26 May 2019 Year C • Season Colour: White • Psalter Week 2 Sixth Sunday of Easter 26 MAY 2019 SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

ENTRANCE ANTIPHON the and by ourselves not to saddle And my word is not my own: Proclaim a joyful sound and let it be heard; you with any burden beyond these essentials: it is the word of the one who sent me. proclaim to the ends of the earth: you are to abstain from food sacrificed to I have said these things to you The Lord has freed his people, alleluia. idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled while still with you; animals and from fornication. Avoid these, but the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, GLORIA and you will do what is right. Farewell.” whom the Father will send in my name, THE WORD Year C • Season Colour: White • Psalter Week 2 Glory to God in the highest, The word of the Lord. will teach you everything and on earth peace to people of good will. Thanks be to God. and remind you of all I have said to you. We praise you, Peace I bequeath to you, we bless you, my own peace I give you, PSALM Psalm 66 we adore you, a peace the world cannot give, this is my we glorify you, Response: gift to you. we give you thanks for your great glory, Let the peoples praise you, O God; Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid. Lord God, heavenly King, let all the peoples praise you. You heard me say: O God, almighty Father. or I am going away, and shall return. If you loved me you would have been glad Lord Christ, Only Begotten Son, Alleluia! to know that I am going to the Father, Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father, 1. O God, be gracious and bless us for the Father is greater than I. you take away the sins of the world, and let your face shed its light upon us. I have told you this now before it happens, have mercy on us; So will your ways be known upon earth so that when it does happen you may THE GIFT you take away the sins of the world, and all nations learn your saving help. believe.” receive our prayer; (R.) OF THE you are seated at the right hand of the Father, The of the Lord. have mercy on us. 2. Let the nations be glad and exult Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ. for you rule the world with justice. PARACLETE For you alone are the Holy One, With fairness you rule the peoples, PROFESSION OF FAITH (:23-29) you alone are the Lord, you guide the nations on earth. (R.) I believe in God, you alone are the Most High, Jesus Christ, the Father almighty, with the Holy Spirit, 3. Let the peoples praise you, O God; Creator of heaven and earth, in the glory of God the Father. let all the peoples praise you. and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, Amen. May God still give us his blessing till the ends of the earth revere him. (R.) (all bow during the next two lines) COLLECT who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, Grant, almighty God, SECOND READING Apoc 2 1:10-14.22-23 born of the Virgin Mary, that we may celebrate with heartfelt devotion suffered under , these days of joy, A reading from the book of the Apocalypse. was crucified, died and was buried; which we keep in honour of the risen Lord, In the spirit, the angel took me to the top of he descended into hell; As we approach the end of the Easter season, the Gospel today looks and that what we relive in remembrance an enormous high mountain and showed me on the third day he rose again from the dead; toward the departure of Jesus and the sending of the Paraclete. SAY we may always hold to in what we do. Jerusalem, the holy city, coming down from he ascended into heaven, Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, Come, Holy Spirit, fill the God out of heaven. It had all the radiant glory and is seated at the right hand of God the It seems that the disciples still do not fully understand the message of Jesus, as they are who lives and reigns with you in the unity of Father almighty; of God and glittered like some precious jewel apparently reluctant to let go of Jesus. He promises two gifts: one is the Paraclete, the hearts of your faithful. the Holy Spirit, from there he will come to judge the living of crystal-clear diamond. The walls of it were other is Jesus’ peace. The purpose of the Paraclete will be to teach the disciples, unfolding one God, for ever and ever. and the dead. of a great height, and had twelve gates; at the meaning of what Jesus has taught them. The Paraclete will take Jesus’ place and Amen. each of the twelve gates there was an angel, I believe in the Holy Spirit, keep alive the memory of Jesus among and within the disciples, those who knew Jesus and over the gates were written the names of the holy catholic Church, personally and those who will come later. LEARN FIRST READING Acts 15:1-2.22-29 the twelve tribes of Israel; on the east there the communion of saints, were three gates, on the north three gates, the forgiveness of sins, The peace which Jesus mentions is his peace, not peace in the normal sense of the The teaching of the church on divine A reading from the Acts of Apostles. on the south three gates, and on the west the resurrection of the body, word. Persecution from outside and divisions within the community were a feature of revelation is presented in the document of Some men came down from Judaea and three gates. The city walls stood on twelve and life everlasting. the community from which the Fourth Gospel emerged. This peace comes from Jesus’ Vatican II entitled Dei Verbum. taught the brothers, “Unless you have foundation stones, each one of which bore Amen. yourselves circumcised in the tradition of the name of one of the twelve apostles of the union with the Father and is connected with the gift of the Paraclete, or Spirit, who will The word Paraclete refers to the Holy Spirit