Churches of the Day

Thursday, Third Week of Easter

We need to study the Holy Scriptures with humility before God daily.

Saint of the Day: 18 April ; 1. St George, martyr
Saint of the Day: 18 April ; 2. St Adalbert, bishop, martyr
C/f A short life of be these saints can found below todays' Readings and Reflection.

FIRST READING              

A reading from the Book Acts of the Apostles                8:26-40  
If you believe with all your heart, you may be baptised.

The angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying, 'Be ready to set out at noon along the road that goes from Jerusalem down to Gaza, the desert road.'
So he set off on his journey. Now it happened that an Ethiopian had been on pilgrimage to Jerusalem; he was a eunuch and an officer at the court of the kandake, or queen, of Ethiopia, and was in fact her chief treasurer. He was now on his way home; and as he sat in his chariot he was reading the prophet Isaiah. The Spirit said to Philip, 'Go up and meet that chariot.'
When Philip ran up, he heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked,
'Do you understand what you are reading?'
'How can I', he replied 'unless I have someone to guide me?'
So he invited Philip to get in and sit by his side.

Now the passage of scripture he was reading was this:
Like a sheep that is led to the slaughter-house,
like a lamb that is dumb in front of its shearers, like these he never opens his mouth. He has been humiliated and has no one to defend him. Who will ever talk about his descendants, since his life on earth has been cut short!

The eunuch turned to Philip and said, 'Tell me, is the prophet referring to himself or someone else?'
Starting, therefore, with this text of scripture Philip proceeded to explain the Good News of Jesus to him.

Further along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, 'Look, there is some water here; is there anything to stop me being baptised?' He ordered the chariot to stop, then Philip and the eunuch both went down into the water and Philip baptised him. But after they had come up out of the water again Philip was taken away by the Spirit of the Lord, and the eunuch never saw him again but went on his way rejoicing.

Philip found that he had reached Azotus and continued his journey proclaiming the Good News in every town as far as Caesarea.

The Word of the Lord.               Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm            Ps 65: 8-9. 16-17. 20. R/v1
Response                                  Cry out with joy to God all the earth.
Or                                               Alleluia!

1. O peoples, bless our God, let the voice of his praise resound,
of the God who gave life to our souls and kept our feet from stumbling.               Response

2. Come and hear, all who fear God. I will tell what he did for my soul:
to him I cried aloud, with high praise ready on my tongue.                                      Response

3. Blessed be God who did not reject my prayer
nor withhold his love from me.                                                                                        Response

Gospel Acclamation
Alleluia, alleluia!
The Lord, who hung for us upon the tree, has risen from the tomb.
Alleluia!

or                                              Jn 6: 51 
Alleluia, alleluia!
I am the living bread which has come down from heaven, says the Lord.
Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever.
Alleluia!

GOSPEL                             

The Lord be with you.          And with your spirit
A reading from the Gospel according to John 6:44-51       Glory to you, O Lord
I am the living bread which has come down from heaven.

Jesus said to the crowd:
'No one can come to me unless he is drawn by the Father who sent me, and I will raise him up at the last day.
It is written in the prophets: 'They will all be taught by God to hear the teaching of the Father, and to learn from it, is to come to me. Not that anybody has seen the Father, except the one who comes from God: he has seen the Father.'

I tell you most solemnly, everybody who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the desert and they are dead; but this is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that a man may eat it and not die.

I am the living bread which has come down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the world.'

The Gospel of the Lord.              Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.  

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Gospel Reflection               Thursday             Third Week of Easter       John 6:44-51

In the gospel reading, Jesus declares that all who come to him have been drawn to him by the Father, ‘No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me’. God is always drawing us towards his Son, who says of himself in the gospel reading, ‘I am the bread of life’. God often draws us to his Son in and through other people of faith.

