Churches of the Day

Wednesday, Seventh Week of Easter

Be on your guard against false teachers.

Saint of the Day; 20 May; St Bernadine of Sienna, priest, religious missionary
C/fA short life of this saint can be found below todays' Readings and Reflection. 

FIRST READING

A reading from the Acts of the Apostles       20:28-38
I commend you to God, who has power to build you up and to give you your inheritance.

Paul addressed these words to the elders of the church of Ephesus: 'Be on your guard for yourselves and for all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you the overseers, to feed the Church of God which he bought with his own blood.

I know quite well that when I have gone fierce wolves will invade you and will have no mercy on the flock. Even from your own ranks there will be men coming forward with a travesty of the truth on their lips to induce the disciples to follow them. So be on your guard, remembering how night and day for three years I never failed to keep you right, shedding tears over each one of you. And now I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace that has power to build you up and to give you your inheritance among all the sanctified.

'I have never asked anyone for money or clothes; you know for yourselves that the work I did earned enough to meet my needs and those of my companions. I did this to show you that this is how we must exert ourselves to support the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, who himself said, There is more happiness in giving than in receiving."

When he had finished speaking he knelt down with them all and prayed. By now they were all in tears; they put their arms round Paul's neck and kissed him; what saddened them most was his saying they would never see his face again ...Then they escorted him to the ship.

The Word of the Lord.           Thanks be to God


Responsorial Psalm         Ps 67: 29-30. 33-36. R/v 23
Response                               Kingdoms of the earth, sing to God.
Or                                            Alleluia!

1. Show forth, O God, show forth your might, your might, O God, which you have shown for us.
For the sake of your temple high in Jerusalem may kings come to you bringing their tribute.          Response

2. Kingdoms of the earth, sing to God, praise the Lord who rides on the heavens,
the ancient heavens. He thunders his voice, his mighty voice. Come, acknowledge the power of God.    Response

3. His glory is over Israel; his might is in the skies. God is to be feared in his holy place.
He is the Lord, Israel's God. He gives strength and power to his people. Blessed be God!                 Response                                                                                                                                                                                   

Gospel Acclamation           Mt 28: 10. 20
Alleluia, alleluia!
Go, make disciples of all the nations:
I am with you always: yes, to the end of time.
Alleluia!

or                                             Jn 17: 17
Alleluia, alleluia!
Your word is truth, 0 Lord,
consecrate us in the truth.
Alleluia!

GOSPEL                    

The Lord be with you.                      And with your spirit
A reading from the holy Gospel according to John  17:11-19          Glory to you, O Lord
Holy Father, that they may be one like us.

Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said:
Holy Father, keep those you have given me true to your name, so that they may be one like us.
While I was with them, I kept those you had given me true to your name.
I have watched over them and not one is lost except the one who chose to be lost, and this was to fulfil the scriptures.

But now I am coming to you and while still in the world I say these things to share my joy with them to the full. I passed your word on to them, and the world hated them, because they belong to the world no more than I belong to the world.

I am not asking you to remove them from the world, but to protect them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. Consecrate them in the truth; your word is truth.

As you sent me into the world,  I have sent them into the world, and for their sake I consecrate myself so that they too may be consecrated in truth.

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

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Gospel Reflection          Wednesday               Seventh Week of Easter              John 17:11-19

The theme of ‘truth’ links both readings today. Paul, addressing the elders of the church of Ephesus, declares to them, ‘Even from your own ranks, there will be men coming forward with a travesty of the truth on their lips to induce the disciples to follow them’. There is an acknowledgment there that not every interpretation of the gospel by the Lord’s followers is faithful to the gospel received from the Lord.

In the gospel reading Jesus prays that God would protect his disciples from the evil one. More positively he prays that God would consecrate them in the truth, in other words, set them apart for the mission of bearing witness to the truth.
Earlier in this gospel Jesus had said of himself, ‘I am the truth’ because he is the full revelation of God’s truth in human form.

