Easter is the most important Christian feast. Christians celebrate
from their faith that Jesus rose from the dead
Invitation
May I hereby draw your attention to
the daily reading of the Gospel?
This invitation wants to share with you the joy of the Gospel.
Everyone, no one excepted,
can experience that joy by opening their hearts
to the healing power of God’s word.
Available every day
OPENING WORD
For fifty days we celebrate Easter
and we form community around the risen Lord.
He becomes present in the midst of us:
He is speaking when we read from Scripture
and He gives Himself to us in the gifts of bread and wine.
It fills us with joy that the Risen One
meets us in this hour in these simple signs.
Thus He wants to give us hope and also say to each of us today:
‘Do not be afraid’.
CONSIDERATION
After Easter, we follow the first thirty years of our Church. From its birth in Jerusalem through its expansion into Samaria and Syria to Paul’s missionary activities in the Middle East and Greece. That the Church’s expansion took such a big step is due to God’s Spirit. He united and animated the first Christians to proclaim Jesus’ resurrection with indestructible faith. He rose from the dead and He was with them, in their midst. This resurrection is not a historical fact of which we need only remember place and date. It is eternal mystery, and challenges us too to be Christians who dare to bear witness. How do I approach witnessing about something like the resurrection? Can it be done in my daily life?
FIRST READING Acts. 2, 14.22-32
This Jesus resurrected God and to this we are all witnesses.
From the Acts of the Apostles
On Pentecost Peter stepped forward with the eleven
and raised his voice to address the word to them :
‘All of you, men of Israel,
listen to these words :
Jesus the Nazarene was a man whose mission to you
was ratified by God.
‘For ye yourselves know the mighty deeds, wonders and signs
which God has performed among you through Him.
‘Him,
who according to God’s appointed counsel
and foreknowledge is delivered up ,
hast thou by the hand of the wicked
nailed to the cross and put to death.
‘But God raised Him up to life
Having loosed the snares of death ;
for it was impossible that He should be held by them.
‘Aiming at Him nevertheless David says :
The Lord I had before me, always by,
He is at my right hand
st I should falter.
‘Therefore there is joy in my heart
and my mouth rejoices with joy;
yea, my body also shall find rest in hope,
because thou wilt not leave my soul to the kingdom of the dead
And Thou wilt not let Thy holy One see corruption.
‘Ways to life Thou hast made known to me,
Thou shalt fill me with joy before Thy face.
‘Men brothers,
I may well say to you freely of the patriarch David
That he died and was buried ;
for we have his grave with us to this day.
‘Well,
because he was a prophet ,
and knew that God had sworn him an oath
That He would cause one of his descendants to sit on His throne ,
he said, looking into the future
On the resurrection of Christ,
that He was not left to the kingdom of the dead
and that His body did not see decay.
‘This Jesus has resurrected God
and to this we are all witnesses.’
INTERLUDIUM Ps. 16(15), 1-2a, 5, 7-8, 9-10, 11
Protect me, God, to You I take refuge,
or : Alleluia.
Protect me, God, to Thee do I take refuge ;
Thou art my Lord, I acknowledge,
I find no happiness apart from Thee.
The Lord is my inheritance, my drink from the cup,
He holds my destiny in His hand.
I thank the Lord who has always guided me,
He speaks in my heart even at night.
I do not fall, for He is beside me.
Therefore I am cheerful and happy in spirit,
Therefore I can sleep peacefully.
My soul Thou dost not leave to the kingdom of the dead,
Thou dost not deliver Thy servant to the grave.
Thou wilt show me the way of life
To find all my joy with Thee,
perpetual happiness at Thy side.
ALLELUIA Ps. 118(117), 24
Alleluia.
This is the day which the Lord has made,
Let us praise the Lamb of Easter,
Honour the Lamb of God with sacrifices.
Yes the Lamb saves the sheep,
Christ by his innocence brings
Us poor sinners to the Father.
Death and life, O miracle,
must fight together.
He who died, He lives, He is our King.
Tell us, Mary,
what is it that thou hast seen?
The tomb of Christ that was empty,
the glory of Him who is risen,
angels as witnesses,
the sweatcloth and the shroud.
My hope, my Christ alive!
Behold He goes before you to Galilee.
Truly Christ is risen : rose from the dead.
O King, our Hero, give us peace. Alleluia.
GOSPEL Mt 28:8-15
Go and bring the message to my brothers that they must go to Galilee, and there they will see me.
From the holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to
Matthew
At that time
the women immediately went away from the tomb
with fear and great joy,
and they hastened
to convey the news to his disciples.
And behold, Jesus came to meet them and said :
‘Hail.’
They stepped up to Him,
clasped His feet and worshipped Him.
Then Jesus spoke to them :
‘Be not afraid.
‘Go and bring the message to my brothers
That they should go to Galilee
and there they will see Me.’
While the women were still on their way,
some of the guards went to the city
and reported to the high priests
everything that had happened.
These held a meeting with the elders
and, after consultation, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money
with the order :
‘Just say :
His disciples came to steal Him in the night
While we slept.
‘And should this sometimes come to the attention of the governor ,
we will calm him down
and see to it that ye are not troubled.’
They took the money and did as they were told.
This story has continued to be told among the Jews
to this day.
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Fratelli tutti
Encyclical of
POPE FRANCISCUS
On brotherhood and social friendship
254. I ask God ‘to prepare our hearts to meet with
brothers and sisters beyond differences in ideas, language, culture, religion;
to anoint our whole being with the oil of his mercy, which will heal the
wounds of error, misunderstanding and contradictions; the
grace to humbly and meekly tread the challenging but fruitful paths
on the quest for peace’.
To be continued
Every day at 1 am
The Bible text in this issue is taken from The New Bible Translation,
©Dutch Bible Society 2004/2007.
Considerations from Liturgical suggestions for weekdays and Sundays
Fratelli tutti Official English translation
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