DAILY READINGS & REFLECTION
MAY 22, 2025
THURSDAY OF THE FIFTH WEEK OF EASTER
(OPTIONAL MEMORIAL OF SAINT RITA OF CASCIA, RELIGIOUS)
FIRST READING
ACTS 15:7-21 OR (PHILIPPIANS 4:4-9)
7 And after there had been much debate, Peter rose and said to them, "Brethren, you know that in the early days God made choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. 8 And God who knows the heart bore witness to them, giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us; 9 and he made no distinction between us and them, but cleansed their hearts by faith. 10 Now therefore why do you make trial of God by putting a yoke upon the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? 11 But we believe that we shall be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will." 12 And all the assembly kept silence; and they listened to Barnabas and Paul as they related what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles. 13 After they finished speaking, James replied, "Brethren, listen to me. 14 Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name. 15 And with this the words of the prophets agree, as it is written, 16 `After this I will return, and I will rebuild the dwelling of David, which has fallen; I will rebuild its ruins, and I will set it up, 17 that the rest of men may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by my name, 18 says the Lord, who has made these things known from of old.' 19 Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God, 20 but should write to them to abstain from the pollutions of idols and from unchastity and from what is strangled and from blood. 21 For from early generations Moses has had in every city those who preach him, for he is read every sabbath in the synagogues."
The Word of the Lord
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RESPONSORIAL PSALM
PSALMS 95(96):1-3, 10 OR (PSALMS 1:1-4, 6)
Response: Proclaim God's marvelous deeds to all the nations.
Or
R. Alleluia.
O sing to the LORD a new song;
sing to the LORD, all the earth!
Sing to the LORD, bless his name;
tell of his salvation from day to day.
R. Proclaim God's marvelous deeds to all the nations.
Or
R. Alleluia.
Declare his glory among the nations,
his marvelous works among all the peoples!
R. Proclaim God's marvelous deeds to all the nations.
Or
R. Alleluia.
Say among the nations, “The LORD reigns!
Yea, the world is established, it shall never be moved;
he will judge the peoples with equity.”
R. Proclaim God's marvelous deeds to all the nations.
Or
R. Alleluia.
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GOSPEL
Abide in my love
JOHN 15:9-11 OR (LUKE 6:27-38)
9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. 11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
The Gospel of the Lord
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REFLECTION
DAILY QUOTE FROM THE EARLY CHURCH FATHERS
Joy in rejoicing over us, by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.
"And what else is Christ's joy in us except that he is pleased to rejoice over us? And what is this joy of ours that he says is to be made full, but our having fellowship with him?... His joy, therefore, in us is the grace he has bestowed on us, and that is also our joy. But he rejoiced over this joy even from eternity when he chose us before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4). Nor can we rightly say that his joy was not full. For God's joy was never at any time imperfect. But that joy of his was not in us. For we, in whom that joy could exist, had as yet no existence. And even when our existence commenced, it began not to be in him. But in him it always was, who in the infallible truth of his own foreknowledge rejoiced that we should yet be his own. Accordingly, he had a joy over us that was already full when he rejoiced in foreknowing and foreordaining us. And there could hardly be any fear intermingling in that joy of his that might imply a possible failure in what he foreknew would be done by himself."
(excerpt from TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 83.1)
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Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)
The Revised Standard Version of the Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1965, 1966 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.