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30 May 2023Tuesday of week 8 in Ordinary Time Saint Joan of Arc Catholic Church, Powell, OhioReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green. Year: A(I).First readingEcclesiasticus 35:2-15 ©Give to the Most High as he has given to youA man multiplies offerings by keeping the Law; he offers communion sacrifices by following the commandments.By showing gratitude he makes an offering of fine flour, by giving alms he offers a sacrifice of praise.Withdraw from wickedness and the Lord will be pleased, withdraw from injustice and you make atonement.Do not appear empty-handed in the Lord’s presence; for all these things are due under the commandment.A...

29 May 2023 Monday of week 8 in Ordinary TimeReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: A(I).There is no choice between ferial and memorial readings today, because all readings are proper to the memorial.First readingGenesis 3:9-15,20 ©The mother of all those who liveAfter Adam had eaten of the tree the Lord God called to him. ‘Where are you?’ he asked. ‘I heard the sound of you in the garden;’ he replied ‘I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.’ ‘Who told you that you were naked?’ he asked ‘Have you been eating of the tree I forbade you to...

Sunday 28 May 2023 Pentecost Church Saint-Bernard-de-Menthon, Ferrette, Alsace, France Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: Red. Year: A(I).These readings are for the extended-form Vigil Mass on the evening before the feast.These readings are for the simple-form Vigil Mass on the evening before the feast.These readings are for the day of the feast itselfThese readings are for the extended-form Vigil Mass on the evening before the feast.First readingGenesis 11:1-9 ©The tower of BabelThroughout 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...

27 May 2023Saturday of the 7th week of Eastertide St Augustine of Canterbury Catholic Church, Brandon, Manitoba Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: A(I).First readingActs 28:16-20,30-31 ©In Rome, Paul proclaimed the kingdom of God without hindrance from anyoneOn 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...

26 May 2023Saint Philip Neri, Priest on Friday of the 7th week of Eastertide St. Philip Neri Church, Linthicum Heights, Maryland Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: A(I).Readings for the feriaReadings for the memorialThese are the readings for the feriaFirst readingActs 25:13-21 ©'I ordered Paul to be remanded until I could send him to Caesar'King Agrippa and Bernice arrived in Caesarea and paid their respects to Festus. Their visit lasted several days, and Festus put Paul’s case before the king. ‘There is a man here’ he said ‘whom Felix left behind in custody, and while I was in Jerusalem the...

25 May 2023Thursday of the 7th week of Eastertide St Bede the Venerable Catholic Church, Montgomery, AL Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: A(I).First readingActs 22:30,23:6-11 ©'You have borne witness in Jerusalem: now you must do the same in Rome'Since the tribune wanted to know what precise charge the Jews were bringing, he freed Paul and gave orders for a meeting of the chief priests and the entire Sanhedrin; then he brought Paul down and stood him in front of them. Now Paul was well aware that one section was made up of Sadducees and the other of Pharisees, so...

24 May 2023 Wednesday of the 7th week of Eastertide altar in honour of Blessed Hermann Joseph in the Roman Premonstratensian College, Kall, Germany Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: A(I).First readingActs 20:28-38 ©I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, and its powerPaul addressed these words to the elders of the church of Ephesus: ‘Be on your guard for yourselves and for all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you the overseers, to feed the Church of God which he bought with his own blood. I know quite well that when I...

23 May 2023Tuesday of the 7th week of Eastertide Shrine of Saint William of Perth, Rochester, England Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: A(I).First readingActs 20:17-27 ©I have without faltering put before you the whole of God's purposeFrom Miletus Paul sent for the elders of the church of Ephesus. When they arrived he addressed these words to them: ‘You know what my way of life has been ever since the first day I set foot among you in Asia, how I have served the Lord in all humility, with all the sorrows and trials that came to me through the...

