Churches of the Day

Saturday, Seventh Week of Easter,
Morning Mass
( The Vigil Mass for Pentecost can be found listed with tomorrow 's Masses)

Paul faithfully proclaims  the Kingdom  of Jesus for his final two years in Rome in complete freedom! and Simon Peter's destiny is also foretold by Jesus!

(Optional Memorials of ( 1)St Colman, bishop of Dromore, Co. Down c 514 and
and (2) The Venerable Matt Talbot
C/f A short life of the saint can be found below todays' Readings and Reflection.)

FIRST READING

A reading from the Acts of the Apostles            28:16-20. 30-31
Paul stayed in Rome proclaiming the kingdom of God.

On our arrival in Rome Paul was allowed to stay in lodgings of his own with the soldier who guarded him. After three days he called together the leading Jews. When they had assembled, he said to them,
'Brothers, although I have done nothing against our people or the customs of our ancestors, I was arrested in Jerusalem and handed over to the Romans. They examined me and would have set me free, since they found me guilty of nothing involving the death penalty; but the Jews lodged an objection, and I was forced to appeal to Caesar, not that I had any accusation to make against my own nation. That is why I have asked to see you and talk to you, for it is on account of the hope of Israel that I wear this chain.'

Paul spent the whole of the two years in his own rented lodging. He welcomed all who came to visit him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching the truth about the Lord Jesus Christ with complete freedom and without hindrance from anyone.

The Word of the Lord.       Thanks be to God.


Responsorial Psalm     Ps 10:4.5.and 7. R/v 7
Response The upright shall see your face, O Lord.
Or                                       Alleluia!

1. The Lord is in his holy temple, the Lord, whose throne is in heaven.
His eyes look down on the world; his gaze tests mortal men.                     Response

2. The Lord tests the just and the wicked: the lover of violence he hates.          Response

3. The Lord is just and loves justice: the upright shall see his face.
                                      Response

Gospel Acclamation           Col 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                                               Jn 16: 7. 13
Alleluia, alleluia!
I will send you the Spirit of truth, says the Lord;
he will lead you to the complete truth.
Alleluia!

GOSPEL

The Lord be with you.                       And with your spirit
A reading from the holy Gospel according to John 21:20-25          Glory to you, O Lord.
This disciple is the one who vouches for these things and has written them down, and we know that his testimony is true.

Peter turned and saw the disciple Jesus loved following them - the one who had leaned on his breast at the supper and had said to him, 'Lord, who is it that will betray you?' 
Seeing him, Peter said to Jesus, 'What about him, Lord?'
Jesus answered, 'If I want him to stay behind till I come, what does it matter to you? You are to follow me.'

The rumour then went out among the brothers that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus had not said to Peter, 'He will not die', but, 'If I want him to stay behind till I come'.

This disciple is the one who vouches for these things and has written them down, and we know that his testimony is true. There were many other things that Jesus did; if all were written down, the world itself, I suppose, would not hold all the books that would have to be written.

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



Gospel Reflection      Saturday,      Seventh Week of Easter         John 21:20-25

The final verses of the Acts of the Apostles, from which we have been reading for the seven weeks of Easter, portrays Paul under house arrest in Rome. The one who had been travelling thousands of miles to preach the gospel since his call on the road to Damascus now has to stay put for two years. Yet, even in these restricted circumstances, he remains true to his vocation, ‘proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching the truth about the Lord Jesus Christ’. Whether a free man or a prisoner of Rome, Paul remained true to his deepest identity.

The circumstances of our own lives may not be all we desire them to be, but we can still remain true to what is deepest and best in us, to the Lord’s call, ‘Follow me’, in the words of today’s gospel reading. Just prior to our gospel reading, Jesus had commissioned Peter to shepherd his flock. This was how Peter was to follow Jesus. In the gospel reading, Peter seems preoccupied by the Lord’s plans for the beloved disciple, ‘What about him, Lord?’ Jesus had to bring Peter back to basics, ‘Follow me’.
The beloved disciple’s way of following Jesus would be different to Peter’s way. The preaching and teaching of this disciple would become the basic source for the gospel that we now know as John’s gospel. ‘This disciple is the one who vouches for these things and has written them down’, or has caused them to be written down. We are each called to follow the Lord in accordance with our own unique temperament and set of gifts and limitations. We spend our lives trying to be true to that calling, no matter how unfavourable the circumstances of our lives, declaring with Saint Paul, ‘I can do all things through him who strengthens me’ (Phil 4:13)

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Evening Mass today will be found  listed under the tomorrow's Feastday :
Solemnity of Pentecost
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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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Saints of the Day:  (1)  St Colman, bishop

Summary: St Colman (Mocholmoc) of Dromore, County Down, is said to have studied under Caetan of Nendrom He was persuaded by Mac Nissi to settle at Dromore around 514. His cult is also found in Scotland and Wales.

