Churches of the Day

Monday of the Seventh Week of Easter

 Jesus promises us The Spirit of Truth to help us deal with opposition, ridicule  or indifference.

Saint of the Day; 18th May; St John I, pope. martyr
C/f A short life of be this saint can found below todays' Readings and Reflection.

FIRST READING

A reading from the Acts of the Apostles        19:1-8
Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?

While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul made his way overland as far as Ephesus, where he found a number of disciples. When he asked, 'Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?'
They answered, 'No, we were never even told there was such a thing as a Holy Spirit.'
'Then how were you baptised?' he asked.
'With John's baptism' they replied.
'John's baptism' said Paul 'was a baptism of repentance; but he insisted that the people should believe in the one who was to come after him-in other words Jesus.'

When they heard this, they were baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus, and the moment Paul had laid hands on them the Holy Spirit came down on them, and they began to speak with tongues and to prophesy. There were about twelve of these men.
He began by going to the synagogue, where he spoke out boldly and argued persuasively about the kingdom of God. He did this for three months.

The Word of the Lord.             Thanks be to God

Responsorial Psalm           Ps 67: 2-7. R/v 33
Response                               Kingdoms of the earth, sing to God.
Or                                             Alleluia!

1. Let God arise, let his foes be scattered. Let those who hate him flee before him.
As smoke is blown away so will they be blown away; like wax that melts before the fire,
so the wicked shall perish at the presence of God.                                                                     Response

2. But the just shall rejoice at the presence of God, they shall exult and dance for joy.
O sing to the Lord, make music to his name; rejoice in the Lord, exult at his presence.   Response

3. Father of the orphan, defender of the widow, such is God in his holy place.
God gives the lonely a home to live in; he leads the prisoners forth into freedom.             Response

Gospel Acclamation        Jn 16: 28
Alleluia, alleluia!
I came from the Father and have come into the world,
and now I leave the world to go to the Father.
Alleluia!

Or                                           Col 3:1
Alleluia, alleluia!
Since you have been brought back to true life with Christ,
you must look for the things that are in heaven where Christ is,
sitting at God's right hand.
Alleluia!

GOSPEL                          

The Lord be with you.                       And with your spirit
A reading from the holy Gospel according to John  16:29-33         Glory to you, O Lord
Be brave: I have conquered the world.

His disciples said to Jesus
'Now you are speaking plainly and not using metaphors! Now we see that you know everything, and do not have to wait for questions to be put into words; because of this we believe that you came from God.'
Jesus answered them:
'Do you believe at last? Listen; the time will come - in fact it has come already – when you will be scattered, each going his own way and leaving me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.
I have told you all this so that you may find peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but be brave: I have conquered the world.'

The Gospel of the Lord.    Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.





Gospel Reflection           Monday,               Seventh Week of Easter             John 16:29-33

When Paul asked the disciples in Ephesus, ‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?’, they answered, ‘No, we were never even told there was such a thing as a Holy Spirit?’ It was a very honest acknowledgement of ignorance. The first step in coming to know is often the acknowledgement that we don’t know. We are approaching the feast of Pentecost, the feast of the Holy Spirit. Perhaps there is a sense in which we all have a lot to learn about the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was spoken of in the past as 'the forgotten person of the Blessed Trinity'. We can picture God the Creator and Jesus his Son more easily than the Holy Spirit. We find images of the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures, such as 'dove, fire, the wind,' and, yet, we sense that they all fall very far short of the reality.

The Holy Spirit is the live presence of God the Father and the risen Lord'. It is through the Holy Spirit that the Father and the Son make their home within us and among us. When the Holy Spirit is alive in us, it shows itself in a way of life that reflects the life of God, the life of Jesus, a life of self-giving love. Saint Paul speaks about the fruit of the Spirit. Just as a healthy tree bears good fruit, so a spiritually healthy person, who is alive with the Holy Spirit, will bear the good fruit of the Spirit, what Paul calls ‘love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control’ (Gal 5:22-23).

When Jesus says to his disciples in today’s gospel reading, ‘I have told you all this so that you may find peace in me’, he is referring to the fruit of the Spirit. He is promising to pour out the Holy Spirit into the lives of his disciples, all of us, the Spirit of God’s love, of his own love, and this experience of being unconditionally loved will bring peace, even though, as Jesus says in the gospel reading, the world will bring us trouble of various kinds. As we approach the feast of Pentecost, we pray for a fresh growth of the rich fruit of the Spirit in our lives.

