DAILY READINGS & REFLECTION
MAY 27, 2025
TUESDAY OF THE SIXTH WEEK OF EASTER
(OPTIONAL MEMORIAL OF SAINT AUGUSTINE OF CANTERBURY, BISHOP)
FIRST READING
ACTS 16:22-34 OR (1 THESSALONIANS 2:2-8)
22 The crowd joined in attacking them; and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods. 23 And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely. 24 Having received this charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. 25 But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, 26 and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and every one's fetters were unfastened. 27 When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, "Do not harm yourself, for we are all here." 29 And he called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas, 30 and brought them out and said, "Men, what must I do to be saved?" 31 And they said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household." 32 And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all that were in his house. 33 And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their wounds, and he was baptized at once, with all his family. 34 Then he brought them up into his house, and set food before them; and he rejoiced with all his household that he had believed in God.
The Word of the Lord
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RESPONSORIAL PSALM
PSALMS 137(138):1-3, 7-8 OR (PSALMS 96:1-3, 7-8, 10)
Response: Thy right hand saves me, O Lord.
Or
R. Alleluia.
I give thee thanks, O LORD, with my whole heart;
before the gods I sing thy praise;
I bow down toward thy holy temple
and give thanks to thy name.
R. Thy right hand saves me, O Lord.
Or
R. Alleluia.
For thy steadfast love and thy faithfulness;
for thou hast exalted above everything
thy name and thy word.
On the day I called, thou didst answer me,
my strength of soul thou didst increase.
Though I walk in the midst of trouble,
thou dost preserve my life;
thou dost stretch out thy hand against the wrath of my enemies.
R. Thy right hand saves me, O Lord.
Or
R. Alleluia.
And thy right hand delivers me.
The LORD will fulfil his purpose for me;
thy steadfast love, O LORD, endures for ever.
Do not forsake the work of thy hands.
R. Thy right hand saves me, O Lord.
Or
R. Alleluia.
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GOSPEL
I will send the Counselor to you
JOHN 16:5-11 OR (MATTHEW 9:35-38)
5 But now I am going to him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, `Where are you going?' 6 But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts. 7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 And when he comes, he will convince the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no more; 11 concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
The Gospel of the Lord
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REFLECTION
DAILY QUOTE FROM THE EARLY CHURCH FATHERS
Whatever is not of faith is sin, by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.
"When the Lord said of the Holy Spirit, 'He shall convict the world of sin,' he meant unbelief. For this is what he meant when he said, Of sin because they believed not on me.' And he means the same when he says, 'If I had not come and spoken to them, they should not have sin.' (John 15:22). He was not talking about [a time] before they had no sin. Rather, he wanted to indicate that very lack of faith by which they did not believe him even when he was present to them and speaking to them. These were the people who belonged to 'the prince of the power of the air, who now works in the children of unbelief' (Ephesians 2:2). Therefore those in whom there is no faith are the children of the devil because they have nothing in their inner being that would cause them to be forgiven for whatever is committed either by human infirmity, ignorance or any evil will whatever. But the children of God are those who certainly, if they should 'say that they have no sin, deceive themselves, and the truth is not in them,' but immediately (as it continues) 'when they confess their sins' (which the children of the devil do not do, or do not do according to the faith which is peculiar to the children of God), 'he is faithful and just to forgive them their sins and to cleanse them from all unrighteousness'" (1 John 1:9).
(excerpt from AGAINST TWO LETTERS OF THE PELAGIANS 3.4)
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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.