In the first reading, God initially draws the Ethiopian to his Son through the Scriptures. When the Ethiopian reflects on a passage from Isaiah, he begins to ask questions, ‘Is the prophet referring to himself or someone else?’ He needed the help of a person of faith to answer this question, the help of the deacon Philip. God who began to draw the Ethiopian to his Son through the Scriptures now draws him fully to his Son through the spiritual accompaniment of Philip, the preacher of the gospel. Philip’s ministry to the Ethiopian led the Ethiopian to take an initiative of his own, ‘Look, there is some water here; is there anything to stop me being baptized?’ It is as if the final step of God drawing the Ethiopian to his Son was through the medium of creation, water. Having allowed God to work through him to bring the Ethiopian to Jesus, Philip moved on from him, and the Ethiopian continued on his way rejoicing. God will find many ways of bringing us to his Son, if we allow ourselves to be drawn.

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The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd. and used with the permission of the publishers.  http://dltbooks.com/
The Scripture Reflection is made available with our thanks from his book Reflections on the Weekday Readings: The Word is near to you, on your lips and in your heart by Martin Hogan and published by Messenger Publications  c/f www.messenger.ie/bookshop/

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Saint of the Day: 23 April ; 1. St George, Martyr


George is associated with the town of Lydda (present-day Lod) ten miles southeast of Tel-Aviv, Israel.  He had a reputation as a dragon-slayer and after the Crusades his reputation spread to Europe. He is even considered as a patron of England.
Patrick Duffy recalls some of the traditions about him.

Veneration is Ancient and Widespread
The veneration of St George is both ancient and widespread. In the East he was honoured as megalomartyros ("great martyr") and in the West his feast day is mentioned in the Martyrology of Jerome (5th-6th century), the Gregorian Sacramentary (8th century) the Martyrologies of Bede in England and of Oengus in Ireland (9th century).

Earliest Acta gives a Confused Narrative
Belgian Jesuit and Bollandist scholar Hippolyte Delehaye (1859–1941) maintained that the earliest text preserving fragments of the narrative of St George was a 5th century palimpsest. But, he pointed out, the compiler of this Acta "confused the martyr with his namesake, the celebrated George of Cappadocia, the Arian intruder into the see of Alexandria and enemy of St. Athanasius".

George's life and martyrdom
George is associated with the town of Lydda (present-day Lod) ten miles southeast of Tel-Aviv. His tomb can be found today in a chapel in that town, near Ben Gurion International Airport. The story is that he was a soldier in the Roman army. He is said to have at first obtained the favour of the emperor Diocletian and was promoted to the rank of tribune, but when the emperor began to persecute the Christians, George rebuked him, gave up his commission, was then tortured and finally beheaded. His cheerful defiance and fortitude has been an inspiration to Christians ever since. Devotion to him is one of the most ancient and widespread in the Church, both East and West.

George the 'Dragon-Slayer'
George soon became a type or symbol of successful combat against evil, so one can easily see how legends, such as the slaying of the dragon, would grow up around his name and memory. The story is that a dragon was terrorising the locality, poisoning with its breath all who approached it. Every day it was appeased with an offering of two sheep, but when these grew scarce, a human victim, chosen by lot was to be substituted. The lot had fallen on the king's daughter who went to her fate dressed as a bride.

But George attacked the dragon, pierced it with his lance and led it away completely tamed and tied with the princess's girdle. George told the people not to be afraid: if they would believe in Jesus Christ and be baptised, he would rid them of the monster. The king and people agreed. George killed the dragon and 15,000 were baptised.

This parallels with the classical myth of the rescue of Andromeda by Perseus, which is also associated with Lydda near Tel-Aviv are significant. The story became popular in the West through the Legenda Aurea ("Golden Legend"), a 13th century collection of Lives of greater saints written by Blessed Jacobus de Voragine (1230-99) and greatly contributed to the popularity of the saint's cult.