St Colman of Dromore, in the Lagan valley of Co Down, Northern Ireland, set up a monastery here at the beginning of the sixth century. The present diocese of Dromore, however, has its seat in the south Co Down city of Newry.

Patrick Duffy writes about the saint and the diocese.

Many St. Colmans
There are about 300 saints named Colman mentioned in Irish martryologies, the most famous of them being those of Cloyne, Dromore, Kilmacduagh and Linsdisfarne. Pádraig Ó Riain names and writes about sixty of these in his Dictionary of Irish Saints.

Dromore
Dromore is situated on the Belfast to Dublin road in the north east corner of Co Down. The River Lagan flows through the town. Colman of Dromore is linked with a monastery established there in the early sixth century, sometime between 497 AD and 513 AD

Mocholmog
He is also known as Mocholmoc, or Mocholmog -"my dear little Colum"(as St Aidan of Ferns is known as Mogue = Mo Aodh Óg = My little Aodh).

Student at Nendrum
Colman was a student at the monastic school of Nendrum, located on Mahee Island in Strangford Lough. Mahee is a version of Mochay, the name of the master of the school, who was also called Coelan or Caetan. It is possible that this Mochay was a disciple of St Patrick himself.

Training at Emly and Apprenticeship at Mochay
Colman went to perfect his knowledge of the Scriptures at the school of St Ailbe at Emly in south Tipperary, where he stayed some years (perhaps around 470 or 475). He returned to Nendrum and acted for some time as assistant to Mochay.

Foundation at Dromore
Colman sought advice about his future career from his friend, Aengus MacNissi. MacNissi, who also had been baptised by St Patrick and founded the church of Connor, replied: "It is the will of God that you erect a monastery within the bounds of Coba plain". So Colman established his community by the River Lagan which passes through Dromore.

[caption id="attachment_46531" align="alignleft" width="183"] The first mention we get of Colman of Dromore is in the Acta of St. Coelan .[/caption]

Link with St Patrick
But this location at Dromore probably also had some relation with St Patrick. There is a legend that when St. Patrick was travelling from Armagh to Saul, he celebrated Mass in a church four miles from Dromore (probably Donaghcloney). He saw through the east window a vision of angels who told him that he should have a bishop to rule this flock and establish a monastery on the spot.

Finian of Movilla, a Renowned Pupil
The most famous of Colman's pupils was St Finian, who later established a monastery at Maigh Bhille ("plain of the ancient tree") or Movilla on Strangford Lough.

Catholic Diocese of Dromore
The diocese of Dromore was established in the twelfth century and is roughly co-extensive with territory of the Uí Eathach Cobha (Iveagh) tribe where the Magennis (McGuinness) Sept was then in power. During the Protestant Reformation and the confiscation of Catholic Church property, Catholicism had to go underground. The Plantation of English and Scottish settlers ensured a Protestant majority in that area and Dromore Cathedral was held by the Anglican (Protestant) Church of Ireland . So the town of Newry in South Down, which had become a centre of Catholic population, was where a new Catholic cathedral was begun in 1823. It was dedicated to St Patrick and St Colman in 1919.

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Memorable Saying for Today

A great teacher once taught me that
you've got to have faith that everything happens for the best.
I have had many setbacks in my career and every setback
has led me that much further into my truth

~ Suze Orman ~

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Saints of the Day:  (2) The  Venerable Matt Talbot

Summary: Venerable Matt Talbot, the workers’ saint, a Dubliner who struggled with a drink problem, led a severe ascetical life, and became known after his death as the 'Workers' Saint.'

Mary Gaffney tells us  the his story.

As a child I used to go on holiday to an aunt who lived in Parnell Square, Dublin 1, and every morning would attend Mass in St. Saviour's Church, Dominick Street. To get to Dominick St, I would walk through Granby Lane, where I would stop to pray at the spot where Matt Talbot, the Workers' Saint, died. It was during those years that I developed a devotion to him that has lasted to this day.

