The Holy Apostle Simon the Zealot.
Polyeleos Feast.
Acts 13:13-24; 1 Corinthians 4:9-16; John 6:5-14; Matthew 13:54-58.
Read John 6:5-14
Christ is risen! Truly, He is risen!
An important motif in John’s Gospel is expressed in today’s reading. After Jesus performs the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and the fish, He instructs His disciples to “gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost” (Jn. 6:12). Later in this same chapter, Jesus speaks about the will of His Father: “This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day” (Jn. 6:39). A few chapters later in the Gospel of John, we hear the words of Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer: “Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.” (Jn. 17:11-12).
Unity is a very important part of Jesus’ message. He prays to His Father: “that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one” (Jn. 17:21-22). As Jesus wants the disciples to gather up the fragments of leftover food so that nothing may be lost, He also desires that nobody entrusted to Him may be lost but find salvation in communion with the Holy Trinity.
We will soon celebrate the Descent of the Holy Spirit. The doxasticheron of the aposticha at Vespers for the Feast of Pentecost reminds us about how the “confusion of tongues” happened to the builders of the Tower of Babel in the Old Testament, but now the Holy Spirit unites the diversity of tongues “so that voices could be joined in harmony.” Today, let us pray for unity within the Church and that we all may live our lives in communion with God. God wills for us to live in unity with each other and with Him.