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The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd. and used with the permission of the publishers.  http://dltbooks.com/
The Scripture Reflection is made available with our thanks from his book Reflections on the Weekday Readings : The Word is near to you, on your lips and in your heart by Martin Hogan and published by Messenger Publications c/f www.messenger.ie/bookshop/

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Saint of the Day; 18th May; St John I, pope. martyr

John was born in Tuscany (Italy) in the late fifth century; died in captivity at Ravenna on this day in 526. He was a conciliator and peacemaker, the first bishop of Rome to visit Constantinople. John was imprisoned by Theodoric, ruler of Italy and an Arian, for excessive sympathy toward the Church of the East.

Patrick Duffy tells his story.

John, the son of Constantius, was born in Tuscany, . He was an archdeacon in Rome for several years before being elected Pope on the death of Pope St. Hormisdas in 523. He was a friend and confidant of the philosopher Boethius. The main event of his pontificate was his journey to Constantinople to try to negotiate between the Emperor Justin and the Arian Gothic king in Ravenna, Theodoric. Imprisoned by Theodoric on his return, he collapsed and died.

Successor to Hormisdas
Though old and frail, John was elected pope in succession to Hormisdas I (514-23). Hormisdas had been successful in getting the "two natures/one person"  doctrine on Christology accepted in Constantinople especially by the then no-nonsense emperor Justin against the Monophysite view which had always tended to be more prevalent there.

A Campaign Against Arianism
But this campaign of the emperor Justin in Constantinople soon overflowed into a campaign against Arianism, the taking over of Arian churches and the forcible re-conversion of Arians to Catholicism. At this time with no emperor in the West, the Gothic king Theodoric, an Arian, ruled Italy from Ravenna.

A deputation to Constantinople
Theodoric immediately recruited Pope John to lead a deputation of senators and ex-consuls to go to Constantinople and persuade the emperor Justin to call off this war against Arianism. John was the first pope ever to go the Constantinople. He was received with great honour and celebrated the liturgy there in Latin. The emperor agreed to cease hostilities against Arians and to hand back the churches, but he would not allow Arians forcibly converted to Catholicism to return to Arian belief and practice.

John Collapses and dies
When John returned to Ravenna, Theodoric was furious and accused the pope of having sold out to the emperor in return for all the adulation he had received. Already exhausted by his long journey and terrified by the prospect of severe punishment, John collapsed and died.
He was buried in the nave of St Peter's Basilica with the epitaph "a victim for Christ". Because of his sufferings for the faith and his imprisonment, he is honoured as a martyr.

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Memorable Sayings for Today

Jesus is the most famous victim and victor of capital punishment.

~ James Martin +~

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- Pentecost Vigil and Day Masses -

The Fifty Days of Easter conclude with the Celebration of Penetecost Sunday

Vigil Mass
(This Mass is celebrated on Saturday evening of Pentecost.
Anyone of the following readings from the Old Testament may be chosen)

I

FIRST READING (Anyone of the following readings from the Old Testament may be chosen)
A reading from the book of Genesis 11:1-9
It was named Babel because there the Lord confused the language of the whole earth.


Throughout the earth men spoke the same language, with the same vocabulary. Now as they moved eastwards they found a plain in the land of Shinar where they settled. They said to one another,
'Come, let us make bricks and bake them in the fire.' - For stone they used bricks, and for mortar they used bitumen. - 'Come,' they said. 'let us build ourselves a town and a tower with its top reaching heaven. Let us make a name for ourselves, so that we may not be scattered about the whole earth.'

Now the Lord came down to see the town and the tower that the sons of man had built.
'So they are all a single people with a single language!' said the Lord. 'This is but the start of their undertakings! There will be nothing too hard for them to do. Come, let us go down and confuse their language on the spot so that they can no longer understand one another'.

The Lord scattered them thence over the whole face of the earth, and they stopped building the town. It was named Babel therefore, because there the Lord confused the language of the whole earth. It was from there that the Lord scattered them over the whole face of the earth.

The Word of the Lord      Thanks be to God.          

2 

A Reading from the book of Exodus  19:3-8. 16_20
The Lord came down on the mountain of Sinai,  and  called Moses to the top of the mountain.

Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, 'Say this to the House of Jacob, declare this to the sons of Israel,
"You yourselves have seen what I did with the Egyptians, how I carried you on eagle's wings and brought you to myself. From this you know that now, if you obey my voice and hold fast to my covenant, you of all the nations shall be my very own, for all the earth is mine. I will count you a kingdom of priests, a consecrated nation.
" Those are the words you are to speak to the sons of lsrael.'So Moses went and summoned the elders of the people, putting before them all that the Lord had bidden him. Then all the people answered as one, 'All that the Lord has said, we will do.'

