Saint Catherine of Siena, Virgin, Doctor
Liturgical Colour: White. Year: B(II).
Readings at Mass
Readings for the feria (Monday)
There is a choice today between the readings for the ferial day (Monday) and those for the memorial. The ferial readings are recommended unless pastoral reasons suggest otherwise.
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First reading
Acts 14:5-18
We have come with good news to turn you to the living God
Eventually with the connivance of the authorities a move was made by pagans as well as Jews to make attacks on the apostles and to stone them. When the apostles came to hear of this, they went off for safety to Lycaonia where, in the towns of Lystra and Derbe and in the surrounding country, they preached the Good News.
A man sat there who had never walked in his life, because his feet were crippled from birth; and as he listened to Paul preaching, he managed to catch his eye. Seeing that the man had the faith to be cured, Paul said in a loud voice, ‘Get to your feet – stand up’, and the cripple jumped up and began to walk.
When the crowd saw what Paul had done they shouted in the language of Lycaonia, ‘These people are gods who have come down to us disguised as men.’ They addressed Barnabas as Zeus, and since Paul was the principal speaker they called him Hermes. The priests of Zeus-outside-the-Gate, proposing that all the people should offer sacrifice with them, brought garlanded oxen to the gates. When the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard what was happening they tore their clothes, and rushed into the crowd, shouting, ‘Friends, what do you think you are doing? We are only human beings like you. We have come with good news to make you turn from these empty idols to the living God who made heaven and earth and the sea and all that these hold. In the past he allowed each nation to go its own way, but even then he did not leave you without evidence of himself in the good things he does for you: he sends you rain from heaven, he makes your crops grow when they should, he gives you food and makes you happy.’ Even this speech, however, was scarcely enough to stop the crowd from offering them sacrifice.
Commentary
Luke is a skilled author, capable of all kinds of writing. Here he gives us an echo of a well-known story in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, V.611: Zeus and Hermes were wandering through this same district, Lycaonia, without anyone recognizing them, until finally they were recognized by an old couple, who offered sacrifice to them. In return, the gods promised to fulfill their dearest wish, which was to remain together forever. This wish was instantly fulfilled by their metamorphosis into two trees wound round each other so that they were left in a permanent embrace. In Luke’s story, by contrast, in the same district Barnabas and Paul are recognized as gods, and are offered sacrifice though they are no gods, each with their different attributes, Barnabas the leader like Zeus, and Paul the speaker like Hermes.
The basic story of the cure of a cripple remains, underneath this lively and entertaining decoration. Paul heals the man just as Peter had healed a man with crippled feet at the entrance to the Temple in 3.1-8. Each of them is exercising the power shown by Jesus in his own works of power, Luke 4.39; John 5.1-9.
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Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 113B(115):1-4,15-16
Not to us, Lord, but to your name give the glory.
or
Alleluia!
Not to us, Lord, not to us,
but to your name give the glory
for the sake of your love and your truth,
lest the heathen say: ‘Where is their God?’
Not to us, Lord, but to your name give the glory.
or
Alleluia!
But our God is in the heavens;
he does whatever he wills.
Their idols are silver and gold,
the work of human hands.
Not to us, Lord, but to your name give the glory.
or
Alleluia!
May you be blessed by the Lord,
the maker of heaven and earth.
The heavens belong to the Lord
but the earth he has given to men.
Not to us, Lord, but to your name give the glory.
or
Alleluia!
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Gospel Acclamation
Alleluia, alleluia!
Christ has risen and shone upon us
whom he redeemed with his blood.
Alleluia!
Or:
Jn14:26
Alleluia, alleluia!
The Holy Spirit will teach you everything
and remind you of all I have said to you.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
John 14:21-26
The Advocate, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything
Jesus said to his disciples:
‘Anybody who receives my commandments and keeps them
will be one who loves me;
and anybody who loves me will be loved by my Father,
and I shall love him and show myself to him.’
Judas – this was not Judas Iscariot – said to him, ‘Lord, what is all this about? Do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?’ Jesus replied:
‘If anyone loves me he will keep my word,
and my Father will love him,
and we shall come to him and make our home with him.
Those who do not love me do not keep my words.
And my word is not my own:
it is the word of the one who sent me.
I have said these things to you while still with you;
but the Advocate, the Holy Spirit,
whom the Father will send in my name,
will teach you everything
and remind you of all I have said to you.’
Commentary
This reading begins to teach what this love means: to love Jesus means to keep his commandments. This is not a matter of mere obedience but of loving imitation. If I love a person I want to keep that person’s commandments, both out of loyalty and out of respect for that person’s qualities: the commandments will reveal and mirror that person’s qualities. So the Law given by Moses reveals God’s nature by what he commands. Just so the actions of Jesus reveal his and the Father’s nature: he heals, he loves, he judges, he forgives, he commands. To obey the commands is a response in love: we need to do just that.
We have also for the first time one of the four sayings on the Paraclete. ‘Paraclete’ is the Greek for the Latin-stemmed ‘Advocate’, who is ‘called to the side’ of someone in need. The Paraclete is to represent Jesus, to carry on Jesus’ work, to act in the name of Jesus and to make Jesus present when Jesus is no longer there. We will learn gradually what this implies. The first element is teaching, to complete and explain what Jesus has revealed, the implications of the Good News of Jesus. We see this in the Church, making present to every generation the implications of the Good News. The presence of the Paraclete makes it possible for frail and fallible human beings to mediate the work of Jesus.
