“During [the] night Paul had a vision. A Macedonian stood before him and implored him with these words, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” (Acts 16:9.)
In commenting on these verses from today’s First Reading, Saint John Chrysostom writes:
“When he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us.” Look, no longer through an angel, as it was with Philip and Cornelius. But how? Through a vision it appears to him, in a manner now more human, no longer as divine. For where obedience came more easily, revelation was of a more human sort; where much force was needed, of a more divine sort. Thus when he was only urged to preach, a dream appeared to him; but when he could not bear not to preach, it was the Holy Spirit who revealed it to him. So it was with Peter. “Arise, go down.” For the Holy Spirit did not work what was easy; a dream was enough in his case. Also for Joseph, who obeyed readily, it was in a dream, but for others, including Cornelius and Paul himself, it was in a vision. And notice how it says “a man of Macedonia was standing beseeching him and saying.” Not “ordering” but “beseeching,” that is, on behalf of the very people in need of caring. What does “concluding” mean? It means they made an inference. From the fact that Paul saw him and not someone else, that Paul was “forbidden by the Holy Spirit” and that they were at the borders—from all this they reached their conclusion.” (Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles, 34.)
Collect
Almighty and eternal God,
Who through the regenerating power of Baptism
have been pleased to confer on us heavenly life,
grant, we pray,
that those You render capable of immortality
by justifying them
may by Your guidance
attain the fullness of glory.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Who through the regenerating power of Baptism
have been pleased to confer on us heavenly life,
grant, we pray,
that those You render capable of immortality
by justifying them
may by Your guidance
attain the fullness of glory.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen
