Thursday in the 6th Week of Easter
Mass Readings
First Reading – Acts 18:1-8
Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. He went to visit them and, because he practiced the same trade, stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade. Every sabbath, he entered into discussions in the synagogue, attempting to convince both Jews and Greeks. When Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul began to occupy himself totally with preaching the word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus. When they opposed him and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them, “Your blood be on your heads! I am clear of responsibility. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” So he left there and went to a house belonging to a man named Titus Justus, a worshiper of God; his house was next to a synagogue. Crispus, the synagogue official, came to believe in the Lord along with his entire household, and many of the Corinthians who heard believed and were baptized.
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 98:1, 2-3ab, 3cd-4 (R.*)
R. The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Sing to the LORD a new song,
for he has done wondrous deeds;
His right hand has won victory for him,
his holy arm. R.
The LORD has made his salvation known:
in the sight of the nations he has revealed his justice.
He has remembered his kindness and his faithfulness
toward the house of Israel. R.
All the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation by our God.
Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands;
break into song; sing praise. R.
Gospel – Jn 16:16-20
Jesus said to his disciples: “A little while and you will no longer see me, and again a little while later and you will see me.” So some of his disciples said to one another, “What does this mean that he is saying to us, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me,’ and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?” So they said, “What is this ‘little while’ of which he speaks? We do not know what he means.” Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Are you discussing with one another what I said, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me’? Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices; you will grieve, but your grief will become joy.”
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.
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