St George in Palestine
Palestinian Christians and even Muslims celebrate George as their patron saint, especially around Bethlehem, where he is believed to have lived in his childhood. A stone-engraved image of the saint (known as Mar Jirjes) in front of houses identifies them as Christian and the occupants seek his protection. In one hotel in Bethlehem, Saint George appears over the lift, as well as many other places throughout the building. In the town of Beit Jala, just west of Bethlehem there is a statue of St George carved of stone in the town's main square showing the saint on his horse fighting the dragon. Not far away there is also a 16th century ancient monastery of St George.

His Popularity in Europe
George's popularity spread to Europe as a result of the Crusades. The Synod of Oxford 1222 declared St. George's Day a feast day in the kingdom of England. His apparition to the Franks at the siege of Antioch 1098 is said to have greatly encouraged them, and he made a similar appearance the following year at Jerusalem. Military orders of St George were established in Aragon (1201), Genoa, Hungary, and by the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick III. Portugal, Lebanon, Bulgaria, Belgium, Georgia and Russia are other countries which have devotion to St George and where he appears in images, icons and statuary.

Protector of England
King Edward III of England (1327-77) founded his knighthood of chivalry, known as the Order of the Garter, under the banner of St. George. Many churches were dedicated to him in England and though his popularity may have lessened with the severe curtailment of saints days in the calendar during the Reformation, St George's Day continued to be observed.

His veneration as protector of England was approved by Pope Benedict XIV (Prospero Lambertini 1740-58).

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Memorable Saying for Today

Be careful, lest in fighting the dragon ...you become the dragon.

~ Philip Yancy ~

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Saint of the Day ; 2. St Adalbert of Prague, bishop and martyr

Adalbert of Prague (Latin: Sanctus Adalbertus, Czech: svatý Vojt?ch, Slovak: svätý Vojtech, Polish: ?wi?ty Wojciech, Hungarian: Szent Adalbert (Béla); c. 956 – 23 April 997), known in the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia by his birth name Vojt?ch (Latin: Voitecus), was a Czech missionary and Christian saint. He was the Bishop of Prague and a missionary to the Hungarians, Poles, and Prussians, who was martyred in his efforts to convert the Baltic Prussians to Christianity. He is said to be the composer of the oldest Czech hymn Hospodine, pomiluj ny and Bogurodzica, the oldest known Polish anthem but his authorship of them has not been confirmed.

Adalbert was later declared the patron saint of the Czech Republic, Poland, and the Duchy of Prussia. He is also the patron saint of the Archdiocese of Esztergom in Hungary. Adalbert opposed the participation of Christians in the slave trade and complained of polygamy and idolatry, which were common among the people. Once he started to propose reforms he was met with opposition from both the secular powers and the clergy. His family refused to support Duke Boleslaus in an unsuccessful war against Poland. Adalbert was no longer welcome and eventually forced into exile. In 988 he went to Rome. He lived as a hermit at the Benedictine monastery of Saint Alexis. Five years later, Boleslaus requested that the Pope send Adalbert back to Prague, in hopes of securing his family's support. Pope John XV agreed, with the understanding that Adalbert was free to leave Prague if he continued to encounter entrenched resistance. Adalbert returned as bishop of Prague, where he was initially received with demonstrations of apparent joy. Together with a group of Italian Benedictine monks which brought with him, he founded in 14 January 993 a monastery in B?evnov (then situated westward from Prague, now part of the city), the second oldest monastery on Czech territory.

On the 23 April 997, after mass, while Adalbert and his companions lay in the grass while eating a snack, they were set upon by a pagan mob. The mob was led by a man named Sicco, possibly a pagan priest, who delivered the first blow against Adalbert, before the others joined in. They removed Adalbert's head from his body after he was dead, and mounted on a pole while they returned home. This encounter may also have taken place in Tenkitten and Fischhausen (now Primorsk, Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia). It is recorded that his body was bought back for its weight in gold by King Boleslaus I of Poland.

