the land of the dead.
11You will show me the path of life,
in your presence the fullness of joy,
at your right hand happiness forever.


Commentaries: The Israelites lived among pagan nations, but even among the people, many shared the pagan superstitions while professing their faith in one God. When they took part in sacrifices offered to local gods, they mixed idolatry with the practice of true faith.
The author of this psalm is doubtless a Levite, a priest. In the past when God divided the Promised Land among the tribes, he said to the Levites: “I will be your part of inheritance.” Now he guides this Levite amidst the compromises of a people more unfaithful than faithful.
The commitment of the psalmist is so unconditional that he does not think that even death can sever his relationship with God (vv. 10-11).
You will not abandon my soul to the grave. The psalmist is certain that God can deliver him from this dark, sad place, which, according to the belief of that time, was the dwelling place of the dead. He will place him at his right forever.
From the beginning, Christians took these words as applying especially to the risen Jesus (Acts 2:25; 13:35).
Loyalty to God does not mean hostility towards those who follow another religion. This loyalty asks of us on the contrary to look more closely at our attachment to all the little gods that encumber our life. Let us not sacrifice our Christian identity on the altar of money.


Jn 17:20-26
20I pray not only for these but also for those who through their word will believe in me. 21May they all be one as you Father are in me and I am in you. May they be one in us; so the world may believe that you have sent me.
22I have given them the Glory you have given me, that they may be one as we are one: 23I in them and you in me. Thus they shall reach perfection in unity and the world shall know that you have sent me and that I have loved them just as you loved me.
24Father, since you have given them to me, I want them to be with me where I am and see the Glory you gave me, for you loved me before the foundation of the world.
25Righteous Father, the world has not known you but I have known you, and these have known that you have sent me. 26As I revealed your Name to them, so will I continue to reveal it, so that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I also may be in them.”