Now at daybreak on the third day there were peals of thunder on the mountain and lightning flashes, a dense cloud, and a loud trumpet blast, and inside the camp all the people trembled. Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet God; and they stood at the bottom of the mountain. The mountain of Sinai was entirely wrapped in smoke, because the Lord had descended on it in the form of fire. Like smoke from a furnace the smoke went up, and the whole mountain shook violehtly. Louder and louder grew the sound of the trumpet. Moses spoke, and God answered him with peals of thunder. The Lord came down on the mountain of Sinai, on the mountain top, and the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain.

The Word of the Lord                  Thanks be to God.

3

A Reading from the Prophet Ezekiel 37:1-14
Dry bones , I shall put my spirit in you, and you will live.


The hand of the Lord was laid on me, and he carried me away by the Spirit of the Lord me down in the middle of a valley, a valley full of bones. He made me walk up and down among them. There were vast quantities of these bones on the ground the whole length of the valley; and they were quite dried up. He said to me, 'Son of man, can these bones live?' I said, 'You know, Lord'.
He said, 'Prophesy over these bones. Say, "Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. The Lord says this to these bones: I am now going to make the breath enter you, and you will live. I shall put sinews on you, I shall make flesh grow on you, I shall cover you with skin and give you breath, and you will live; and you will learn that I am the Lord."'

I prophesied as I had been ordered. While I was prophesying, there was a noise, a sound of clattering; and the bones joined together. I looked, and saw that they were covered with sinews; flesh was growing on them and skin was covering them, but there was no breath in them. He said to me, 'Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man. Say to the breath, "The Lord says this: Come from the four winds, breath; breathe on these dead; let them live!"' I prophesied as he had ordered me, and the breath entered them; they came to life again and stood up on their feet, a great, an immense army.

Then he said, 'Son of man, these bones are the whole House of Israel. They keep saying, "Our bones are dried up, our hope has gone; we are as good as dead". So prophesy. Say to them, "The Lord says this:
I am now going to open your graves; I mean to raise you from your graves, my people, and lead you back to the soil of Israel.  And you will know that I am the Lord when I open your graves and raise you from your graves, my people. And I shall put my spirit in you, and you will live, and I shall resettle you on your own soil; and you will know that I, the Lord, have said and done this - it is the Lord who speaks."

The Word of the Lord      Thanks be to God.

4

A Reading from the Prophet  Joel 3:1-5
I will pour out my spirit on all people.

Thus says the Lord:
'I will pour out my spirit on all mankind.
Your sons and daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men see visions.
Even on the slaves, men and women, will I pour out my spirit in those days. I will display portents in heaven and on earth. blood. and fire and columns of smoke.'

The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood,
before the day of the Lord dawns, that great and terrible day.
All who calI on the name of the Lord will be saved,
for on Mount Zion there will be some who have escaped, as the Lord has said, and in Jerusalem some survivors whom the Lord will call.

Responsorial Psalm     Ps 103
Response                        Send forth your Spirit, O Lord, and renew the face of the earth.
or                                         Alleluia!

1. Bless the Lord, my soul! Lord God, how great you are,
clothed in majesty and glory, wrapped in light as in a robe!                                                       Response                   

2. How many are your works, O Lord! In wisdom you have made them all.
The earth is full of your riches. Bless the Lord, my soul.                                                     Response                   

3. All of these look to you to give them their food in due season.
You give it, they gather it up: you open your hand, they have their fill.                           Response

4. You take back your spirit, they die, returning to the dust from which they came.
You send forth your spirit, they are created; and you renew the face of the earth.      Response                   

SECOND READING
A reading for the letter to the Romans  8:22-27
The Spirit himself  expresses our plea in a way that could never be put into words.

From the beginning till now the entire creation, as we know, has been groaning in one great act of giving birth; and not only creation, but all of us who possess the first-fruits of the Spirit, we too groan inwardly as we wait for our bodies to be set free. For we must be content to hope that we shall be saved - our salvation is not in sight, we should not have to be hoping for it if it were - but, as I say, we must hope to be saved since we are not saved yet - it is something we must wait for with patience.

The Spirit too comes to help us in our weakness. For when we cannot choose words in order to pray properly, the Spirit himself  expresses our plea in a way that could never be put into words, and God who knows everything in our hearts knows perfectly well what he means, and that the pleas of the saints expressed by the Spirit are according to the mind of God.

Gospel Acclamation
Alleluia, alleluia!
Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love.
Alleluia!

GOSPEL                             

The Lord be with you              And with your spirit.
A reading from the Gospel according to  John    7:37-39           Glory to you, O Lord
From his breast shall flow fountains of living water.