Moses you cannot be saved.” This led to Lamb. PRAYER OVER THE OFFERINGS continue Jesus’ presence among the disciples. Jesus’ leaving and the coming of the Spirit as Jesus’ personal presence in the disciples disagreement, and after Paul and Barnabas I saw that there was no temple in the city May our prayers rise up to you, O Lord, signal the beginning of a new era, and this should be a cause of joy, not sadness for the while Jesus is with the Father. had had a long argument with these men since the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb together with the sacrificial offerings, disciples. The return of Jesus to the Father will enable the coming of the Spirit to the it was arranged that Paul and Barnabas were themselves the temple, and the city did so that, purified by your graciousness, disciples, and it is in this peace that the community will continue Jesus’ work of revealing and others of the church should go up to not need the sun or the moon for light, since we may be conformed to the mysteries of the Father, despite opposition like that which Jesus experienced. n In the Fourth Gospel, the verb to be troubled Jerusalem and discuss the problem with the it was lit by the radiant glory of God and the your mighty love. occurs in the context of death. apostles and elders. Lamb was a lighted torch for it. Through Christ our Lord. Amen. Then the apostles and elders decided The word of the Lord. Our understanding of the Word of God in the to choose delegates to send to Antioch Thanks be to God. REFLECT Scriptures develops: this is the function of COMMUNION ANTIPHON with Paul and Barnabas; the whole church n the , the Spirit of the Lord is often, if not usually, associated with power. The the tradition of the church. If you love me, keep my commandments, concurred with this. They chose Judas known GOSPEL ACCLAMATION Spirit is bestowed on a particular person so that they can carry out their commission says the Lord, as Barsabbas and Silas, both leading men in Alleluia, alleluia! from the Lord. However, the purpose of the Spirit, or Paraclete, as presented in our the brotherhood, and gave them this letter to and I will ask the Father and he will send you I Jesus said: “If anyone loves me, he will keep Gospel reading today, is more that of helping the disciples to understand more fully take with them: another Paraclete, DO my word, and my Father will love him, and the teachings of Jesus. “The apostles and elders, your brothers, to abide with you for ever, alleluia. we shall come to him.” Switch on the light. Think about how send greetings to the brothers of pagan birth Alleluia! In the document on Divine Revelation issued by the Second Vatican Council, the Holy important electricity is to the running in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia. We hear that PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION Spirit is mentioned most frequently in the chapter on Sacred Tradition. The Holy Spirit of your home. Reflect that this is how some of our members have disturbed you Almighty ever-living God, is the active agent in the transmitting of the faith from one generation to another. important the Holy Spirit is to the life of the with their demands and have unsettled your GOSPEL John 14:23-29 who restore us to eternal life in the Resurrection of Christ, Tradition is presented as something unfolding, developing: it is not the static repetition church. minds. They acted without any authority from A reading from the holy Gospel according to increase in us, we pray, the fruits of this of what has been said before in the manner and language in which it was previously us, and so we have decided unanimously to John. elect delegates and to send them to you with paschal Sacrament taught. Nothing new is added, but our appreciation of its meaning develops and must Jesus said to his disciples: Barnabas and Paul, men we highly respect and pour into our hearts the strength of this be expressed in ways which contemporary people can understand. The meaning of who have dedicated their lives to the name “If anyone loves me he will keep my word, saving food. words changes over time and if we have to explain that a word we are using signifies of our Lord Jesus Christ. Accordingly we and my Father will love him, Through Christ our Lord. something different to that which the other person would naturally assume, then we are sending you Judas and Silas, who will and we shall come to him Amen. are literally speaking another language and failing to communicate. Perhaps we need confirm by word of mouth what we have and make our home with him. to believe more firmly that the Spirit is guiding the expressing of what we as a church written in this letter. It has been decided by Those who do not love me do not keep my believe and not be afraid of new ways of formulating our faith in language which words. makes sense to ourselves and our contemporaries. The truth is sacred: no one system Concordat cum originali: +Diarmuid Martin, Archbishop of Dublin. Additional material, cum permissu: +Diarmuid Martin, Archbishop of Dublin. of explaining the faith is absolutely the last word. n Commentary by Fr Anthony Cassidy C.Ss.R. The English translation of the entrance and communion antiphons, the opening prayers, prayers over the gifts, gloria, creed, and prayers after communion from The Roman Missal, © 2010 International Commission of English in the Liturgy Corporation. Jerusalem Bible version of the scriptures copyright: Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd., and Doubleday & Co. Inc. Responsorial psalms are copyright The Grail and/or Geoffrey Chapman Ltd. Published in Ireland by Redemptorist Communications (www.redcoms.org); Published in the UK by Redemptorist Publications (www.rpbooks.co.uk)

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