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26 April 2024 Friday of the 4th week of Eastertide The tomb of Rafael Arnáiz Barón in Venta de Baños, Spain Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: B(II).First readingActs 13:26-33 ©God has fulfilled his promise by raising Jesus from the deadPaul 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...

Thursday 25 April 2024 Saint Mark, Evangelist Feast St. Mark the Evangelist, Summerfield, FLReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: Red. Year: B(II).First reading1 Peter 5:5-14 ©My son, Mark, sends you greetingsAll wrap yourselves in humility to be servants of each other, because God refuses the proud and will always favour the humble. Bow down, then, before the power of God now, and he will raise you up on the appointed day; unload all your worries on to him, since he is looking after you. Be calm but vigilant, because your enemy the devil is prowling round like a roaring lion, looking...

24 April 2024Wednesday of the 4th week of Eastertide St. Fidelis Church, College Point, New York Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: B(II).First readingActs 12:24-13:5 ©'I want Barnabas and Saul set apart'The word of God continued to spread and to gain followers. Barnabas and Saul completed their task and came back from Jerusalem, bringing John Mark with them. In the church at Antioch the following were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen, who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. One day while they were offering worship to the Lord and...

23 April 2024 Tuesday of the 4th week of Eastertide Basilica of Saint Adalbert, Grand Rapids, MichiganReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: B(II).First readingActs 11:19-26 ©They started preaching to the Greeks, proclaiming the Lord JesusThose who had escaped during the persecution that happened because of Stephen travelled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, but they usually proclaimed the message only to Jews. Some of them, however, who came from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch where they started preaching to the Greeks, proclaiming the Good News of the Lord Jesus to them as well. The Lord helped...

22 April 2024 Monday of the 4th week of Eastertide Painting of the church of San Caio in Rome by Achille Pinelli in the early 1800sNow demolishedReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: B(II).First readingActs 11:1-18 ©God can grant even the pagans the repentance that leads to lifeThe apostles and the brothers in Judaea heard that the pagans too had accepted the word of God, and when Peter came up to Jerusalem the Jews criticised him and said, ‘So you have been visiting the uncircumcised and eating with them, have you?’ Peter in reply gave them the details point by...

21 April 2024 4th Sunday of EasterSt Anselm's Catholic Church, part of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham in Pembury, Kent, UKReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: B(II).First readingActs 4:8-12 ©The name of Jesus Christ is the only name in which we can be savedFilled with the Holy Spirit, Peter said: ‘Rulers of the people, and elders! If you are questioning us today about an act of kindness to a cripple, and asking us how he was healed, then I am glad to tell you all, and would indeed be glad to tell the whole people of...

“Salvation in the Good Shepherd and in No One Else” (Acts 4:1-12; John 10:11-18) Today we are celebrating “Good Shepherd Sunday,” the day every year when the readings, the hymns, etc., all deal with Jesus as our Good Shepherd. Which makes our first reading today seem a little out of place. Because in this text from Acts 4 there is no mention of “shepherd” or “flock” or that type of language. But it is a strong resurrection text, which makes it fitting during this Easter season. And it certainly proclaims salvation in Christ most clearly. And this does tie in...

20 April 2024 Saturday of the 3rd week of Eastertide Shrine of Saint Agnese - Montepulciano Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: B(II).First readingActs 9:31-42 ©The churches grew and were filled with the consolation of the Holy SpiritThe churches throughout Judaea, Galilee and Samaria were now left in peace, building themselves up, living in the fear of the Lord, and filled with the consolation of the Holy Spirit. Peter visited one place after another and eventually came to the saints living down in Lydda. There he found a man called Aeneas, a paralytic who had been bedridden for eight...

19 April 2024 Friday of the 3rd week of Eastertide St. Michael the Archangel Byzantine Catholic Church Pittston, Pennsylvania Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: B(II).First readingActs 9:1-20 ©This man is my chosen instrument to bring my name before the pagansSaul was still breathing threats to slaughter the Lord’s disciples. He had gone to the high priest and asked for letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, that would authorise him to arrest and take to Jerusalem any followers of the Way, men or women, that he could find. Suddenly, while he was travelling to Damascus and just before...

18 April 2024 Thursday of the 3rd week of Eastertide St. Emma Monastery - Greensburg, PA Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: B(II).First readingActs 8:26-40 ©Philip baptizes a eunuchThe 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...

17 April 2024 Wednesday of the 3rd week of Eastertide St. Mark's Cathedral in Alexandria Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: B(II).First readingActs 8:1-8 ©They went from place to place, preaching the Good NewsThat day a bitter persecution started against the church in Jerusalem, and everyone except the apostles fled to the country districts of Judaea and Samaria. There were some devout people, however, who buried Stephen and made great mourning for him. Saul then worked for the total destruction of the Church; he went from house to house arresting both men and women and sending them to prison....