Last week I returned to Granby Lane, and again stood praying at the spot where he died. A cross on railings denotes the spot where he fell, and across the street, on the walls of the Salvation Army Hostel, is a marble tablet bearing the inscription: 'Matt Talbot collapsed and died here on Trinity Sunday, June 7, 1925.' His cause of beatification and canonisation was introduced in Rome in May, 1947.

Matt Talbot was one of 12 children - eight sons and four daughters - of Charles and Elizabeth Talbot. He was born at 13 Aldboro Court on May 2, 1856, and was baptised in the Pro-Cathedral three days later. He attended St. Lawrence O'Toole's Christian Brothers School for brief periods and later O'Connell Schools at North Richmond Street, which he left at the age of 12.

His Road to Drunkenness
Matt then went to work as a messenger boy with the firm of Messrs Edward and John Burke, wine merchants, North Lotts, Dublin, which did an extensive bottling business for Guinness and Youngers. Before he was a year in the store, he returned home drunk one evening. His father gave him a beating, removed him from Burke’s, and got him a job as a messenger boy in the Port and Docks Board, where he was in charge of the bonded stores. Sadly, it was a case of 'out of the frying pan, into the fire'. In Burke’s the drink was stout; in the stores of the Port and Docks, it was whiskey. The men in the bonded stores gave young Matt whiskey to drink, and thus continues on his road to drunkenness. At 17 he became a bricklayer's labourer with Pembertons, the building contractors. He was an excellent workman and a great timekeeper but after work he would go with companions to neighbouring public houses and shebeens to drink until closing time or until their money was spent.

Pawning and Stealing
Sometimes on Saturdays, pay day, he would give his 18 shillings wages (c $12) to the owner of a public house. It would be drunk by Tuesday, and when the money was gone, he would pawn his boots to buy drink, and walk home in his stockinged feet. On one occasion, when drinking with friends, a fiddler joined them. When the money was running short, Matt took the fiddle and pawned it. He then returned with the money and bought more drink. It wasn't until the party broke up that the fiddler realised that his means of livelihood was gone. Years later Matt searched the city for the fiddler and, not finding him, had Masses offered as restitution. Yet no matter how much drink he had the night before, he was always in time for work at 6 a.m.

Changed his Life
When Matt was 28 years old, an incident occurred that changed his entire life. For a week he had stayed away from work, drinking heavily. Saturday found him sober, thirsty and penniless. But confident that his workmates, for whom he had often bought drink, would come to his assistance, he stood with his brother near O'Meara's pub on the North Strand to meet his colleagues coming from Pembertons. The men passed in twos and threes but none stopped to ask the brothers to have a drink. Matt said later that he was "cut to the heart" by this treatment and went home.

His mother, preparing the midday meal, looked up with surprise, and exclaimed, "Matt, you're home early and you're sober". After the meal, he turned to his mother and said, "I'm going to take the pledge". As he left the house she said, gently, "God give you strength to keep it". Matt went to Holy Cross Church and, according to his own account, went to confession and took the pledge from Rev. Dr. Keane. He kept that pledge until his death 41 years later.

From that time on he attended Mass daily at 5 a.m. in St Francis Xavier's Church, Upper Gardiner Street, before going to work at 6 a.m.. After his evening meal at home he walked to a church on the north side of the city, either St. Peter's, Phibsboro, or Berkeley Road, where he prayed until it was time to go to bed. This was to avoid the temptation of meeting his former drinking companions as the effort to quell the craving for drink was causing him immense suffering.

Every week evening, every Saturday afternoon, and every Sunday morning was spent in church. He gave up all company and confided only in his mother. When Fr. John Cullen, a Jesuit priest attached to Gardiner Street Church, founded the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association in 1898 Matt became one of its first members.

Prayers and Mortifications
Matt Talbot mortified himself rigorously. He slept on a plank bed with a piece of timber for a pillow. This left his face numb in later years. He slept in chains which he wore for 14 years before his death, round his leg and on his body.

He prayed each night from 2 to 4 a.m., then dressed and prayed again until it was time to leave for Mass in St. Francis Xavier's Church. He would arrive at 5 am, if not earlier, and would kneel in prayer at the church's iron railings, waiting for it to open. On entering he would kneel and kiss the ground, then make the Stations of the Cross.

