Friday in the seventh 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
It is a remarkable question, the threefold question put to Peter. It clearly recalls his threefold denial. Even more remarkable is the threefold answer: Peter has relinquished all self-assurance. Ultimately, he is given the task that Jesus himself had taken on: to be a shepherd to the sheep. He takes on that task, and if we understand the parable of the Good Shepherd, we know that this is not a mandate to rule, but to tend, to lead, to care for, to know by name.

FIRST READING                      Acts25:13-21

Jesus is dead, says Festus, but Paul claims that He is alive.

From the Acts of the Apostles

In those days King Agrippa and Bernice came to Caesarea
and paid a visit to Festus.
During their stay there, which lasted several days,
Festus presented Paul’s case to the king, saying:
“Felix has left a prisoner here,
against whom the chief priests and the elders of the Jews,
have brought charges
when I was in Jerusalem,
requesting that he be condemned.
“I have made it clear to them
that it is not the custom of the Romans
to hand anyone over as a favour,
before the accused has stood before his accusers
and been given the opportunity
to defend himself against the charges.
“So they came here,
and without delay I held a hearing the very next day,
and had the man brought before me.
“When the accusers stood around him,
they brought no charge of any crime
which I had expected.
“They did, however, have certain issues against him
concerning their own religion
and concerning a certain Jesus,
who is dead,
but whom Paul claimed is alive.
“Since I was at a loss as to how to investigate these matters,
I asked if he would go to Jerusalem
to stand trial there on this matter.
“But Paul has appealed to the Emperor,
and therefore wished to be held in custody
until His Majesty’s judgement.
“I have therefore ordered him to be kept in custody
until I can send him to the Emperor.”

RESPONSORIAL Ps .                  103 (102), 1-2, 11-12, 19-20ab

The Lord has established his throne in heaven.
or:Alleluia.

Praise the Lord, O my soul,
his holy Name from the depths of your being!
Praise the Lord, O my soul,
do not forget his benefits!

As far as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his mercy.
As far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our sins from us.

The Lord has established his throne in heaven,
He rules over the whole universe.
Glory to the Lord, all his heavenly messengers,
mighty executors of his command.

ALLELUIA                     Mt. 28:19–20

Alleluia.
Go and make disciples of all nations;
I am with you always, even to the end of the age.
Alleluia.

GOSPEL John21:15-19

Feed my lambs, tend my sheep.

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

When Jesus had appeared to his disciples,
He said to Simon Peter after breakfast:
“Simon, son of John,
do you love Me more than these love Me?”
He replied:
“Yes, Lord, You know that I love You.”
Jesus said to him:
“Feed my lambs.”
A second time He said to him:
“Simon, son of John, do you love Me?”
And he replied:
“Yes, Lord, You know that I love You.”
Jesus said to him:
“Tend My sheep.”
For the third time He asked:
“Simon, son of John, do you love Me?”
Now Peter was grieved,
because He asked him for the third time:
‘Do you love Me?’ And he said to Him:
‘Lord, You know everything; You know that I love You.’
Then Jesus said to him:
‘Feed my sheep.
‘Truly, truly, I say to you:
When you were young,
you used to put on your own belt and go wherever you wanted,
but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands,
and another will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not want to go.”
By this He was hinting at the death
by which he would glorify God.
And after these words He said to him:
“Follow Me.”

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Laudato Si
Encyclical
by Pope Francis
On Care for Our Common Home

123. The culture of relativism is the same disease as that which leads
someone to exploit another and treat them merely as an object, by
forcing them into forced labour or enslaving them because of a debt.
The same logic leads to the sexual abuse of children
or to abandon the elderly who are of no use to one’s own interests.
It is also the inner logic of those who say: let us
allow the invisible hand of the market to regulate the economy.
The effects of this on society and nature are inevitably harmful. If,
beyond the satisfaction of one’s own plans and immediate needs,
there are neither objective truths nor fixed principles, what limits
can there be on human trafficking, organised crime, the drug trade,
the trade in blood diamonds and the skins of animals at risk of extinction?
Is it not the same relativist logic that justifies the purchase of organs from
the poor to sell them or use them for experiments, or the abandonment
of children because they do not meet their parents’ wishes? It is the same logic of
‘use and throw away’, which produces so much waste simply through the
disordered desire to consume more than one actually
needs. And we must not think that political programmes or the
force of law will be sufficient to prevent behaviour that affects the
environment; for when culture degenerates and one no longer recognises any
objective truth or universally valid principles, then laws will simply be
seen as something arbitrarily imposed, and as obstacles to be avoided.

To be continued
Every day at 1 am