Monday in the 3rd Week of Easter
Mass Readings
First Reading – Acts 6:8-15
Stephen, filled with grace and power, was working great wonders and signs among the people. Certain members of the so-called Synagogue of Freedmen, Cyreneans, and Alexandrians, and people from Cilicia and Asia, came forward and debated with Stephen, but they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke. Then they instigated some men to say, “We have heard him speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God.” They stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes, accosted him, seized him, and brought him before the Sanhedrin. They presented false witnesses who testified, “This man never stops saying things against this holy place and the law. For we have heard him claim that this Jesus the Nazorean will destroy this place and change the customs that Moses handed down to us.” All those who sat in the Sanhedrin looked intently at him and saw that his face was like the face of an angel.
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 119:23-24, 26-27, 29-30 (R. 1ab)
R.Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
or:
R. Alleluia.
Though princes meet and talk against me,
your servant meditates on your statutes.
Yes, your decrees are my delight;
they are my counselors. R.
I declared my ways, and you answered me;
teach me your statutes.
Make me understand the way of your precepts,
and I will meditate on your wondrous deeds. R.
Remove from me the way of falsehood,
and favor me with your law.
The way of truth I have chosen;
I have set your ordinances before me. R.
Gospel – Jn 6:22-29
[After Jesus had fed the five thousand men, His disciples saw Him walking on the sea.] The next day, the crowd that remained across the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not gone along with His disciples in the boat, but only His disciples had left. Other boats came from Tiberias near the place where they had eaten the bread when the Lord gave thanks. When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor His disciples were there, they themselves got into boats and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus. And when they found Him across the sea they said to Him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” Jesus answered them and said, “Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for Me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled. Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him the Father, God, has set his seal.” So they said to Him, “What can we do to accomplish the works of God?” Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in the one He sent.”
Featured Saints
St. Agnes of Montepulciano, virgin (†1317). At only nine years of age, she took the veil of the consecrated virgins. She founded a Dominican Monastery in Montepulciano, Italy. Her life was replete with marvelous episodes, miracles, and mystical graces. She died at age 48.
St. Anicetus, Pope (†circa 166). He received St. Polycarp of Smyrna as a guest to discuss the date of Easter with him.
St. Marcellinus of Embrun, bishop (†c. 374). A native of North Africa, he evangelized the region of the Maritime Alps and was ordained bishop by St. Eusebius of Vercelli.
St. Anastasius of Antioch, bishop and martyr (†609). Patriarch of Antioch (presentday Turkey), cruelly killed by hired assassins in the time of Byzantine Emperor Phocas.
Blessed Dominic Vernagalli, priest (†1218). Priest of the Camaldulense Order. Founded an orphanage, in Pisa, Italy, for abandoned children.
Blessed Simon Rinalducci, priest (†1322). Religious from the Order of Augustinian Hermits; carried out a fruitful apostolate in Bologna among young students.
Blesseds Richard Sergeant and William Thomson, priests and martyrs (†1584). Ordained priests in France, they returned to England to carry out their ministry. For this reason, they were hanged at the gallows at Tyburn.
Blessed Maurice Mackenraghty, priest and martyr (†1585). Irish priest who was beheaded after two years of imprisonment, for maintaining his fidelity to the Pope and refusing to recognize the spiritual authority of Queen Elizabeth I.
Blessed Anastasius Pankiewicz, priest and martyr (†1942). Franciscan Polish priest, killed while being taken from Dachau to Hartheim, Austria. He gave witness to his faith until death.
Blessed Claire Bosatta, virgin (†1887). With the help of St. Louis Guanella, she founded the Little House of Divine Providence. She died in Pianello, Italy.
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