Monday in the sixth week of Easter

 

The Lord is truly risen

Invitation

May I take this opportunity to 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

The first official church mission on the European mainland becomes a reality: Paul arrives in the city of Philippi, in Greece. Exactly what Paul said is not recorded anywhere. The fact that he came there to baptise, to preach and in this way to become an instrument of God’s love was enough to bear fruit. In the same way, we too are called to become instruments and to cooperate with God’s grace, so that He may bring forth fruit.

FIRST READING              Acts 16, 11-15

The Lord opens the heart of a God-fearing woman to what Paul has said.

From the Acts of the Apostles

We – Paul and Silas –
set sail from Troas and first made for Samothrace,
the next day to Neapolis,
and from there to Philippi,
a city in the first district of Macedonia and a colony.
We stayed in that city for a few days.
On the Sabbath we went outside the gate
to the riverbank, where we thought there was a place of prayer.
We sat down
and spoke to the women who had gathered there.
Among them was a woman named Lydia,
who came from the city of Thyatira,
and sold purple cloth.
She was a worshipper of God,
and the Lord opened her heart,
so that she might pay attention to what Paul was saying.
After she and her household had been baptised,
she invited us, saying:
“If you judge me to be a true believer in the Lord,
please come into my house
and make yourselves at home there.”
And she urged us strongly.

INTERLUDIUM                     Ps. 149, 1–2, 3–4, 5–6a, 9b

Our Lord, who loves his people,
crowns the afflicted with garlands of victory.
or:Alleluia.

Sing to the Lord a new song,
let his praise resound among his people.
Let Israel rejoice in its Creator,
let the sons of Zion greet their King.

Praise his Name in a holy dance,
play the harp and lyre before him.
For our Lord, who loves his people,
crowns the afflicted with garlands of victory.

Rejoice therefore, saints, in your triumph,
celebrate in your encampments.
Go forth with the song of God on your lips,
a task that brings honour to His faithful.

ALLELUIA

Alleluia.
Christ rose from the tomb,
He who died for us on a cross.
Alleluia.

GOSPEL                          John 15, 26–16, 4a

The Spirit of truth will bear witness to me.

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

At that time, Jesus said to his disciples:
“When the Helper comes,
whom I will send to you from the Father,
the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father,
he will bear witness to me.
“But you also must bear witness,
for you have been with Me from the beginning.
“I have told you this so that you may not fall away.
“They will expel you from the synagogue.
“Indeed, a time is coming
when anyone who kills you will think they are performing a religious duty.
“They will do this,
because they have not recognised either the Father or Me.
“I have told you this
so that, when the time comes,
you may remember that I told you.”

_______________________________________________________________

Laudato Si

Encyclical of

Pope Francis

On Care for Our Common Home

112. It is, however, possible to broaden our perspective once more, and human freedom is capable of limiting technology, giving it direction and placing it at the service of a different kind of progress,
one that is healthier, more human, more social and more integral.
The liberation from the prevailing technocratic paradigm is, in fact, already taking place in some situations.
. For example, when communities of small producers choose less polluting production systems and, in doing so, advocate a model of happiness and coexistence that is not focused on consumption. Or when technology focuses first and foremost on solving the concrete problems of others, striving to help them live with greater dignity
and with less suffering. And also, when the creative search for the beautiful and its contemplation succeed in transcending the objectifying power in a kind of salvation that comes about in the beautiful and in the person who beholds it. True humanity, which invites us to a new synthesis, seems to dwell amidst technological
civilisation, though barely perceptible, like mist that
seeps through a closed door. Will it, despite everything, remain a lasting
promise that blossoms as a stubborn resistance of what is real?

To be continued
Every day at 1 am