DAILY READINGS & REFLECTION
JUNE 5, 2025
THURSDAY - MEMORIAL OF SAINT BONIFACE, BISHOP AND MARTYR
FIRST READING
ACTS 22:30; 23:6-11 OR (ACTS 26:19-23)
22 30 But on the morrow, desiring to know the real reason why the Jews accused him, he unbound him, and commanded the chief priests and all the council to meet, and he brought Paul down and set him before them.23 6 But when Paul perceived that one part were Sad'ducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, "Brethren, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees; with respect to the hope and the resurrection of the dead I am on trial." 7 And when he had said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sad'ducees; and the assembly was divided. 8 For the Sad'ducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit; but the Pharisees acknowledge them all. 9 Then a great clamor arose; and some of the scribes of the Pharisees' party stood up and contended, "We find nothing wrong in this man. What if a spirit or an angel spoke to him?" 10 And when the dissension became violent, the tribune, afraid that Paul would be torn in pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him by force from among them and bring him into the barracks. 11 The following night the Lord stood by him and said, "Take courage, for as you have testified about me at Jerusalem, so you must bear witness also at Rome."
The Word of the Lord
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RESPONSORIAL PSALM
PSALMS 15(16):1-2, 5, 7-11 OR (PSALMS 117:1-2)
Response: Keep me safe, O God; thou are my hope.
Or
R. Alleluia.
Preserve me, O God, for in thee I take refuge.
I say to the LORD, “Thou art my LORD;
I have no good apart from thee.”
The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup;
thou holdest my lot.
R. Keep me safe, O God; thou are my hope.
Or
R. Alleluia.
I bless the LORD who gives me counsel;
in the night also my heart instructs me.
I keep the LORD always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
R. Keep me safe, O God; thou are my hope.
Or
R. Alleluia.
Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices;
my body also dwells secure.
For thou dost not give me up to Sheol,
or let thy godly one see the Pit.
R. Keep me safe, O God; thou are my hope.
Or
R. Alleluia.
Thou dost show me the path of life;
in thy presence there is fulness of joy,
in thy right hand are pleasures for evermore.
R. Keep me safe, O God; thou are my hope.
Or
R. Alleluia.
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GOSPEL
May they become perfectly one
JOHN 17:20-26 OR (JOHN 10:11-16)
20 "I do not pray for these only, but also for those who believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory which you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to behold my glory which you have given me in your love for me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father, the world has not known you, but I have known you; and these know that you have sent me. 26 I made known to them your name, and I will make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them."
The Gospel of the Lord
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REFLECTION
DAILY QUOTE FROM THE EARLY CHURCH FATHERS
Prayer of unity for all who believe, by Cyprian of Carthage - first martyr bishop of Africa, 200-258 A.D.
"The Lord's loving-kindness, no less than his mercy, is great in respect of our salvation in that, not content to redeem us with his blood, he in addition prayed for us. See now what the desire of his petition was, that just as the Father and Son are one, so also we should abide in absolute unity. From this, it may be evident how greatly someone sins who divides unity and peace, since even the Lord himself petitioned for this same thing. He no doubt desired that his people should in this way be saved and live in peace since he knew that discord cannot come into the kingdom of God."
(excerpt from THE LORD'S PRAYER 30.1)
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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.