6th Week of Pentecost

Acts 13:44-52
On the following sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and with violent abuse contradicted what Paul said. Both Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first, but since you reject it and condemn yourselves as unworthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles. For so the Lord has commanded us, ‘I have made you a light to the Gentiles, that you may be an instrument of salvation to the ends of the earth.'” The Gentiles were delighted when they heard this and glorified the word of the Lord. All who were destined for eternal life came to believe, and the word of the Lord continued to spread through the whole region. The Jews, however, incited the women of prominence who were worshipers and the leading men of the city, stirred up a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their territory. So they shook the dust from their feet in protest against them and went to Iconium. The disciples were filled with joy and the holy Spirit.

John 3:31-36
The one who comes from above is above all. The one who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of earthly things. But the one who comes from heaven (is above all). He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. Whoever does accept his testimony certifies that God is trustworthy. For the one whom God sent speaks the words of God. He does not ration his gift of the Spirit. The Father loves the Son and has given everything over to him. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever disobeys the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains upon him.

Prayer of the Faithful, vol. III:
Safro – Opening Prayer

Lord God,
be for us a perpetual Morning,
a light that never dims,
and a day without sunset.
Then we shall be illumined by the light of you holy commandments,
in our feelings, thoughts and desires.
Our Lord and God, to you be glory for ever.
Amen.

Saint of the Day: Saint Dorotheus bishop of Tyre (ca. 255 – 362) is traditionally credited with an Acts of the Seventy Apostles (which may be the same work as the lost Gospel of the Seventy), who were sent out according to the Gospel of Luke 10:1.
Dorotheus was a learned priest of Antioch (Eusebius,VII.32). Dorotheus is said to have been driven into exile during the persecution of Diocletian, but later returned. He attended the Council of Nicaea in 325, but was exiled to Odyssopolis (Varna) on the Black Sea in Thrace by Julian the Apostate. There the 107-year-old priest was martyred for his faith.

Meditation
The Christian affirmation of human dignity is essentially not a question of ethics, morals, or rights. The Church never ceases to remind us that we are made new in Christ; simply put, our identity, nature, and dignity is a question of Being, the Ontological question first and foremost – whose answer lies in the Word who became flesh, Jesus Christ. As St. Paul proclaims our “life is hidden with Christ in God,” not in the futile attempt to define humanity by any other means. We cannot attain moral perfection, we will never collect enough rights to satiate our thirst for total unbridled freedom, we cannot continue to question our God created gender, as if we can re-fashion ourselves more perfectly than the Creator. No, our lives are hidden with Christ in God, meaning our lives are wrapped in God’s love, and it is the Divine Love that constitutes our identity and dignity.

St. Peter Chrysologus (380-450) eloquently expressed our human dignity as rooted in Christ, he wrote: “He who made man without generation from pure clay made man again and was born from a pure body (Mary). The hand that assumed clay to make our flesh deigned to assume a body for our salvation. That the Creator is in his creature and God is in the flesh bringing dignity to humanity… .” (Sermon 148)