DAILY READINGS & REFLECTION
MAY 14, 2023
SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER
FIRST READING
ACTS 8:5-8, 14-17
5 Philip went down to a city of Sama'ria, and proclaimed to them the Christ. 6 And the multitudes with one accord gave heed to what was said by Philip, when they heard him and saw the signs which he did. 7 For unclean spirits came out of many who were possessed, crying with a loud voice; and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. 8 So there was much joy in that city. 14 Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Sama'ria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, 15 who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit; 16 for it had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.
The Word of the Lord
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RESPONSORIAL PSALM
PSALMS 65(66):1-7, 16, 20
Response: Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
Or
R. Alleluia.
Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth;
sing the glory of his name;
give to him glorious praise!
Say to God, “How terrible are thy deeds!"
R. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
Or
R. Alleluia.
"So great is thy power that thy enemies cringe before thee.
All the earth worships thee;
they sing praises to thee,
sing praises to thy name.”
Come and see what God has done:
he is terrible in his deeds among men.
R. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
Or
R. Alleluia.
He turned the sea into dry land;
men passed through the river on foot.
There did we rejoice in him,
who rules by his might for ever.
R. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
Or
R. Alleluia.
Come and hear, all you who fear God,
and I will tell what he has done for me.
Blessed be God,
because he has not rejected my prayer
or removed his steadfast love from me!
R. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
Or
R. Alleluia.
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SECOND READING
1 PETER 3:15-18
15 But in your hearts reverence Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to make a defense to any one who calls you to account for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence; 16 and keep your conscience clear, so that, when you are abused, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. 17 For it is better to suffer for doing right, if that should be God's will, than for doing wrong. 18 For Christ also died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit
The Word of the Lord
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GOSPEL
The Counselor will be with you for ever
JOHN 14:15-21
15 "If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, to be with you for ever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him; you know him, for he dwells with you, and will be in you. 18 "I will not leave you desolate; I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while, and the world will see me no more, but you will see me; because I live, you will live also. 20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21 He who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me; and he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him."
The Gospel of the Lord
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REFLECTION
DAILY QUOTE FROM THE EARLY CHURCH FATHERS
There is no love without the Holy Spirit, by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.
"How, then, did the apostles love, but in the Holy Spirit? And yet they are commanded to love him and keep his commandments before they have received him and, in fact, in order to receive him. And yet, without having that Spirit, they certainly could not love him and keep his commandments. We are therefore to understand that he who loves already has the Holy Spirit, and by what he has he becomes worthy of a fuller possession, that by having more he may love more. The disciples, therefore, already had that Holy Spirit whom the Lord promised, for without him they could not call him Lord. But they had him not as yet in the way promised by the Lord... He was yet to be given them in an ampler measure [at Pentecost]."
(excerpt from TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 74.1–2)
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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.