16 April 2024 Tuesday of the 3rd week of Eastertide Saint Bernadette Catholic Church, Arlington, VA Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: B(II).First readingActs 7:51-8:1 ©'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit'Stephen said to the people, the elders and the scribes: ‘You stubborn people, with your pagan hearts and pagan ears. You are always resisting the Holy Spirit, just as your ancestors used to do. Can you name a single prophet your ancestors never persecuted? In the past they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, and now you have become his betrayers, his murderers. You who had...

15 April 2024 Monday of the 3rd week of Eastertide Ukrainian Catholic church in Star-Peno, Alberta Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: B(II).First readingActs 6:8-15 ©They could not get the better of Stephen because the Spirit prompted what he saidStephen was filled with grace and power and began to work miracles and great signs among the people. But then certain people came forward to debate with Stephen, some from Cyrene and Alexandria who were members of the synagogue called the Synagogue of Freedmen, and others from Cilicia and Asia. They found they could not get the better of him...

14 April 2024 3rd Sunday of Easter The high (main) altar in the basilica of Saint Lidwina (Liduina) in Schiedam, Netherlands. In this church relics of the saint are kept.Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: B(II).First readingActs 3:13-15,17-19 ©You killed the prince of life: God, however, raised him from the deadPeter said to the people: ‘You are Israelites, and it is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our ancestors, who has glorified his servant Jesus, the same Jesus you handed over and then disowned in the presence of Pilate after Pilate had decided to release...

“Thus It Is Written, Fulfilled, and Proclaimed” (Luke 24:36-49) Do you want to know what the Bible is all about? Do you want to know what Jesus came to do? Do you want to know what the church’s preaching should emphasize? If so, then I’ve got good news for you. The answers to all three of these questions are found in today’s Gospel reading from Luke 24, specifically, in these verses: “Then Jesus said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of...

13 April 2024 Saturday of the 2nd week of Eastertide San Hermenegildo Chapel, Cathedral of Seville Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: B(II).First readingActs 6:1-7 ©They elected seven men full of the Holy SpiritAbout this time, when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenists made a complaint against the Hebrews: in the daily distribution their own widows were being overlooked. So the Twelve called a full meeting of the disciples and addressed them, ‘It would not be right for us to neglect the word of God so as to give out food; you, brothers, must select from among...

12 April 2024 Friday of the 2nd week of Eastertide The Santuary of Santa Teresa de Los Andes, Rinconada, ChileReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: B(II).First readingActs 5:34-42 ©They were glad to have had the honour of suffering humiliation for the sake of the nameOne member of the Sanhedrin, a Pharisee called Gamaliel, who was a doctor of the Law and respected by the whole people, stood up and asked to have the apostles taken outside for a time. Then he addressed the Sanhedrin, ‘Men of Israel, be careful how you deal with these people. There was Theudas who became...

11 April 2024 Saint Stanislaus, Bishop, Martyr on Thursday of the 2nd week of Eastertide St. Stanislaus Basilica Chicopee MAReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: Red. Year: B(II).Readings for the feriaReadings for the memorialThese are the readings for the feriaFirst readingActs 5:27-33 ©We are witnesses to all this, we and the Holy SpiritWhen the officials had brought the apostles in to face the Sanhedrin, the high priest demanded an explanation. ‘We gave you a formal warning’ he said ‘not to preach in this name, and what have you done? You have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and seem determined to fix the...

10 April 2024 Wednesday of the 2nd week of EastertideSacred Heart Province Launching of the 250th Birth Anniversary of St. Magdalene di Canossa, Cagayan de Oro, PhilippinesReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: B(II).First readingActs 5:17-26 ©The men you imprisoned are in the Temple, preaching to the peopleThe high priest intervened with all his supporters from the party of the Sadducees. Prompted by jealousy, they arrested the apostles and had them put in the common gaol. But at night the angel of the Lord opened the prison gates and said as he led them out, ‘Go and stand in the...

The wild $30 million cash heist from a Los Angeles warehouse Easter Sunday was apparently pulled off by a top-notch group of criminals — and so clean that it could go unsolved, an expert says. “This is a group that would have to have a lot of prior experience,” Scott Selby, a Harvard-educated lawyer and co-author of “Flawless,” a book about the famous Antwerp Diamond Heist, told The Post. “It’s like if you were a gymnast, you know, by the time you’re world-quality, you’ve already done a lot of work,” Selby said of the type of thieves who seem to...