Wednesday in the third week of Easter

Invitation

May I draw your attention to:
the daily reading of the Gospel?

This invitation aims to share with you the joy of the Gospel.
Everyone, without exception,
can experience that joy by opening their hearts
to the healing power of God’s word.

Available every day

Consideration
Following the stoning of Stephen, persecution of the Church breaks out with full force. We can observe three things here: As a subtle historian, Luke notes that persecution and the spread of the faith are central to missionary work. But as a devout theologian, he looks even deeper. Stephen’s sacrifice is not in vain. He places the account of his burial between two remarks on the persecution. Finally, he places the name of Paul alongside that of Stephen: the martyr alongside the persecutor of the Church. It is as though he is already foreshadowing the conversion and calling of the missionary to the Gentiles: the persecutor of the Church who will one day become a martyr.

FIRST READING             Acts 8, 1-8
They went about preaching the word of the Good News.

From the Acts of the Apostles

After Stephen’s death,
a fierce persecution broke out
against the church in Jerusalem.
All of them scattered throughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria,
except for the apostles.
Devout men buried Stephen
and held a great lamentation over him.
Saul, however, raged against the church,
breaking into house after house, dragging off men and women
and handing them over to be imprisoned.
Those who had been scattered went about,
proclaiming the word of the Good News.
Thus Philip came to the city of Samaria,
and preached the Messiah there.
Philip’s words met with general approval,
when the people heard what he said,
and when they saw the signs he performed.
From many who were possessed,
the unclean spirits went out with a loud cry,
and many who were lame or crippled were healed.
Great joy arose in that city because of this.

INTERLUDIUM     Ps 66(65), 1-3a, 4-5, 6-7a

Shout for joy to God, all the nations of the earth,
sing of the glory of his Name.

Shout for joy to God, all the nations of the earth,
sing of the glory of his Name.
Offer him your praise and say to your God:
All your deeds are marvellous.

Let the whole earth worship you,
sing of your holy Name.
Come and see what God has done,
marvellous deeds among men.

He turned the sea into a dry valley,
they walked through the riverbed on foot.
Let us rejoice in Him,
who reigns for ever by His power.

ALLELUIA            John 10, 14

Alleluia.
I am the good Shepherd, says the Lord.
I know my own and my own know me.
Alleluia.

GOSPEL             John  6, 35-40
This is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son may have eternal life.

From the Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to
John

At that time, Jesus said to the crowd:
“I am the bread of life:
Whoever comes to Me shall never hunger,
and whoever believes in Me shall never thirst.
“But I have told you that you do not believe,
even though you have seen me.
“Everything the Father gives me will come to me,
and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.
“For I have come down from heaven,
not to do my own will,
but the will of him who sent me;
and this is the will of him who sent me,
that I should lose nothing of what He has given Me,
but raise it up on the last day.
“This is the will of my Father,
that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him
may have eternal life;
and I will raise him up on the last day.”

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Laudato SI
Encyclical of Pope Francis
On Care for Our Common Home

VI. The Common destination of Goods
93. Today, believers and non-believers alike agree that
the earth is essentially a common heritage whose fruits
must benefit everyone. For believers, this is a matter of
faithfulness to the Creator, since God created the world for all.
Consequently, any ecological approach must integrate a social perspective
that takes account of the fundamental rights of the most
disadvantaged. The principle of the subordination of private property to the
universal destination of goods, and therefore the universal right to
their use, is a ‘golden rule’ of social behaviour and the ‘first
principle of every ethical and social order.”
The Christian tradition has never recognised the right to private property as absolute or inviolable
and has clearly emphasised the social function of every form of private property.
Saint John Paul II recalled this teaching very emphatically,
when he said that “God has given the earth to the whole human race,
so that it may sustain all its members without excluding or favouring anyone”.
These are weighty and powerful words. He pointed out that “a type of development which would not respect and promote the personal and social, economic and political rights of the human person, including the rights of nations and peoples, would be truly unworthy of man”.
With great clarity, he explained that “the Church does indeed defend the legitimate right to private property, but teaches no less clearly that a social mortgage is always attached to every form of private property, so that goods may serve the common good to which God has destined them.”
God’s plan to manage this gift in such a way that its benefits are only for the benefit of a few.” This seriously calls into question the unjust practice of a section of humanity.

To be continued
Every day at 1 am