The Spirit's Role

MAY 25, 2022, WEDNESDAY
Wednesday of the Sixth Week of Easter (White)
Optional Memorial of Saint Bede the Venerable, Priest and Doctor of the Church (White)
Optional Memorial of Saint Gregory VII, Pope, Religious (White)
Optional Memorial of Saint Mary Magdalene de’ Pazzi, Virgin (White)
CYCLE C - YEAR II
Lectionary: 293

Reading I
Acts 17:15, 22—18:1

After Paul’s escorts had taken him to Athens,

they came away with instructions for Silas and Timothy

to join him as soon as possible.

Then Paul stood up at the Areopagus and said:

“You Athenians, I see that in every respect

you are very religious.

For as I walked around looking carefully at your shrines,

I even discovered an altar inscribed, ‘To an Unknown God.’

What therefore you unknowingly worship, I proclaim to you.

The God who made the world and all that is in it,

the Lord of heaven and earth,

does not dwell in sanctuaries made by human hands,

nor is he served by human hands because he needs anything.

Rather it is he who gives to everyone life and breath and everything.

He made from one the whole human race

to dwell on the entire surface of the earth,

and he fixed the ordered seasons and the boundaries of their regions,

so that people might seek God,

even perhaps grope for him and find him,

though indeed he is not far from any one of us.

For ‘In him we live and move and have our being,’

as even some of your poets have said,

‘For we too are his offspring.’

Since therefore we are the offspring of God,

we ought not to think that the divinity is like an image

fashioned from gold, silver, or stone by human art and imagination.

God has overlooked the times of ignorance,

but now he demands that all people everywhere repent

because he has established a day on which he will ‘judge the world

with justice’ through a man he has appointed,

and he has provided confirmation for all

by raising him from the dead.”

When they heard about resurrection of the dead,

some began to scoff, but others said,

“We should like to hear you on this some other time.”

And so Paul left them.

But some did join him, and became believers.

Among them were Dionysius,

a member of the Court of the Areopagus,

a woman named Damaris, and others with them.

After this he left Athens and went to Corinth.

 

Responsorial Psalm
148:1-2, 11-12, 13, 14

R.        Heaven and earth are full of your glory.

or:

R.        Alleluia.

Praise the LORD from the heavens;

            praise him in the heights.

Praise him, all you his angels;

            praise him, all you his hosts.

R.        Heaven and earth are full of your glory.

or:

R.        Alleluia.

Let the kings of the earth and all peoples,

            the princes and all the judges of the earth,

Young men too, and maidens,

            old men and boys.

R.        Heaven and earth are full of your glory.

or:

R.        Alleluia.

Praise the name of the LORD,

            for his name alone is exalted;

His majesty is above earth and heaven.

R.        Heaven and earth are full of your glory.

or:

R.        Alleluia.

He has lifted up the horn of his people;

Be this his praise from all his faithful ones,

            from the children of Israel, the people close to him.

            Alleluia.

R.        Heaven and earth are full of your glory.

or:

R.        Alleluia.

Alleluia
Jn 14:16

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

I will ask the Father

and he will give you another Advocate

to be with you always.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel
Jn 16:12-15

Jesus said to his disciples:

“I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now.

But when he comes, the Spirit of truth,

he will guide you to all truth.

He will not speak on his own,

but he will speak what he hears,

and will declare to you the things that are coming.

He will glorify me,

because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.

Everything that the Father has is mine;

for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine

and declare it to you.”

GOSPEL REFLECTION:

Here is Jesus, nearing his own death, and he is pouring out the depth of his love for his followers. He spoke these words at the Last Supper, as he gathered with his disciples, sharing life with them. His words and actions comforted and strengthened them in ways that only the Holy Spirit might help them to understand.

The love that the God the Father has for Jesus is the love Jesus has for each of us! Can I ask for this grace, of knowing and experiencing deep down, this tremendous love?

PRAYER:

Jesus still speaks to us: prayer helps us to grow in love, in friendship, in understanding of the ways of God. The Spirit assists us, mediating God’s message, helping us to recognise how our way of living conforms to what God asks of us and revealing how it does not. Lord, strengthen my ability to receive and listen to your Spirit, to remember that your Spirit speaks your word to me.