Daily Mass Reflection & Daily Mass Readings

16th May – Friday, Fourth Week of Easter

Jesus’ talk of departure, of ‘going away’, has left the disciples deeply troubled. Today’s gospel reading is one of the ways that Jesus seeks to reassure them that his departure, in reality, will create an opening for him to come to them and remain with them in a new way. What does Jesus mean by ‘many rooms (dwelling places) in my Father’s house?’ It has often been interpreted as a reference to heaven as the spacious and welcoming home of God to which Jesus will take his disciples at the end of their lives. As such, it has given consolation to believers in every generation as they try to come to terms with the loss of loved ones. Such an interpretation is indeed a valid one, but it does not exhaust the meaning of the text. Here, as elsewhere, John’s gospel can be read at many levels.  Jesus will go on to speak of himself as ‘dwelling’ in his Father’s love, and he calls on his disciples to ‘dwell’ in his love by keeping his commandments. We are invited to find our home in Jesus here and now as he is at home in God his Father. At the end of the Prologue to John’s gospel, Jesus is spoken of as ‘turned towards the bosom of the Father’. At the last supper, the beloved disciple, who represents all beloved disciples, is described as ‘lying in the bosom of Jesus’. We are invited to be as at home with Jesus as he is with God, to share in Jesus’ own trusting relationship with God. In that sense, ‘my Father’s house’, the household of God, is the community of disciples where all are invited to be at home with God through Jesus his Son. The ‘dwelling places’ in this household are ‘many’, in that all are called to share in Jesus’ own intimate relationship with God, to dwell in Jesus who dwells in God. In this gospel, ‘eternal life’ is not simply a life that begins after physical death but a quality of life, a sharing in God’s own life, which begins in the here and now for all who believe in the Son and continues beyond death in a fuller way.

15th May – Thursday, Fourth Week of Easter

The betrayal of Jesus by one of his closest followers was a tragedy that the early church struggled to come to terms with. To do so, they turned to their own Scriptures. One of the passages that threw light on Judas’ betrayal is to be found in today’s gospel reading, ‘Someone who shares my table rebels against me’. It is taken from one of the psalms (Ps 41:9). The person praying says to the Lord, ‘All who hate me whisper together against me’. However, most painful of all is that his ‘bosom friend’ in whom he trusted has turned against him. To be abandoned by a friend in a time of need is one of the more painful experiences in life. Today’s gospel reading is set in the context of the last supper. Jesus is warning his disciples about what is about to unfold, including betrayal by one of his closest disciples. Judas did not show himself to be a faithful servant to Jesus. Jesus spoke these words in the gospel reading just after he washed the feet of his disciples, including the feet of Judas. In washing their feet, Jesus was showing them what faithful service of him looks like. It means loving one another in the same self-emptying way that he loves us. Even when others show themselves to be unfaithful servants, they are to be faithful servants. Jesus looks to us to be faithful to his way of life, which is a way of love, even when others are turning away from him. Even when those closest to us undermine our faith by what they do or fail to do, the Lord needs us to be his faithful servants, and his faithfulness to us at such times will empower us to be faithful to him.

16th May >> Mass Readings

Friday, Fourth Week of Eastertide  or Saint Brendan, Abbot 

(Liturgical Colour: White. Year: C(I))

First Reading Acts of the Apostles 13:26-33 God has fulfilled his promise by raising Jesus from the dead.

Paul stood up in the synagogue at Antioch in Pisidia, held up a hand for silence and began to speak: ‘My brothers, sons of Abraham’s race, and all you who fear God, this message of salvation is meant for you. What the people of Jerusalem and their rulers did, though they did not realise it, was in fact to fulfil the prophecies read on every sabbath. Though they found nothing to justify his death, they condemned him and asked Pilate to have him executed. When they had carried out everything that scripture foretells about him they took him down from the tree and buried him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead, and for many days he appeared to those who had accompanied him from Galilee to Jerusalem: and it is these same companions of his who are now his witnesses before our people. ‘We have come here to tell you the Good News. It was to our ancestors that God made the promise but it is to us, their children, that he has fulfilled it, by raising Jesus from the dead. As scripture says in the second psalm: You are my son: today I have become your father.’

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm Psalm 2:6-11

R/ You are my Son. It is I who have begotten you this day. or R/ Alleluia!

‘It is I who have set up my king on Zion, my holy mountain.’ I will announce the decree of the Lord: The Lord said to me: ‘You are my Son. It is I who have begotten you this day.

