The Sixth Sunday of the Resurrection 

 

The church put in front of us the following readings:

 

*The first reading from the Acts of the Apostles 10:1-16

The news of the conversion of the first pagan family to Christianity and its request for baptism. It is the family of the centurion and the Roman officer Cornelius, who was “a godly man that feared God and all of his household, was generous to the people, and continued to pray to God” (verse 2). God accepted his prayers and alms. He instructed him in a vision to send Peter from Jaffa to Caesarea. While the officer was on the road, Peter was on the house's roof for the noon prayer, so he was hungry and asked for food. Then, he fell asleep and saw a vision that is an open table “on it from all the beasts of the earth and its creepers and birds of the sky” and heard a voice commanding him “Arise, slay and eat” (verse 13). Peter spontaneously objected and refused to eat it because it was “unclean,” and the law of Moses forbade eating it. But the divine voice responded to it, “What God has cleansed, you do not consider it unclean.” This was repeated “three times,” and the thing disappeared.

 

The Lord opened the way for Peter and the early Church to evangelize the pagans and taught them not to exclude anyone from salvation. Peter responds and fulfills the leader's request, preaches Christ, and baptizes him with all of his households. He will be criticized and strongly condemn the early Christians for contradicting their Jewish traditions and mentality. However, they soon realize that “God has also blessed non-Jews with repentance and a way to life” (Acts 11:18), and they glorify God. Thus, the Christian faith is not subject to the pure human mind and its endocytic traditions, but to the heavenly lights, to “the mind of Christ himself” (1 Corinthians 2:16). And who knows, perhaps today the soul may also open new paths before the gospel of the Lord, in ways that our convictions denounce because they are inconsistent with our time-honored traditions, and we reject them in the name of faith?

 

*The second reading from the Epistle to the Ephesians 2: 4-22

We, before we knew God and still are those who are ignorant of Him, “lived in the desires of our flesh, following His desires.” The spirit of evil that rebelled against God controls us, and as a result, we became dead in sin. But we have now known God in Christ and have known his great love and great mercy. We believed in Christ and were saved, meaning we are no longer friends with God, enjoying his blessings and the good things of his fatherhood. We didn't deserve it, thanks to our actions. Our faith in Christ re-created us and set us on a new path of behavior, the path of the soul, not the body. And we got a new right. We became children of God. We have a new situation and different rights, on the one hand. From the other side, Christ united all people and removed the barrier of language, nationalism, and civilization. He gathered the believers and the pagans in his church. He gathered in his person all humanity and transformed it “one new person” (verse 16), eliminating enmity between people. There was no enemy, stranger, or guest between them. They are all brothers, children of one father, God, and one teacher, Christ, and their guide in life and their guide to truth; one is the Holy Spirit, the spirit of truth and love. This is our path and our guarantee of life.

 

*The third reading from John 17: 1-26

John records Jesus' farewell prayer, through which he talks with God and begins by reminding him that he has accomplished his mission as he entrusted him. He is not asking for his enemies, the world, and his evil followers, but for those who will pursue his mission and struggle.

He asks Him to protect them from the evil one and from the evil of the world that hates and pursues them so that they do not despair or lose their joy in the most extreme of circumstances. To sanctify them so that they live in truth and righteousness to become an example for people and testimony as it was for them (especially if he blesses and protects their unity so that it will be complete among them and with him and the Father). An agreement like the divine model. Their unity, holiness, joy, and glory are all testimony to the divinity of Christ and his sharing of bliss. The basis of all this is the eternal knowledge and love within the Triune God and his justice. And followers of Jesus knew and loved God like him. The Lord requests that their love, like their unity, transcend the divine model and merges with it so that God will be in them and they are in the “heart of God.” And all of these things are not restricted by Jesus to his disciples. Instead, he extends it also “to those who will hear their words and believe in him” (verse 20). The Lord is with us, and we work with Him, and through Him, the reward of glory and bliss awaits us forever with Him.