Contemplating today's Gospel
Today's Gospel + homily (in 300 words)
The news about them reached the ears of the Church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to go to Antioch. When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced and encouraged them all to remain faithful to the Lord in firmness of heart, for he was a good man, filled with the Holy Spirit and faith. And a large number of people was added to the Lord. Then he went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he had found him he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the Church and taught a large number of people, and it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians.
I tell of Egypt and Babylon among those who know the Lord; of Philistia, Tyre, Ethiopia: «This man was born there». And of Zion they shall say: «One and all were born in her; and he who has established her is the Most High Lord».
They shall note, when the peoples are enrolled: «This man was born there». And all shall sing, in their festive dance: «My home is within you».
“The Father and I are one.”
Fr. Miquel MASATS i Roca (Girona, Spain)Today, we see Jesus walking “about in the temple area on the Portico of Solomon” (Jn 10:23), during the Feast of Dedication, in Jerusalem. It was then when the Jews ask Him: “If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly”, and Jesus answers: “I told you and you do not believe” (Jn 10:24-25).
Only through Faith is man able to recognize Jesus Christ as the Son of God. When The Holy Father John Paul II addressed the young people on occasion of the 15th World Youth Day at Tor Vergata, in the year 2000, he spoke about the “school of faith”. To the question “Who do the crowds say that I am?” (Lk 9:18), there are many answers... But, then, Jesus becomes more personal: “But, who do you say that I am?” To correctly answer this question we need the “revelation of the Father”. To be able to answer like Simon Peter did —“You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (Mt 16:16) — takes God's grace.
But, even though God wishes everyone to believe and be saved, only humble men have the capacity to receive the gift of grace. “But with the humble is wisdom”, can be read in the Book of Proverbs (11:2). Man's true wisdom consists of trusting God.
Saint Thomas Aquinas comments on this passage of the Gospel by saying: «I can see thanks to the sunlight, but if I close my eyes, I cannot see; but this is not the fault of the sun, but mine».
Jesus tells them to believe in Him, if nothing else, because of His works that manifest God's power: “The works I do in my Father’s name testify to me” (Jn 10:25).
Jesus knows His sheep and His sheep hear His voice. Faith allows us to connect with Jesus through prayer. What else is a prayer but a way to communicate with Jesus Christ, who loves us and takes us to the Father? And the outcome and reward of this intimacy with Jesus in this life is eternal life, as we have read in the Gospel.
Thoughts on Today's Gospel
“God is the infinitely perfect being who is the most Holy Trinity” (Saint Turibius of Mogrovejo)
“Life in its true sense is not something we have exclusively in or from ourselves: it is a relationship. If we are in relation with him who does not die, then we are in life. Then we ‘live’” (Benedict XVI)
“Moved by the grace of the Holy Spirit and drawn by the Father, we believe in Jesus and confess: ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God’ (Mt 16:16). On the rock of this faith confessed by St. Peter, Christ built his Church” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, Nº 424)
