Saturday in the 5th Week of Easter
Mass Readings
First Reading – Acts 16:1-10
Paul reached also Derbe and Lystra where there was a disciple named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. The brothers in Lystra and Iconium spoke highly of him, and Paul wanted him to come along with him. On account of the Jews of that region, Paul had him circumcised, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. As they traveled from city to city, they handed on to the people for observance the decisions reached by the Apostles and presbyters in Jerusalem. Day after day the churches grew stronger in faith and increased in number. They traveled through the Phrygian and Galatian territory because they had been prevented by the Holy Spirit from preaching the message in the province of Asia. When they came to Mysia, they tried to go on into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them, so they crossed through Mysia and came down to Troas. During the night Paul had a vision. A Macedonian stood before him and implored him with these words, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” When he had seen the vision, we sought passage to Macedonia at once, concluding that God had called us to proclaim the Good News to them.
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 100:1b-2, 3, 5 (R. 2a)
R.Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands;
serve the LORD with gladness;
come before Him with joyful song. R.
Know that the LORD is God;
He made us, His we are;
His people, the flock He tends. R.
The LORD is good:
His kindness endures forever,
and His faithfulness, to all generations. R.
Gospel – Jn 15:18-21
Jesus said to His disciples: “If the world hates you, realize that it hated Me first. If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own; but because you do not belong to the world, and I have chosen you out of the world, the world hates you. Remember the word I spoke to you, ‘No slave is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will also keep yours. And they will do all these things to you on account of My name, because they do not know the one who sent 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
