Seventh Sunday of Easter

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

Jesus prays to his Father for unity.
As the Father and the Son are one,
so too his disciples should be one.
Today we join Jesus’ prayer
and urgently ask
that God promote unity among Christians.
On the way to Pentecost, we pray
that the Holy Spirit will give us the strength
to grow towards one another in friendship
and thus be a sign of hope to the world.

FIRST READING      Acts 7, 55-60
I see the Son of Man standing at God’s right hand.

In those days Stephen stared,
filled with the Holy Spirit,
gazed up to heaven and saw the glory of God
and Jesus standing at God’s right hand
and he exclaimed:
“I see the heavens open
and the Son of Man standing at God’s right hand.”
But they began to shout loudly,
plugged their ears
and stormed towards him as one man.
They dragged him outside the gate and stoned him.
The witnesses laid down their cloaks
at the feet of a young man called Paul.

While they were stoning Stephen
he prayed:
“Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
Then he fell to his knees
and cried out in a loud voice:
“Lord, do not charge them with this sin.”
After these words, he expired.

RESPONSORIAL       Ps. 97(96) 1 and 2b, 6 and 7c, 9

Refrain
The Lord is King,
He is supreme!

The Lord is King, the earth may rejoice,
glad are the lands around the sea.
Law and justice bear His throne.

The heavens proclaim his holiness
and all nations behold His glory.
Before Him all the gods prostrate themselves.

For all the earth is under thy power,
Thou art the highest of the gods.

SECOND READING          Apok. 22, 12-14.16-17.20
Come, Lord Jesus.

I, John, heard a voice, speaking to me:
“Behold, I am coming soon ,
and I bring my reward
to repay every one according to his work.
I am the Alpha and the Omega,
the First and the Last,
the Origin and the End.
Blessed are those who cleanly wash their clothes.
They will be given right to the tree of life
and may enter through the gates into the City.

I, Jesus, have sent my angel
to make known to you these revelations concerning the churches
revelations concerning the churches.
I am the Root from the lineage of David,
the radiant Morning Star.”

The Spirit and the Bride say:
“Come!”
Let whoever hears it say, “Come!”
Whoever is thirsty come.
He that willeth, let him take the water of life freely.
He who guarantees all this speaks:
“Yes, I am coming soon.”
Amen.
Come, Lord Jesus!

Verse for the Gospel       John 14, 18

Alleluia.
I will not leave you orphaned, says the Lord,
I will go and I will return to you, and your hearts will rejoice.
Alleluia.

GOSPEL           Jn 17:20-26
May they be perfectly one.

At that time, Jesus lifted his eyes to heaven and prayed:
“Holy Father, not only for them do I pray
but also for those who believe in Me through their word ,
that they may all be one
as Thou, Father in Me and I in Thee:
that they also may be in Us that the world may believe
that Thou hast sent Me.
I have given them the glory
which Thou hast given Me,
that they may be one as We are one:
I in them and Thou in Me,
that they may be perfectly one
and that the world may acknowledge that Thou hast sent Me
and loved them as Thou hast loved Me.
Father, I want those whom You have given Me
may be with Me where I am,
that they may behold My glory,
which Thou hast given Me
since You loved Me
before the foundation of the world.
Righteous Father, though the world has not recognised Thee,
I have acknowledged Thee,
and these here have acknowledged that Thou hast sent Me.
Thy name have I revealed to them
and I will continue to do so,
so that the love with which thou hast loved Me
may be in them and I in them.”

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Laudato Si

Encyclical of

POPE FRANCISCUS

On caring for the common home

.
8. Patriarch Bartholomew particularly stressed the need
that each repent of the way he mistreats the planet, because
“to the extent that we all cause small ecological damage
cause”, we are called to “make our small or large contribution to the
disruption and destruction of the environment”. On this point
he has repeatedly expressed himself in a forceful and thought-provoking manner
by inviting us to acknowledge our sins against creation:
“That humans are destroying the biological diversity in God’s creation;
that humans compromise the integrity of the earth and contribute
to climate change by stripping the earth of its natural
forests or by destroying its wetlands; that humans harm other
people harm and make them sick by polluting the water, soil and
air: these are all sins”. For “a crime against
nature is a crime against ourselves and a sin against God “.

To be continued
Every day at 1 am