Tuesday in the 5th Week of Easter
Mass Readings
First Reading – Acts 14:19-28
In those days, some Jews from Antioch and Iconium arrived and won over the crowds. They stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. But when the disciples gathered around him, he got up and entered the city. On the following day he left with Barnabas for Derbe. After they had proclaimed the good news to that city and made a considerable number of disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch. They strengthened the spirits of the disciples and exhorted them to persevere in the faith, saying, “It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God.” They appointed presbyters for them in each Church and, with prayer and fasting, commended them to the Lord in whom they had put their faith. Then they traveled through Pisidia and reached Pamphylia. After proclaiming the word at Perga they went down to Attalia. From there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work they had now accomplished. And when they arrived, they called the Church together and reported what God had done with them and how He had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. Then they spent no little time with the disciples.
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 145:10-11, 12-13ab, 21 (R. see 12)
R.Your friends make known, O Lord, the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Let all Your works give You thanks, O LORD,
and let Your faithful ones bless You.
Let them discourse of the glory of Your kingdom
and speak of Your might. R.
Making known to men Your might
and the glorious splendor of Your kingdom.
Your kingdom is a kingdom for all ages,
and Your dominion endures through all generations. R.
May my mouth speak the praise of the LORD,
and may all flesh bless His holy name forever and ever. R.
Gospel – Jn 14:27-31a
Jesus said to His disciples: “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid. You heard Me tell you, ‘I am going away and I will come back to you.’ If you loved Me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father; for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you this before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe. I will no longer speak much with you, for the ruler of the world is coming. He has no power over Me, but the world must know that I love the Father and that I do just as the Father has commanded Me.”
Featured Saints
St. Isaiah, prophet (†seventh century BC). “Great prophet, and faithful in the sight of God” (Eccl 48:25), Isaiah was sent to reveal the coming of the Saviour to the unfaithful people, in fulfillment of the promises made to David.
St. Joseph Ðô Quang Hiên, priest and martyr (†1840). Dominican priest beheaded in Nam-Dinh, Vietnam. Even in prison he evangelized pagans and consoled Christians in the Faith.
St. Pachomius, abbot (†347/348). Son of pagans, he converted in his youth and became an anchorite. He attracted disciples and founded numerous monasteries in Thebaid, Egypt, for which he wrote his famous rule.
St. Hermas, one of the Christians greeted by the Apostle St. Paul in the Letter to the Romans.
Blessed Thomas Pickering, monk and martyr (†1679). English Benedictine religious. He served in the chapel of Catherine of Braganza, Catholic wife of of Charles II of England. He was martyred in Tyburn on the fraudulent charge of plotting against the king’s life.
Blessed Fortis Gabrielli, hermit (†1040). After living a solitary life for several years, he entered the Camaldolese monastery of Fonte Avellana, Italy.
Blessed Stefan Grelewski, martyr (†1941). Priest from the archdiocese of Radom, Poland, who was a writer and teacher, dedicated to. During the Nazi occupation, he was imprisoned in Auschwitz and then in Dachau, where he was tortured and finally killed by starvation.
Blessed Benincasa of Montepulciano, religious (†1426). Religious from the Order of Servants of Mary, he withdrew to a grotto on Mount Amiata, Italy, to lead a penitential life.
Blessed Mary Theresa of Jesus (Karolina Gerhardinger), virgin (†1879). She founded the Congregation of the Poor School Sisters of Notre Dame in Munich, Germany.
Image gallery
