Wednesday in the 5th Week of Easter
Optional memorial of St. Joseph the Worker. Pope Pius XII instituted this commemoration in 1955, in order to provide a model and protector of laborers, and to highlight the Christian value of work.
Mass Readings
First Reading – Acts 15:1-6
Some who had come down from Judea were instructing the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the Mosaic practice, you cannot be saved.” Because there arose no little dissension and debate by Paul and Barnabas with them, it was decided that Paul, Barnabas, and some of the others should go up to Jerusalem to the Apostles and presbyters about this question. They were sent on their journey by the Church, and passed through Phoenicia and Samaria telling of the conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the brethren. When they arrived in Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the Church, as well as by the Apostles and the presbyters, and they reported what God had done with them. But some from the party of the Pharisees who had become believers stood up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and direct them to observe the Mosaic law.” The Apostles and the presbyters met together to see about this matter.
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 122:1-2, 3-4ab, 4cd-5 (R. cf.1)
R. Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord.
or:
R. Alleluia.
I rejoiced because they said to me,
“We will go up to the house of the LORD.”
And now we have set foot
within your gates, O Jerusalem. R.
Jerusalem, built as a city
with compact unity.
To it the tribes go up,
the tribes of the LORD. R.
According to the decree for Israel,
to give thanks to the name of the LORD.
In it are set up judgment seats,
seats for the house of David. R.
Gospel – Jn 15:1-8
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and everyone that does He prunes so that it bears more fruit. You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you. Remain in Me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in Me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without Me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in Me will be thrown out like a branch and wither; people will gather them and throw them into a fire and they will be burned. If you remain in Me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you. By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”
Featured Saints
St. Amator, bishop (†418). Acclaimed Bishop of Auxerre, France, he dedicated himself to rooting out pagan superstitions and encouraging veneration of the holy martyrs.
St. Peregrine Laziosi, priest (†1345). After a rebellious adolescence, he entered the Servites, in Siena, and founded a monastery of the Order in Forli, his birthplace.
St. Augustine Schoeffler, priest and martyr (†1851). Priest of the Foreign Missions Society, beheaded in Vietnam.
St. Jeremiah, prophet. He foretold the destruction of the Holy City and the deportation of the Jewish people. He endured many tribulations, for which the Church considers him a figure of the suffering Christ.
St. Richard Pampuri, religious (†1928). Italian doctor who worked with heroic Christian charity during the First World War. He joined the Hospitaller Order of St. John of God.
St. Sigismund of Burgundy, king (†524). A convert from the Arian heresy, he sought to repair the faults committed against the Faith with good works. He built the Abbey of Saint-Maurice-enValais, Switzerland.
Blessed Clement Sheptytsky, priest and martyr (†1951). Archimandrite from the Monastery of Univ of Studite monks; deported by the Soviet regime, he died in prison in Vladimir, Russia.
Blessed Mafalda, virgin (†1257). Daughter of King Sancho I of Portugal, she took the habit in the Abbey of Arouca, where she introduced the cistercian reform.
In Canada: Optional Memorial of St. Pius V. A Dominican religious, bishop and cardinal, he held offices of high responsibility in the Church. Elected Pope, he dedicated himself with energy to the propagation of the Faith and to divine worship. He brought together the Holy League, whose squadron was victorious in the Battle of Lepanto in 1571. (Celebrated April 30 in the General Calendar.)
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