Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year A
In this episode of the Sunday Catholic Word, we focus on four details that come from the readings for this upcoming Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year A. The first detail, which comes from the first reading from Acts 8:5-8, 14-17, pertains to the Sacrament of Confirmation. The two details found in the second reading, which is taken from 1 Pt 3:15-18, provide an opportunity to reflect on the importance of the apologetics ministry itself and the moral principle that we should never do evil to bring about a good. The last detail that we reflect on is found in the Gospel, which is John 14:15-21. The relevant topic here is the importance of good works for our salvation.
Looking for Sunday Catholic Word Merchandise? Look no further! https://shop.catholic.com/catholic-answers-merchandise/?q=sunday
Hey everyone,
Welcome to The Sunday Catholic Word, a podcast where we reflect on the upcoming Sunday Mass readings and pick out the details that are relevant for explaining and defending our Catholic faith.
I’m Karlo Broussard, staff apologist and speaker for Catholic Answers, and the host for this podcast.
In this episode, we’re going to focus on four details that come from the readings for this upcoming Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year A. The first detail, which comes from the first reading from Acts 8:5-8, 14-17, pertains to the Sacrament of Confirmation. The two details found in the second reading, which is taken from 1 Pt 3:15-18, give us an opportunity to reflect on the importance of the apologetics ministry itself and the moral principle that we should never do evil to bring about a good. The last detail that we’re going to reflect on is found in the Gospel, which is John 14:15-21. The relevant topic, as we’ll see, is the importance of good works for our salvation.
Let’s begin with the first reading. Again, it’s taken from Acts 8:5-8, 14-17. Here is the entire passage:
5 Thus Philip went down to [the] city of Samaria and proclaimed the Messiah to them. 6 With one accord, the crowds paid attention to what was said by Philip when they heard it and saw the signs he was doing. 7 For unclean spirits, crying out in a loud voice, came out of many possessed people, and many paralyzed and crippled people were cured. 8 There was great joy in that city . . . 14 Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent them Peter and John, 15 who went down and prayed for them, that they might receive the holy Spirit, 16 for it had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then they laid hands on them and they received the holy Spirit
What we want to focus on for our purposes here is Philip having to send for the apostles Peter and John to come and bestow the Holy Spirit on the newly baptized Samaritans.
We know from verses 12 and 16 of this same chapter that Philip had already baptized these Samaritans, which means they would have already received the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit is given in baptism. Peter teaches as much in Acts 2:38 when he says, “be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Paul concurs: “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body” (1 Cor. 12:13).
So, what’s being given here in Acts 8 is an outpouring of the Holy Spirit that’s distinct from baptism, an outpouring that is akin to what the apostles received on the Day of Pentecost.
The clue is found in verses 18-19 of this same chapter: “Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offers them money, saying, ‘Give me also this power, that any one of whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”
How could Simon see that the Holy Spirit was given through the laying on of hands? The only intelligible explanation is that there must have been some sort of visible manifestations like that on the day of Pentecost.
This is supported by the fact that when the Holy Spirit falls upon Cornelius and his friends in Acts 10:44-45, we’re told in verse 46 that they spoke in a variety of tongues, just like on the day of Pentecost. Something similar must have happened when Peter and John laid hands on the Samaritans, prompting Simon to want to buy such power.
This provides biblical grounds for the Catechism of the Catholic Church’s teaching in paragraph 1288 that “the sacrament of Confirmation . . . in a certain way perpetuates the grace of Pentecost in the Church.” What the outpouring of the Holy Spirit was for the Christians on the Day of Pentecost is what Christians receive in the Sacrament of Confirmation, a distinct outpouring that completes and perfects what is received initially in baptism.
Okay, let’s now move to the second reading, which is 1 Peter 3:15-18. Peter writes,
[S]anctify Christ as Lord in your hearts. Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope, 16 but do it with gentleness and reverence, keeping your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who defame your good conduct in Christ may themselves be put to shame. 17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that be the will of God, than for doing evil. 18 For Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous, that he might lead you to God. Put to death in the flesh, he was brought to life in the spirit.
There are two details here that I want to focus on. The first is Peter’s command, “Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope.”
As many of you listening know, the Greek word that’s used for “explanation” is apologia, from which we get the word “apologetics.” Apologia means “a reasonable defense.” So, here we have a command from our first pope to engage in the science of apologetics—the science of giving an intellectual justification for why we believe what we believe as Christians, and in particular as Catholic Christians. This is the battle cry for us here at Catholic Answers. Apologetics is what we do!
The second detail is Peter’s statement, “For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that be the will of God, than for doing evil.” Paul concurs with Peter in Romans 3:8, when he writes, “And why not say (as some people slander us by saying that we say), ‘Let us do evil that good may come?’ Their condemnation is deserved.”
This serves as revelatory confirmation of the natural moral principle that we can know by reason: never do evil that good come from it. This principle is rooted in the first and fundamental moral precept: “good is to be done and pursued, and evil is to be avoided.” If you’re interested, St. Thomas Aquinas elaborates on this principle in article 2, question 94, of the first part of the second part of his Summa Theologiae,
We also have magisterial confirmation of the principle in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1756: “One may not do evil so that good may result from it.”
So, the second reading gives us an opportunity to reflect on the fundamentals of morality, which is nothing more than the art of being human.
Okay, on to the Gospel reading, which is taken from John 14:15-21.
One small detail that I’ll mention in passing is Jesus’ promise to send the “Spirit of truth” to the apostles, which Holy Mother Church wants us to read in light of the first reading and the sending of the Spirit in the Sacrament of Confirmation.
But for apologetical purposes, I think Jesus’ teaching in verse 21 is important: “21 He who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me; and he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”
Some Protestants believe that our good works play no role in us attaining salvation. Rather, for Christians who believe this faith alone saves us.
But this teaching of Jesus disproves this belief. Jesus is very clear that keeping His commandments is essential to loving Him. And because loving Jesus is essential to us attaining salvation, it follows that keeping His commandments, which is just doing loving deeds, is essential to us attaining our salvation.
Now, as we’ve mentioned in previous episodes, it’s important to note that when we speak of works playing a role in us attaining salvation we’re talking about attaining our final salvation at the end of our lives, not the initial phase of our salvation when we initially enter into Christ through baptism (or in extraordinary circumstances before baptism). Such salvation is given irrespective of good works. Nevertheless, when it comes to our final salvation, loving the Lord through good works is essential.
Conclusion
Well, my friends, that does it for this episode of the Sunday Catholic Word. The Sixth Sunday of Easter has not sold us short on apologetical topics:
- We have the Sacrament of Confirmation,
- the exhortation for Christians to engage in apologetics,
- the moral principle of never doing evil to bring about good, and
- the necessary of good works for us to attain our final salvation.
Well, thank you for subscribing to the podcast. Please be sure to tell your friends about it and invite them to subscribe as well. Also, if you’re interested in getting some cool mugs and stickers with my logo, “Mr. Sunday podcast,” go to shop.catholic.com.
I hope you have a blessed Sixth Sunday of Easter.