In 1892 Matt took up employment as a bricklayer's labourer with the firm of T & C Martin, on the North Wall, where he remained until his death. He fasted constantly. His breakfast consisted of cocoa prepared the previous evening by his sister, which he often drank it cold. With this he ate some dry bread. For his midday meal he had cocoa to which he would add a pinch of tea, and again drank cold. With this he took a slice of bread. His sister would bring him a small evening meal. If she brought fish he would insist that she take it home with her and would make do with bread soaked in the fish juice.

On Sundays he remained in the church for every Mass. Only on returning to his room at about 2 p.m. would he break his fast for the first time since 6.30 p.m. the previous day. The remainder of the day was spent in prayer, reading the Scriptures and the lives of the saints. He gave all his money to neighbours in need and to the missions.

Collapsed and died
Matt was on his way to Mass in St. Saviour's on Trinity Sunday, June 7, 1925, when he collapsed and died on Granby Lane. A paragraph in The Irish Independent of the following day stated, "An elderly man collapsed in Granby Lane yesterday and, on being taken to Jervis Street Hospital, was found to be dead. He was wearing a tweed suit, but there was nothing to indicate who he was." He was buried the following Thursday, the feast of Corpus Christi, in Glasnevin Cemetery.
In 1952 Matt Talbot's remains were exhumed and transferred to a double coffin bearing the inscription, 'The Servant of God, Matthew Talbot.' The coffin was placed in a vault in the central circle of the cemetery to which pilgrims began to flock from all over the world.

In 1972 Matt Talbot's remains were removed to the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes in Sean McDermott Street. The tomb has a glass panel through which the coffin may be seen.

Anyone who receives a favour through the intercession of Matt Talbot is requested to write to Fr John Flaherty, Vice-Postulator of the Cause, Our Lady 83 Marlborough Street, Dublin 1.



This article first appeared in Reality (July/August 1999), a Redemptorist Publication.

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Memorable Quote  for Today

"A man takes a drink,
the drink takes a drink,
the drink takes the man."
If you have a drinking problem, you just need to avoid drinking: period.

~ Old Irish Saying ~

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- Pentecost Vigil and Day Masses -

The Fifty Days of Easter conclude with the Celebration of Penetecost Sunday

Vigil Mass
(This Mass is celebrated on Saturday evening of Pentecost.
Anyone of the following readings from the Old Testament may be chosen)

I

FIRST READING (Anyone of the following readings from the Old Testament may be chosen)
A reading from the book of Genesis 11:1-9
It was named Babel because there the Lord confused the language of the whole earth.


Throughout the earth men spoke the same language, with the same vocabulary. Now as they moved eastwards they found a plain in the land of Shinar where they settled. They said to one another,
'Come, let us make bricks and bake them in the fire.' - For stone they used bricks, and for mortar they used bitumen. - 'Come,' they said. 'let us build ourselves a town and a tower with its top reaching heaven. Let us make a name for ourselves, so that we may not be scattered about the whole earth.'

Now the Lord came down to see the town and the tower that the sons of man had built.
'So they are all a single people with a single language!' said the Lord. 'This is but the start of their undertakings! There will be nothing too hard for them to do. Come, let us go down and confuse their language on the spot so that they can no longer understand one another'.

The Lord scattered them thence over the whole face of the earth, and they stopped building the town. It was named Babel therefore, because there the Lord confused the language of the whole earth. It was from there that the Lord scattered them over the whole face of the earth.

The Word of the Lord      Thanks be to God.          

2 

A Reading from the book of Exodus  19:3-8. 16_20
The Lord came down on the mountain of Sinai,  and  called Moses to the top of the mountain.

Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, 'Say this to the House of Jacob, declare this to the sons of Israel,
"You yourselves have seen what I did with the Egyptians, how I carried you on eagle's wings and brought you to myself. From this you know that now, if you obey my voice and hold fast to my covenant, you of all the nations shall be my very own, for all the earth is mine. I will count you a kingdom of priests, a consecrated nation.
" Those are the words you are to speak to the sons of lsrael.'So Moses went and summoned the elders of the people, putting before them all that the Lord had bidden him. Then all the people answered as one, 'All that the Lord has said, we will do.'

Now at daybreak on the third day there were peals of thunder on the mountain and lightning flashes, a dense cloud, and a loud trumpet blast, and inside the camp all the people trembled. Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet God; and they stood at the bottom of the mountain. The mountain of Sinai was entirely wrapped in smoke, because the Lord had descended on it in the form of fire. Like smoke from a furnace the smoke went up, and the whole mountain shook violehtly. Louder and louder grew the sound of the trumpet. Moses spoke, and God answered him with peals of thunder. The Lord came down on the mountain of Sinai, on the mountain top, and the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain.