(These notes on St Adalbert of Prague are borrowed with thanks from Wikipedia's list of Saints).

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Memorable Sayings for Today

I believe we are here on the planet Earth to live, grow up and do what we can
to make the world a better place for all people to enjoy freedom

~ Rosa Parks ~

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Fourth Sunday of Easter

This is  Good Shepherd Sunday
A Day of Prayer for Vocations to the Priesthood, Religious life, Married and Single life.
It is a call to a life of service in the Church and a call to live the Gospel mission as a representative of Jesus wherever and whenever we are.

FIRST READING
A reading from the Acts of the Apostles 2:14. 36-41
God has made him both Lord and Christ.

On the day of Pentecost Peter stood up with the Eleven and addressed them in a loud voice:
'The whole House of Israel can be certain that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ.'

Hearing this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the apostles,
'What must we do, brothers?'
'You must repent,' Peter answered 'and every one of you must be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise that was made is for you and your children, and for all those who are far away, for all those whom the Lord our God will call to himself.'

He spoke to them for a long time using many arguments, and he urged them,
'Save yourselves from this perverse generation'.
They were convinced by his arguments, and they accepted what he said and were baptised. That very day about three thousand were added to their number.

The Word of the Lord.            Thanks be to God

Responsorial Psalm         Ps 22: 1-6. R/v1
Response                             The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
or                                            Alleluia!

1. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.
    Fresh and green are the pastures where he gives me repose.
    Near restful waters he leads me, to revive my drooping spirit.                                Response

2. He guides me along the right path; he is true to his name.
    If I should walk in the valley of darkness no evil would I fear.
   You are there with your crook and your staff;  with these you give me comfort.    Response

3. You have prepared a banquet for me in the sight of my foes.
    My head you have anointed with oil; my cup is overflowing.                                    Response

4. Surely goodness and kindness shall follow me all the days of my life.
    In the Lord's own house shall I dwell for ever and ever.                                            Response

SECOND READING

A reading from the first letter of St Peter            2:20-25
You have come back to the shepherd of your souls.

The merit, in the sight of God, is in bearing it patiently when you are punished after doing your duty. This, in fact, is what you were called to do, because Christ suffered for you and left an example for you to follow the way he took. He had not done anything wrong, and there had been no perjury in his mouth. He was insulted and did not retaliate with insults; when he was tortured he made no threats but he put his trust in the righteous judge. He was bearing our faults in his own body on the cross, so that we might die to our faults and live for holiness; through his wounds you have been healed. You had gone astray like sheep but now you have come back to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.

The Word of the Lord.            Thanks be to God

Gospel Acclamation          Jn 10: 14
Alleluia, alleluia!
I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me.
Alleluia!

GOSPEL

The Lord be with you              And with your spirit.
A reading from the Gospel according to John     10:1-10      Glory to you, O Lord
I am the gate of the sheepfold

Jesus said:
'I tell you most solemnly, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold through the gate, but gets in some other way is a thief and a brigand. The one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the flock; the gatekeeper lets him in, the sheep hear his voice, one by one he calls his own sheep and leads them out. When he has brought out his flock, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow because they know his voice. They never follow a stranger but run away from him: they do not recognise the voice of strangers.'

Jesus told them this parable but they failed to understand what he meant by telling it to them.
So Jesus spoke to them again:
'I tell you most solemnly, I am the gate of the sheepfold.
All others who have come are thieves and brigands;
but the sheep took no notice of them

I am the gate. Anyone who enters through me will be safe: he will go freely in and out and be sure of finding pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.
I have come so that they may have life and have it to the full.


The Gospel of the Lord.        Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.



For homily resources for this Sunday's Gospel click here:  https://www.catholicireland.net/sunday-homily/

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Taken from THE JERUSALEM BIBLE, published and copyright 1966,  by Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd and Doubleday, a division of Random House Inc, and used by permission of the publishers.