The calling of the disciples, of all of us, is to bear witness to the truth Jesus proclaimed, lived and embodied. Both readings suggest that there will be pressure put upon us to deviate from this truth in some way. Elsewhere in the gospel Jesus promises to send us the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, to lead us to the complete truth. What Jesus refers to in the gospel reading as ‘the evil one’ leads us away from the truth of Jesus, whereas the Holy Spirit leads us towards the truth Jesus revealed. We spend our lives trying to open ourselves to the leading of the Holy Spirit so that, in the words of Jesus in this gospel of John, ‘you will know the truth and the truth will make you free’.

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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; 20 May; St Bernadine of Sienna, priest, religious missionary

Bernardine: a Franciscan preacher and effective reformer of the 14/15th century. There are some beautiful frescoes by Pinturichio (end 15th century) of his life by the great Italian Renaissance painter Giotto. c/f image below right

Patrick Duffy tells his story.

Early Life of Service        >
Born at Massa Maritima, near Siena, Italy, where his father was governor, Bernardine was left an orphan at six. He was brought up by his aunt and given a broad education in grammar, rhetoric, canon law and theology. When the organisation in the city of Siena broke down during the plague, he and some companions took charge of the local La Scala hospital. Subsequently he nursed his bed-ridden aunt until she died.

Joined the Friars Minor
Bernardine joined the Friars Minor in 1402 and later transferred to the Observant Franciscans (stricter poverty and more preaching) at Colombaio, near Siena. He also served at Fiesole near Florence.

[caption id="attachment_46083" align="alignleft" width="131"]    St Bernadine by              Pinturichio[/caption]

Effective Itinerant Preacher
In 1417 Bernardine appeared as a spectacular preacher in Milan and from then on travelled all over Italy, especially in the kingdom of Naples, always on foot, preaching in the open air. He advocated penance and voluntary poverty in the spirit of St Francis but he is best remembered for his devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus. At the end of his sermons he would hold up a tablet or plaque on which the letters IHS (Greek capitals of the first three letters of the name of Jesus) were engraved and surrounded by rays of light. He used every trick of the rhetorical trade to move his hearers his listeners to both laughter and tears. He had enormous influence. He especially attacked the practice of usury. He denounced the wars between the city states of Italy, the Guelph states supporting the Pope and Ghibelline states supporting the emperor, as the basic evil of the age. He preached vigorously against sodomy and wrote some works of theology and devotion.

On Trial for Idolatry
A Dominican theological opponent, Manfred of Vercelli, accused Bernardine of idolatry and he was called to appear before Pope Martin V. The Pope received him coldly and forbade him to preach or display his tablet or plaque until his conduct had been examined. Bernardine humbly submitted, his sermons and writings being handed over to a commission. His trial took place  in the Pope's presence at St. Peter's. St John Capistrano spoke in the Bernardine's defence. The charges against Bernardine were shown to be malicious and foolish and not only was the saint's teaching justified and commended, but Pope Martin urged him to preach in Rome. He was also offered three episcopal sees in turn - Siena, Ferrara and Urbino - all of which he declined.

Vicar General of the Observant Franciscans 1437-43
In 1437 Bernardine became the vicar general of the Observant Franciscans and there was a great growth in the numbers who joined - from 130 to 4,000 in his lifetime. He also was involved in setting up schools of theology and writing the statutes for the Observants to reform the order. He sent missionaries to different part of the Orient and was responsible for many ambassadors coming from there to the Council of Florence (1439-45).

Later Years and Death
In 1443 Bernardine resigned and went back to preaching around Italy, but now moved around on a donkey. He preached in his home town of Massa Maritima on 50 consecutive days. He then set out for Naples, preaching as he went, but died in 1441 at Aquila, where he was buried and became famous for his miracles. Six years later in 1450 Pope Nicholas canonised him. (There are some beautiful frescoes of his life by Pinturichio (end 15th century) in the Church of Santa Maria in Aracoeli in Rome.)

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Memorable Sayings for Today

“You don't really know Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you have.”
“Suffering is unbearable if you aren't certain that God is for you and with you.” :
“Jesus lost all his glory so that we could be clothed in it.”