The Word of the Lord                  Thanks be to God.

3

A Reading from the Prophet Ezekiel 37:1-14
Dry bones , I shall put my spirit in you, and you will live.


The hand of the Lord was laid on me, and he carried me away by the Spirit of the Lord me down in the middle of a valley, a valley full of bones. He made me walk up and down among them. There were vast quantities of these bones on the ground the whole length of the valley; and they were quite dried up. He said to me, 'Son of man, can these bones live?' I said, 'You know, Lord'.
He said, 'Prophesy over these bones. Say, "Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. The Lord says this to these bones: I am now going to make the breath enter you, and you will live. I shall put sinews on you, I shall make flesh grow on you, I shall cover you with skin and give you breath, and you will live; and you will learn that I am the Lord."'

I prophesied as I had been ordered. While I was prophesying, there was a noise, a sound of clattering; and the bones joined together. I looked, and saw that they were covered with sinews; flesh was growing on them and skin was covering them, but there was no breath in them. He said to me, 'Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man. Say to the breath, "The Lord says this: Come from the four winds, breath; breathe on these dead; let them live!"' I prophesied as he had ordered me, and the breath entered them; they came to life again and stood up on their feet, a great, an immense army.

Then he said, 'Son of man, these bones are the whole House of Israel. They keep saying, "Our bones are dried up, our hope has gone; we are as good as dead". So prophesy. Say to them, "The Lord says this:
I am now going to open your graves; I mean to raise you from your graves, my people, and lead you back to the soil of Israel.  And you will know that I am the Lord when I open your graves and raise you from your graves, my people. And I shall put my spirit in you, and you will live, and I shall resettle you on your own soil; and you will know that I, the Lord, have said and done this - it is the Lord who speaks."

The Word of the Lord      Thanks be to God.

4

A Reading from the Prophet  Joel 3:1-5
I will pour out my spirit on all people.

Thus says the Lord:
'I will pour out my spirit on all mankind.
Your sons and daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men see visions.
Even on the slaves, men and women, will I pour out my spirit in those days. I will display portents in heaven and on earth. blood. and fire and columns of smoke.'

The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood,
before the day of the Lord dawns, that great and terrible day.
All who calI on the name of the Lord will be saved,
for on Mount Zion there will be some who have escaped, as the Lord has said, and in Jerusalem some survivors whom the Lord will call.

Responsorial Psalm     Ps 103
Response                        Send forth your Spirit, O Lord, and renew the face of the earth.
or                                         Alleluia!

1. Bless the Lord, my soul! Lord God, how great you are,
clothed in majesty and glory, wrapped in light as in a robe!                                                       Response                   

2. How many are your works, O Lord! In wisdom you have made them all.
The earth is full of your riches. Bless the Lord, my soul.                                                     Response                   

3. All of these look to you to give them their food in due season.
You give it, they gather it up: you open your hand, they have their fill.                           Response

4. You take back your spirit, they die, returning to the dust from which they came.
You send forth your spirit, they are created; and you renew the face of the earth.      Response                   

SECOND READING
A reading for the letter to the Romans  8:22-27
The Spirit himself  expresses our plea in a way that could never be put into words.

From the beginning till now the entire creation, as we know, has been groaning in one great act of giving birth; and not only creation, but all of us who possess the first-fruits of the Spirit, we too groan inwardly as we wait for our bodies to be set free. For we must be content to hope that we shall be saved - our salvation is not in sight, we should not have to be hoping for it if it were - but, as I say, we must hope to be saved since we are not saved yet - it is something we must wait for with patience.

The Spirit too comes to help us in our weakness. For when we cannot choose words in order to pray properly, the Spirit himself  expresses our plea in a way that could never be put into words, and God who knows everything in our hearts knows perfectly well what he means, and that the pleas of the saints expressed by the Spirit are according to the mind of God.

Gospel Acclamation
Alleluia, alleluia!
Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love.
Alleluia!

GOSPEL                             

The Lord be with you              And with your spirit.
A reading from the Gospel according to  John    7:37-39           Glory to you, O Lord
From his breast shall flow fountains of living water.


On the last day and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood there and cried out:
'If any man is thirsty, let him come to me! Let the man come and drink who believes in me!'

