Year B
Discover the deeper meaning and connections found in this week's readings, through these great commentaries written by our priests.
Explore this week's readings and hear what God is saying to us through His Word.
Find out more about how we can mark this special day in our liturgy.
See our music recommendations for the liturgy.
7th Sunday of Easter (B)
Acts 1:15-17, 20-26
In his leadership role and guided by the Scriptures, Peter prompts the post-Resurrection community, 120 persons, to choose an apostle to replace Judas. He lays out the qualifications required – someone who has been with Jesus since the time of John the Baptist and has been a witness to the resurrection. The one chosen will provide a link between the earthly Jesus and the Church. The lot falls on Matthias whose feast it is tomorrow.
1 John 4:11-16
We hear again those simple words, that God is love, and that that should be the impetus for us to love one another. For, as long as we love one another, God will dwell in us. How much the Spirit must mould and shape us in our relationships with one another. That love alone can bear authentic witness to the risen Christ.
John 17:11-19
We hear the priestly prayer of Jesus addressed to his heavenly Father. Jesus is praying for us in our very secular world with all its distractions. He is praying that we may be true to his name, and that we may be consecrated in truth.
In these days between the Ascension and Pentecost, with the whole Church, we are praying for the coming of the Holy Spirit. In our readings we see the Spirit at work as the lot falls on Matthias.
It is God’s Spirit of love that will enable us to love one another and bear witness to the Christ of love.
It is the prayer of Jesus that the Spirit of truth may consecrate us, and keep us true to his name.
Come, Holy Spirit!
Seventh Sunday of Easter
CCC 2746-2751: Christ’s prayer at the Last Supper
CCC 2614, 2741: Jesus prays for us
CCC 611, 2812, 2821: Jesus’ prayer sanctifies us, especially in the Eucharist
We are on the last hoorah before Pentecost and there is a temptation to fall into what we might call “Eastertide fatigue”. Stand firm!
This could be a good day to use the Rite for the Blessing and Sprinkling of Water in place of the Penitential Act (Roman Missal, Appendix II) as a last echo of the Easter Vigil, all those weeks ago.
Some of the prayers and reading hint at a paradox: Christ has gone but not gone. See especially the Collect: “..so that we who believe that the Saviour…is with you in your glory, may experience…his abiding presence among us”. This is very Johannine theology (see St John’s Gospel Prologue). See also today’s Second Reading from St John’s First Letter, and the Gospel Acclamation.
In our Diocesan Prayer this weekend we are asked to remember our Diocesan Safeguarding Committee and our Diocesan Communications Office. The first is neatly hinted at in the Second Reading and Gospel (“love”, “protect”),and the second in the First Reading (“he can act with us as a witness to the resurrection.”). Intercession writers take note. There is also a collection for the Catholic Communications Network.
Notes These hymns have been picked and chosen from different sources.
God is Love (LHON289)
God is love, his the care (CFE215, L794, LHON290)
Alleluia, sing to Jesus (CFE37, L644, LHON110, TCH112)
Be still and know I am with you (CFE69, L968, LHON163)
Come down, O love divine (CFE125, L303)
Spirit of the Living God (CFE666, L306, LHON630)
This is my body, broken for you (CFE730, L627, LHON681)
Key
CFE - Celebration Hymnal for Everyone
L – Laudate
LHON – Liturgical Hymns Old and New (Mayhew, 1999)
TCH – The Catholic Hymnbook (Gracewing)
Do you have questions about the liturgy and how we are called to participate in it? Explore how the Church councils, saints, and popes have answered this key question and many more.
Every movement of the Mass is rich in meaning but we can become over-familiar with it. Rediscover the Mass and explore how it relates to the Exodus story, where many of its rituals come from, and how it makes Jesus present to us today.
