Catholic Ireland
Liturgical Readings for : Tuesday, 7th May, 2024
Tuesday of the Sixth Week of Easter
Because we are dead or wounded by sin the first effect of God’s love is forgiveness
FIRST READING
A reading from the Acts of the Apostles 16:22-34
Become a believer in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, and your household too.
The crowd of Philippians joined in and showed their hostility to Paul and Silas, so the magistrates had them stripped and ordered them to be flogged. They were given many lashes and then thrown into prison, and the gaoler was told to keep a close watch on them. So, following his instructions, he threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.
Late that night Paul and Silas were praying and singing God’s praises, while the other prisoners listened. Suddenly there was an earthquake that shook the prison to its foundations. All the doors flew open and the chains fell from all the prisoners. When the gaoler woke and saw the doors wide open he drew his sword and was about to commit suicide, presuming that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted at the top of his voice,
‘Don’t do yourself any harm; we are all here.’
The gaoler called for lights, then rushed in, threw himself trembling at the feet of Paul and Silas, and escorted them out, saying,
‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’
They told him,
Become a believer in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, and your household too.’
Then they preached the word of the Lord to him and to all his family. Late as it was, he took them to wash their wounds, and was baptised then and there with all his household. Afterwards he took them home and gave them a meal, and the whole family celebrated their conversion to belief in God.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God
Responsorial Psalm Ps 137
Response You stretch out your hand and save me, 0 Lord.
Or Alleluia!
1. I thank you, Lord, with all my heart, you have heard the words of my mouth.
Before the angels I will bless you. I will adore before your holy temple. Response
2. I thank you for your faithfulness and love which excel all we ever knew of you.
On the day I called, you answered; you increased the strength of my soul. Response
3. You stretch out your hand and save me, your hand will do all things for me.
Your love, O Lord, is eternal, discard not the work of your hands. Response
Gospel Acclamation
Alleluia, alleluia!
Christ has risen and shone upon us whom he redeemed with his blood.
Alleluia!
or Jn 16: 5-11
Alleluia, Alleluia!
I will send you the Spirit of truth, says the Lord; he will lead you to the complete truth.
Alleluia!
GOSPEL
The Lord be with you. And with your spirit
A reading from the holy Gospel according to John 16:5-11 Glory to you, O Lord
Unless I go, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I do go, I will send him to you.
Jesus said to his disciples:
‘Now I am going to the one who sent me.
Not one of you has asked, “Where are you going?”
Yet you are sad at heart because I have told you this.
Still, I must tell you the truth: it is for your own good that I am going
because unless I go, the Advocate will not come to you;
but if I do go, I will send him to you.
And when he comes, he will show the world how wrong it was,
about sin,
about who was in the right, and about judgement:
about sin: proved by their refusal to believe in me;
about who was in the right: proved by my going to the Father and your seeing me no more;
about judgement: proved by the prince of this world being already condemned.’
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Gospel Reflection Tuesday, Sixth Week of Easter John 16:5-11
In today’s gospel reading, Jesus, on the night before he died, addresses himself to the sadness of the disciples. They are sad because they have heard him talk about going away. On this evening, full of foreboding, they sense that he is referring to his imminent death. We always experience sadness when someone who has been significant for us, someone we have loved and valued, is taken from us in death. We need to grieve the loss of our loved ones. Yet, Jesus wants to bring some light into the sadness, the darkness of spirit, of his disciples. He does so by assuring them that, in going from them, he will be able to do something for them that he would not otherwise be able to do.
In returning to the Father, he will be able to send them the Advocate, the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit. In and through this Spirit, Jesus will be present to his disciples in a new and very intimate way, and he will be present in this manner not just to his disciples gathered with him that evening but to all future disciples, including ourselves gathered here.
Jesus’ death and his resurrection from the dead leads to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the risen Lord, upon us all, and, in and through the Spirit, Jesus is within us and among us. That same Spirit is with us in all our dark and difficult times, in all our times of painful loss. The Spirit assures us of the Lord’s loving presence at such moments, so that even in our sadness we can experience something of that joy which is the fruit of the Spirit.
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The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd.