As scripture says: From his breast shall flow fountains of living water.
He was speaking of the Spirit which those who believed in him were to receive; for there was no Spirit as yet because Jesus had not yet been glorified.

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

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Pentecost  Sunday Mass during the Day

FIRST READING 
A reading from the Acts of the Apostles.  2:1-11
They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and  the Spirit gave them the gift of speech.
When Pentecost day came round, they had all met in one room, when suddenly they heard what sounded like a powerful wind from heaven, the noise of which filled the entire house in which they were sitting; and something appeared to them that seemed like tongues of fire; these separated and came to rest on the head of each of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak foreign languages as the Spirit gave them the gift of speech.

Now there were devout men living in Jerusalem from every nation under heaven, and at this sound they all assembled, each one bewildered to hear these men speaking his own language. They were amazed and astonished. 'Surely' they said 'all these men speaking are Galileans? How does it happen that each of us hears them in his own native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; people from Mesopotamia, Judaea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya round Cyrene; as well as visitors from Rome- Jews and proselytes alike-Cretans and Arabs; we hear them preaching in our own language about the marvels of God.'

The Word of the Lord      Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm  Ps 103: 103:1. 24. 29-31  R/v 30 
Response :                     Send forth your Spirit, 0 Lord, and renew the face of the earth.
or                                      Alleluia.

1. Bless the Lord, my soul! Lord God, how great you are,
clothed in majesty and glory, wrapped in light as in a robe!                                              Response                   

2. How many are your works, O Lord! In wisdom you have made them all.
The earth is full of your riches. Bless the Lord, my soul.                                                     Response                   

3. All of these look to you to give them their food in due season.
You give it, they gather it up: you open your hand, they have their fill.                           Response

4. You take back your spirit, they die, returning to the dust from which they came.
You send forth your spirit, they are created; and you renew the face of the earth.        Response       

SECOND READING                 

A reading from the first letter of St Paul to the Corinthians  12:3-7. 12-13
It is in the one Spirit we were all baptised.

No one can say, 'Jesus is Lord' unless he is under the influence of the Holy Spirit. There is a variety of gifts but always the same Spirit; there are all sorts of service to be done, but always to the same Lord; working in all sorts of different ways in different people, it is the same God who is working in all of them. The particular way in which the Spirit is given to each person is for a good purpose.

Just as a human body, though it is made up of many parts, is a single unit because all these parts, though many, make one body, so it is with Christ. In the one Spirit we were all baptised, Jews as well as Greeks, slaves as well as citizens, and one Spirit was given to us all to drink.

SEQUENCE

Holy Spirit, Lord of light,
From the clear celestial height
Thy pure beaming radiance give.

Come, thou Father of the poor,
Come with treasures which endure;
Come, thou light of all that live!

Thou, of all consolers best,
Thou, the soul's delightful guest,
Dost refreshing peace bestow;

Thou in toil art comfort sweet;
Pleasant coolness in the heat;
Solace in the midst of woe.

Light immortal, light divine,
Visit thou these hearts ofthine,
And our inmost being fill:

If thou take thy grace away,
Nothing pure in man will stay;
All his good is turned to ill.

Heal our wounds, our strength renew;
On our dryness pour thy dew;
Wash the stains of guilt away:

Bend the stubborn heart and will;
Melt the frozen, warm the chill;
Guide the steps that go astray.

Thou, on us who evermore
Thee confess and thee adore,
With thy sevenfold gifts descend:

Give us comfort when we die;
Give us life with thee on high;
Give us joys that never end.      

Gospel Acclamation     
Alleluia, Alleluia!  
Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love
Alleluia!

GOSPEL    ( Year A)

The Lord be with you                            And with your spirit
A reading from the Gospel according to John              20:19-23         Glory to you, O Lord
As the Father sent me, so am I sending you. 'Receive the Holy Spirit.

In the evening of that same day, the first day of the week, the doors were closed in the room where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood among them. He said to them,
'Peace be with you', and showed them his hands and his side.
The disciples were filled with joy when they saw the Lord, and he said to them again,
'Peace be with you. 'As the Father sent me, so am I sending you.'

After saying this he breathed on them and said:
'Receive the Holy Spirit. For those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; for those whose sins you retain, they are retained.'

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

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




Taken from THE JERUSALEM BIBLE, published and copyright 1966, 1967 and 1968 by Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd and Doubleday, a division of Random House Inc, and used by permission of the publishers.