On the last day and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood there and cried out:
'If any man is thirsty, let him come to me! Let the man come and drink who believes in me!'

As scripture says: From his breast shall flow fountains of living water.
He was speaking of the Spirit which those who believed in him were to receive; for there was no Spirit as yet because Jesus had not yet been glorified.

The Gospel of the Lord    Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

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Pentecost  Sunday Mass during the Day

FIRST READING 
A reading from the Acts of the Apostles.  2:1-11
They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and  the Spirit gave them the gift of speech.
When Pentecost day came round, they had all met in one room, when suddenly they heard what sounded like a powerful wind from heaven, the noise of which filled the entire house in which they were sitting; and something appeared to them that seemed like tongues of fire; these separated and came to rest on the head of each of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak foreign languages as the Spirit gave them the gift of speech.

Now there were devout men living in Jerusalem from every nation under heaven, and at this sound they all assembled, each one bewildered to hear these men speaking his own language. They were amazed and astonished. 'Surely' they said 'all these men speaking are Galileans? How does it happen that each of us hears them in his own native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; people from Mesopotamia, Judaea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya round Cyrene; as well as visitors from Rome- Jews and proselytes alike-Cretans and Arabs; we hear them preaching in our own language about the marvels of God.'

The Word of the Lord      Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm  Ps 103: 103:1. 24. 29-31  R/v 30 
Response :                     Send forth your Spirit, 0 Lord, and renew the face of the earth.
or                                      Alleluia.

1. Bless the Lord, my soul! Lord God, how great you are,
clothed in majesty and glory, wrapped in light as in a robe!                                              Response                   

2. How many are your works, O Lord! In wisdom you have made them all.
The earth is full of your riches. Bless the Lord, my soul.                                                     Response                   

3. All of these look to you to give them their food in due season.
You give it, they gather it up: you open your hand, they have their fill.                           Response

4. You take back your spirit, they die, returning to the dust from which they came.
You send forth your spirit, they are created; and you renew the face of the earth.        Response       

SECOND READING                 

A reading from the first letter of St Paul to the Corinthians  12:3-7. 12-13
It is in the one Spirit we were all baptised.

No one can say, 'Jesus is Lord' unless he is under the influence of the Holy Spirit. There is a variety of gifts but always the same Spirit; there are all sorts of service to be done, but always to the same Lord; working in all sorts of different ways in different people, it is the same God who is working in all of them. The particular way in which the Spirit is given to each person is for a good purpose.

Just as a human body, though it is made up of many parts, is a single unit because all these parts, though many, make one body, so it is with Christ. In the one Spirit we were all baptised, Jews as well as Greeks, slaves as well as citizens, and one Spirit was given to us all to drink.

SEQUENCE

Holy Spirit, Lord of light,
From the clear celestial height
Thy pure beaming radiance give.

Come, thou Father of the poor,
Come with treasures which endure;
Come, thou light of all that live!

Thou, of all consolers best,
Thou, the soul's delightful guest,
Dost refreshing peace bestow;

Thou in toil art comfort sweet;
Pleasant coolness in the heat;
Solace in the midst of woe.

Light immortal, light divine,
Visit thou these hearts ofthine,
And our inmost being fill:

If thou take thy grace away,
Nothing pure in man will stay;
All his good is turned to ill.

Heal our wounds, our strength renew;
On our dryness pour thy dew;
Wash the stains of guilt away:

Bend the stubborn heart and will;
Melt the frozen, warm the chill;
Guide the steps that go astray.

Thou, on us who evermore
Thee confess and thee adore,
With thy sevenfold gifts descend:

Give us comfort when we die;
Give us life with thee on high;
Give us joys that never end.      

Gospel Acclamation     
Alleluia, Alleluia!  
Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love
Alleluia!

GOSPEL    ( Year A)

The Lord be with you                            And with your spirit
A reading from the Gospel according to John              20:19-23         Glory to you, O Lord
As the Father sent me, so am I sending you. 'Receive the Holy Spirit.

In the evening of that same day, the first day of the week, the doors were closed in the room where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood among them. He said to them,
'Peace be with you', and showed them his hands and his side.
The disciples were filled with joy when they saw the Lord, and he said to them again,
'Peace be with you. 'As the Father sent me, so am I sending you.'

After saying this he breathed on them and said:
'Receive the Holy Spirit. For those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; for those whose sins you retain, they are retained.'

The Gospel of the Lord    Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

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For homily resources for this Sunday's Gospel click here:  https://www.catholicireland.net/sunday-homily/




Taken from THE JERUSALEM BIBLE, published and copyright 1966, 1967 and 1968 by Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd and Doubleday, a division of Random House Inc, and used by permission of the publishers.