R/ You are my Son. It is I who have begotten you this day. or R/ Alleluia!

‘Ask and I shall bequeath you the nations, put the ends of the earth in your possession. With a rod of iron you will break them, shatter them like a potter’s jar.’

R/ You are my Son. It is I who have begotten you this day. or R/ Alleluia!

Now, O kings, understand, take warning, rulers of the earth; serve the Lord with awe and trembling, pay him your homage.

R/ You are my Son. It is I who have begotten you this day. or R/ Alleluia!

Gospel Acclamation Colossians 3:1

Alleluia, alleluia! Since you have been brought back to true life with Christ, you must look for the things that are in heaven, where Christ is, sitting at God’s right hand. Alleluia!

Or: John 14:6

Alleluia, alleluia! I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, says the Lord; No one can come to the Father except through me. Alleluia!

Gospel John 14:1-6 I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.

Jesus said to his disciples:

‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God still, and trust in me. There are many rooms in my Father’s house; if there were not, I should have told you. I am going now to prepare a place for you, and after I have gone and prepared you a place, I shall return to take you with me; so that where I am you may be too. You know the way to the place where I am going.’

Thomas said, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going, so how can we know the way?’ Jesus said:

‘I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one can come to the Father except through me.’

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

15th May >> Mass Readings

Thursday, Fourth Week of Eastertide  or Saint Carthage, Bishop.

Thursday, Fourth Week of Eastertide 

(Liturgical Colour: White. Year: C(I))

First Reading Acts of the Apostles 13:13-25 God has raised up one of David’s descendants, Jesus, as Saviour.

Paul and his friends went by sea from Paphos to Perga in Pamphylia where John left them to go back to Jerusalem. The others carried on from Perga till they reached Antioch in Pisidia. Here they went to synagogue on the sabbath and took their seats. After the lessons from the Law and the Prophets had been read, the presidents of the synagogue sent them a message: ‘Brothers, if you would like to address some words of encouragement to the congregation, please do so.’ Paul stood up, held up a hand for silence and began to speak: ‘Men of Israel, and fearers of God, listen! The God of our nation Israel chose our ancestors, and made our people great when they were living as foreigners in Egypt; then by divine power he led them out, and for about forty years took care of them in the wilderness. When he had destroyed seven nations in Canaan, he put them in possession of their land for about four hundred and fifty years. After this he gave them judges, down to the prophet Samuel. Then they demanded a king, and God gave them Saul son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin. After forty years, he deposed him and made David their king, of whom he approved in these words, “I have selected David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, who will carry out my whole purpose.” To keep his promise, God has raised up for Israel one of David’s descendants, Jesus, as Saviour, whose coming was heralded by John when he proclaimed a baptism of repentance for the whole people of Israel. Before John ended his career he said, “I am not the one you imagine me to be; that one is coming after me and I am not fit to undo his sandal.”’

The Word of the Lord

R/ Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm Psalm 88(89):2-3,21,22,25,27

R/ I will sing for ever of your love, O Lord. or R/ Alleluia!

I will sing for ever of your love, O Lord; through all ages my mouth will proclaim your truth. Of this I am sure, that your love lasts for ever, that your truth is firmly established as the heavens.

R/ I will sing for ever of your love, O Lord. or R/ Alleluia!

I have found David my servant and with my holy oil anointed him. My hand shall always be with him and my arm shall make him strong.

R/ I will sing for ever of your love, O Lord. or R/ Alleluia!

My truth and my love shall be with him; by my name his might shall be exalted. He will say to me: ‘You are my father, my God, the rock who saves me.’

R/ I will sing for ever of your love, O Lord. or R/ Alleluia!

Gospel Acclamation cf. Book of Revelation 1:5

Alleluia, alleluia! You, O Christ, are the faithful witness, the First-born from the dead, you have loved us and have washed away our sins with your blood. Alleluia!

Gospel John 13:16-20 Whoever welcomes the one I send welcomes me.

After he had washed the feet of his disciples, Jesus said to them:

‘I tell you most solemnly, no servant is greater than his master, no messenger is greater than the man who sent him.

‘Now that you know this, happiness will be yours if you behave accordingly. I am not speaking about all of you: I know the ones I have chosen; but what scripture says must be fulfilled: Someone who shares my table rebels against me.

‘I tell you this now, before it happens, so that when it does happen you may believe that I am He. I tell you most solemnly, whoever welcomes the one I send welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.’

The Gospel of the Lord

R/ Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.