~ Tim Keller ~

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Saints of the Day:  June 4, St Charles Lwanga and his 22 companions

Summary ; St Charles Lwanga and his 22 companions died on this day in 1886. Between 1885 and 1887, these martyrs were among many newly baptised Catholics and Anglicans who were killed for their faith and virtue in Uganda by a debauched and brutal ruler. They included judges, catechists, soldiers, and teenage pages under the leadership of Charles Lwanga, who was burned alive. They were noted for the heroic calm fidelity to Christ.



There were martyrs in North Africa at the start of the third century. Two young married women, Perpetua and Felicity, thrown to wild animals in Carthage in 202, are mentioned in the Roman Canon.

The Uganda Martyrs are the first martyrs in the second wave of evangelisation of Africa in the 19th century.

Patrick Duffy tells their story.


Colonisation and Missionary Activity
Although directly the Ugandan martyrs were the victims of a cruel dictator, indirectly they were also the victims of the fear of loss of a way of life felt by native societies when colonisers and missionaries move in. The Society of Missionaries of Africa (White Fathers) were the first Catholic missionaries to reach southern Uganda in 1879. They were well received by the king, Mtesa, and the mission flourished till he died in 1884.

King Mwanga
His 18 year old son, Mwanga, then became king and though he had attended a mission school, he had not succeeded - for whatever reason - to learn to read and write, which did not help his self-esteem. Exploiting the fear of cultural change, the traditional advisors told him the ancestors were angry at how foreigners were taking over the country.

First Victim: Anglican Bishop
His first victim was an Anglican bishop, James Hannington, who when travelling to Uganda passed through land closed to white people. He was seized on the pretext of spying and, after keeping him for a week as a trophy, Mwanga had him killed. The king was drinking heavily, smoking hemp and given to homosexuality, which he is said to have learned from white traders.

First Indigenous Victims - New converts, Pages of the King
At Mwanga's court there were a number of Christian converts who acted as pages. Their leader was Joseph Makasa, a newly converted Catholic. He tried to defend the younger pages from the advances of the new king. He also rebuked the king openly for the murder of Bishop Hannington. He was beheaded on 15 November 1885.

Charles Lwanga, another Catholic, took over as master of the pages and for a time protected them from the desires of the king. One day, however, King Mwanga called one of his pages named Mwafu and asked him what he had been doing that kept him away from Mwanga. He replied that he had been receiving religious instruction from Denis Sebuggwawo. Denis was summoned to the king who killed him, thrusting a spear through his throat.

Massacre at Namugongo
Alerted and angered by this catechetical activity, the king ordered all the pages to be rounded up. The Christians were separated from the others and asked if they intended to remain Christians and when they all said they were, Mwanga ordered them to be taken to a traditional place of sacrifice 37 miles away called Namugongo and put to death.  Three were killed en route. When the others arrived they were forced to construct a pyre on which they were burned alive, a huge group of Catholics and Protestants, boys and men. Among them was Charles Lwanga and the youngest was a thirteen year old boy whom he had baptised - Kizito, who went to his death "laughing and chattering". Other victims whose names are known were Matthias Murumba, a judge, and Andrew Kagwa, a prominent catechist.

Blood of Martyrs:  Seed of Christians
Of the martyrs that could be formally accounted for, twenty-two were Catholics and twenty-three Anglicans. These massacres led to a great increase in converts to Christianity. The Catholic martyrs were beatified in 1920 and canonised in 1964 during the Second Vatican Council by Pope Paul VI. Later in 1969 he was the first pope to visit the Catholic shrine at Namugongo.

Prayer

Father, you have made the blood of the martyrs the seed of Christians.
May the witness of St Charles and his companions and their loyalty to Christ in the face of torture
inspire countless men and women to live the Christian faith.

[caption id="attachment_81979" align="alignleft" width="450"]                                        Annual Martyr's day Celebrations                                                                                      (Shaheed Diwas)[/caption]

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Memorable Sayings for Today

“Freedom is a privilege attained through the blood of martyrs.”
“Our martyrs may be gone, but their spirit continues to inspire us.”
“On this Shaheed Diwas, salute our selfless heroes
who chose the path of sacrifice.”
“A martyr does not die, their sacrifice lives on forever.”

~ an Ugandan Martyrs devotee ~

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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.