Sts. Nereus & Achilleus, martyr 

St. Pancras, martyr 

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊

Acts 17:15, 22-18:1

Paul was taken as far as Athens by his escort,

Who then returned to Beroea with instructions for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible.  Then Paul stood up in the Areopagus hall and said, “Athenian citizens, I note that in every way you are very religious. 

As I walked around looking at your shrines, I even discovered an altar with this inscription: To an unknown God. Now, what you wor­ship as unknown, I intend to make known to you.

 God, who made the world and all that is in it, does not dwell in sanctuaries made by human hands, being as he is Lord of heaven and earth. Nor does his worship depend on any­thing made by human hands, as if he were in need.

Rather it is he who gives life and breath and everything else to everyone. From one stock he created the whole human race to live throughout all the earth, and he fixed the time and the boundaries of each nation. He wanted them to seek him by themselves, even if it were only by groping for him, succeed in finding him.

Yet he is not far from any one of us. For in him we live and move and have our being, as some of your poets have said: for we too are his offspring. If we are indeed God’s offspring, we ought not to think of divinity as something like a statue of gold or silver or stone, a product of human art and imagination.

 But now God prefers to overlook this time of ignorance and he calls on all people to change their ways. He has already set a day on which he will judge the world with justice through a man he has appointed. And, so that all may believe it, he has just given a sign by raising this man from the dead.”

When they heard Paul speak of a resurrection from death, some made fun of him, while others said, “We must hear you on this topic some other time.” At that point Paul left. But a few did join him, and be­lieved. Among them were Diony­sius, a member of the Areopagus court, a woman named Damaris, and some others.

 After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.

 

Ps 148:1-2, 11-12, 13, 14

Heaven and earth are full of your glory.

 

＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊

John 16:12-15

 I still have many things to tell you, but you cannot bear them now. When he, the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into the whole truth.

He has nothing to say of himself but he will speak of what he hears, and he will tell you of the things to come. He will take what is mine and make it known to you; in doing this, he will glorify me. All that the Father has is mine; because of this I have just told you, that the Spirit will take what is mine and make it known to you.”

 

Gospel Reflection：

The Spirit takes center stage now in Jesus’ discourse. The Spirit is the promised Helper who will guide the disciples into the whole truth. Why is the Spirit of such a great help? It is because it is not a maverick spirit. The Spirit will only teach those that the Spirit heard of from Jesus.

Hence the Spirit will continue to move forward what the Father through Jesus has inaugurated. Perhaps it is inevitable that there is a change of driver. Jesus has been with his disciples for some time now so they become over familiar with Him. Laxity will slowly set in.

Thus the Spirit will reinvigorate the project of Jesus by bringing fresh presence without necessarily changing the objectives of Jesus’ mission.