Monday in the 4th Week of Easter
Mass Readings
First Reading – Acts 11:1-18
The Apostles and the brothers who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles too had accepted the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem the circumcised believers confronted him, saying, ‘You entered the house of uncircumcised people and ate with them.” Peter began and explained it to them step by step, saying, “I was at prayer in the city of Joppa when in a trance I had a vision, something resembling a large sheet coming down, lowered from the sky by its four corners, and it came to me. Looking intently into it, I observed and saw the four-legged animals of the earth, the wild beasts, the reptiles, and the birds of the sky. I also heard a voice say to me, ‘Get up, Peter. Slaughter and eat.’ But I said, ‘Certainly not, sir, because nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ But a second time a voice from heaven answered, ‘What God has made clean, you are not to call profane.’ This happened three times, and then everything was drawn up again into the sky. Just then three men appeared at the house where we were, who had been sent to me from Caesarea. The Spirit told me to accompany them without discriminating. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man’s house. He related to us how he had seen the angel standing in his house, saying, ‘Send someone to Joppa and summon Simon, who is called Peter, who will speak words to you by which you and all your household will be saved.’ As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them as it had upon us at the beginning, and I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said, ‘John baptized with water but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ If then God gave them the same gift he gave to us when we came to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to be able to hinder God?” When they heard this, they stopped objecting and glorified God, saying, “God has then granted life-giving repentance to the Gentiles too.”
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 42:2-3; 43:3, 4 (R. see 3a)
R.Athirst is my soul for the living God.
or:
R. Alleluia.
As the hind longs for the running waters,
so my soul longs for You, O God.
Athirst is my soul for God, the living God.
When shall I go and behold the face of God? R.
Send forth Your light and Your fidelity;
they shall lead me on
And bring me to Your holy mountain,
to Your dwelling-place. R.
Then will I go in to the altar of God,
the God of my gladness and joy;
Then will I give You thanks upon the harp,
O God, my God! R.
Gospel – Jn 10:11-18
Jesus said: “I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. A hired man, who is not a shepherd and whose sheep are not his own, sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away, and the wolf catches and scatters them. This is because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I will lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd. This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have power to lay it down, and power to take it up again. This command I have received from my Father.”
Featured Saints
St. Peter Armengol, religious (†1304). Leader of a group of bandits, he repented of his immoral life and entered the Mercedarian Order dedicated to ransoming Christian slaves in Africa.
St. Zita, virgin (†1278). Of simple origins, she became a domestic servant at age 12, she was known to distribute her earnings among the poor. For 48 years she practised this occupation with heroic virtue, and was recognized as a saint during her life.
Blessed Nicholas Roland, priest (†1678). Founded the Congregation of the Sisters of the Child Jesus in Rheims, France. He was the spiritual director of the future St. John Baptist de la Salle, for several years.
Blessed Catherine of Montenegro, virgin (†1565). While still a young girl she was baptized in the Orthodox Church; she became a Third Order Dominican and lived for 50 years in a small cell near the church of St. Paul in Kotor, Montenegro .
Blessed Maria Antonia Bandrés y Elósegui, virgin (†1919). Spanish nun from the Congregation of the Daughters of Jesus. She was a model of faith and serenity during her last illness. She died at the age of 21.
St. Laurence Nguyen Van Huong, priest and martyr (†1856). He was arrested at night while visiting a dying man. He was whipped and then beheaded in Ninh-Binh, Vietnam, for refusing to trample a cross.
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