Christ Is Risen! 🌞
Because of the persecution from the Jews, the faithful began to spread the Good News to other places.
The story of the first deacons continues, now with Saint Philip.
His preaching in Samaria was successful because of miracles and signs, so that even Simon the magician believed and was baptised.
The comparison of truth with illusions is illustrative here – real miracles turned even the former magician to faith.
Also important is the testimony about the baptism and laying on of hands of the apostles, which in this case was the original form of the Sacrament of Anointing.
The gift of the Holy Spirit was given to the baptised Samaritans only after the laying on of hands of the apostles, that is, after the original form of the Sacrament of Anointing.
Continuation of the reading, which was analysed
recently at the link:
29042023.html
John VI, 33 – a double translation with different (but mutually complementary) meanings is possible:
The bread of God is (the One) Who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.
or:
The bread of God is that one which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.
That is, both the bread from heaven
and Christ Himself may be meant
by the name of the Bread of Life
.
In the first version (1), Christ Himself is called the Bread of God
from heaven
, while the second version (2) refers more to the bread in
the Sacrament of Communion (which will also be addressed later).
In general, the dialogue has many moments where the train of thought
transitions
. Christ speaks of the search for bread that lasts into
eternal life, and people… ask what they can do to do God’s work… Christ
says that the first thing they need to do is to trust in God and to
believe in Him… They ask for a sign that Christ is doing God’s works.
They remember Moses and the manna from heaven, and the Lord tells them
about the Father and about Himself and (the Bread) the bread of
life.
In other words, there is a lively, animated conversation, and the Lord reveals the truth to the people to the extent of their understanding.
People’s questions are generally reasonable as to what they should
do. But it must be said that God’s works are done by God Himself in
people, so the question is: What should we do to do God’s works?
actually means what should we do so that God does His works in us,
through us, and we, therefore, act together with Him in this (this
co-action is called synergy
).
Jesus answers in a gradual way: first of all, they must… trust God
and to believe in the One He has sent, that is, in Jesus Himself.
Without this, they will not be able to really do God’s works (their life
path will go wrong
).
People continue to think in earthly terms, but Jesus speaks of spiritual things.
Nevertheless, the miracle of the feeding of the multitudes gave Jesus a good opportunity to reveal God’s will to the people and aroused great interest and excitement in them.
Glory be to Thee, our God, glory be to Thee!