Catholic Ireland
Wednesday of the Sixth Week of Easter
Liturgical Readings for : Wednesday, 8th May, 2024
We must always be ready to listen to the Spirit when interpreting the signs of the times
Optional Memorial of Bl, John Sullivan, priest.
FIRST READING
A reading from the Acts of the Apostles 17:15. 22-18:1
The God whom I proclaim is in fact the one whom you already worship without knowing it.
Paul’s escort took him as far as Athens, and went back with instructions for Silas and Timothy to rejoin Paul as soon as they could. Paul stood before the whole Council of the Areopagus and made this speech:
‘Men of Athens, I have seen for myself how extremely scrupulous you are in all religious matters, because I noticed, as I strolled round admiring your sacred monuments, that you had an altar inscribed: “To An Unknown God.” Well, the God whom I proclaim is in fact the one whom you already worship without knowing it.
‘Since the God who made the world and everything in it is himself Lord of heaven and earth, he does not make his home in shrines made by human hands. Nor is he dependent on anything that human hands can do for him, since he can never be in need of anything; on the contrary, it is he who gives everything – including life and breath – to everyone.
From one single stock he not only created the whole human race so that they could occupy the entire earth, but he decreed how long each nation should flourish and what the boundaries of its territory should be. And he did this so that all nations might seek the deity and, by feeling their way towards him, succeed in finding him. Yet in fact he is not far from any of us, since it is in him that we live, and move, and exist, as indeed some of your own writers have said: “We are all his children”.
‘Since we are the children of God, we have no excuse for thinking that the deity looks like anything in gold, silver or stone that has been carved and designed by a man. ‘God overlooked that sort of thing when men were ignorant, but now he is telling everyone everywhere that they must repent, because he has fixed a day when the whole world will be judged, and judged in righteousness, and he has appointed a man to be the judge. And God has publicly proved this by raising this man from the dead.’
At this mention of ‘rising from the dead‘, some of them burst out laughing; others said,
‘We would like to hear you talk about this again.’
After that Paul left them, but there were some who attached themselves to him and became believers, among them Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman called Damaris, and others besides.
After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 148
Response Your glory fills all heaven and earth.
Or Alleluia!
1. Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise him in the heights.
Praise him, all his angels, praise him, all his host. Response
2. All earth’s kings and peoples, earth’s princes and rulers;
young men and maidens, old men together with children. Response
3. Let them praise the name of the Lord for he alone is exalted.
The splendour of his name reaches beyond heaven and earth. Response
4. He exalts the strength of his peoples. He is the praise of all his saints,
of the sons of Israel, of the people to whom he comes close. Response
Gospel Acclamation 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!
or Jn 14:16
Alleluia, Alleluia!
I shall ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you forever.
Alleluia!
GOSPEL
The Lord be with you. And with your spirit
A reading from the Gospel according to John 16:12-15 Glory to you, O Lord.
The Spirit of truth will lead you to the complete truth
Jesus said to his disciples:
‘I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you now.
But when the Spirit of truth comes he will lead you to the complete truth,
since he will not be speaking as from himself but will say only what he has learnt; and he will tell you of the things to come.
He will glorify me, since all he tells you will be taken from what is mine.
Everything the Father has is mine; that is why I said:
“All he tells you will be taken from what is mine.’”
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ
Gospel Reflection Wednesday, Sixth Week of Easter John 16:12-15
In the first reading, Paul addresses the people of Athens as seekers after truth. He declares that God wanted all nations to seek the deity and by feeling their way towards him to succeed in finding him. Moreover, he says that God, who wants all people to seek and find him, has drawn close to them because it is in him that we live and move and have our being. Paul is able to announce to the people of Athens that the God whom they have been seeking has been fully revealed in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, who is God’s beloved Son. We have come to believe in Jesus as the full revelation of God, but that doesn’t mean that our seeking has come to an end. Those of us who celebrate Jesus as the truth remain seekers after truth, because we recognize that faith is not perfect vision.
As Paul says in his first letter to the Corinthians, ‘now we see as in a mirror, dimly’ (1 Cor 13:12). Even as people of faith, we remain on a journey towards what Jesus in the gospel reading calls ‘the complete truth’. None of us, no matter how strong and deep our faith, has the complete truth. Jesus declares that one of the roles of the Holy Spirit is to lead us to the complete truth, by calling to our minds all that Jesus has said and done. As Jesus declares in our reading, ‘all he tells you will be taken from what is mine’.
We are on a shared journey led by the Holy Spirit, and while we may be further on that journey that the people of Athens in the first reading we still have a way to go. Every day, as people of faith we set out again, calling on the Holy Spirit to lead us ever closer to the complete truth.
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The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd.