22 May 2023Monday of the 7th week of Eastertide Basilica of Santa Rita, Cascia, Italy Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: A(I).First readingActs 19:1-8 ©The moment Paul laid hands on them the Holy Spirit came down on themWhile Apollos was in Corinth, Paul made his way overland as far as Ephesus, where he found a number of disciples. When he asked, ‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?’ they answered, ‘No, we were never even told there was such a thing as a Holy Spirit.’ ‘Then how were you baptised?’ he asked. ‘With John’s baptism’ they replied....

Sunday 21 May 2023The Ascension of the Lord Solemnity St Godric of Finchale Priory, Durham, England Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: A(I).These readings are for the Vigil Mass on the evening before the feastThese readings are for the day of the feast itselfThese readings are for the Vigil Mass on the evening before the feast:First readingActs 1:1-11 ©Jesus was lifted up while they looked onIn my earlier work, Theophilus, I dealt with everything Jesus had done and taught from the beginning until the day he gave his instructions to the apostles he had chosen through the Holy Spirit, and...

20 May 2023 Saturday before Ascension Sunday Main altar of the San Bernadino de Siena Parish Church in Xochimilco, Mexico City Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: A(I).First readingActs 18:23-28 ©Apollos demonstrated from the scriptures that Jesus was the ChristPaul came down to Antioch, where he spent a short time before continuing his journey through the Galatian country and then through Phrygia, encouraging all the followers. An Alexandrian Jew named Apollos now arrived in Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, with a sound knowledge of the scriptures, and yet, though he had been given instruction in the Way of the...

19 May 2023Friday before Ascension Sunday St. Dunstan's Basilica in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: A(I).First readingActs 18:9-18 ©'I have many people on my side in this city'At Corinth one night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision, ‘Do not be afraid to speak out, nor allow yourself to be silenced: I am with you. I have so many people on my side in this city that no one will even attempt to hurt you.’ So Paul stayed there preaching the word of God among them for eighteen months. But, while Gallio was proconsul...

18 May 2023 Thursday before Ascension Sunday Hermitage of San Venanzio, Raiano, Italy Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: A(I).In some dioceses the Ascension of the Lord is celebrated today. If this applies to you, please reconfigure Universalis to use the appropriate local calendar.First readingActs 18:1-8 ©Paul lodged with them and worked, and held debates in the synagoguesPaul left Athens and went to Corinth, where he met a Jew called Aquila whose family came from Pontus. He and his wife Priscilla had recently left Italy because an edict of Claudius had expelled all the Jews from Rome. Paul went to...

17 May 2023Wednesday of the 6th week of Eastertide Basilica Santa Restituta, Naples Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: A(I).First readingActs 17:15,22-18:1 ©I proclaim the God you already worship without knowing itPaul’s escort took him as far as Athens, and went back with instructions for Silas and Timothy to rejoin Paul as soon as they could. So Paul stood before the whole Council of the Areopagus and made this speech: ‘Men of Athens, I have seen for myself how extremely scrupulous you are in all religious matters, because I noticed, as I strolled round admiring your sacred monuments, that you...

16 May 2023Tuesday of the 6th week of EastertideSt. Brendan the Navigator Parish, Camden, ME Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: A(I).First readingActs 16:22-34 ©Become a believer and you will be saved, and your household tooThe crowd joined in and showed their hostility to Paul and Silas, so the magistrates had them stripped and ordered them to be flogged. They were given many lashes and then thrown into prison, and the gaoler was told to keep a close watch on them. So, following his instructions, he threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. Late...

15 May 2023Monday of the 6th week of Eastertide San Isidro Labrador Parish in Makiling, Calamba, the Philippines Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: A(I).First readingActs 16:11-15 ©The Lord opened Lydia's heart to accept what Paul was sayingSailing from Troas we made a straight run for Samothrace; the next day for Neapolis, and from there for Philippi, a Roman colony and the principal city of that particular district of Macedonia. After a few days in this city we went along the river outside the gates as it was the sabbath and this was a customary place for prayer. We sat...

14 May 20236th Sunday of Easter St. Matthias the Apostle Catholic Church, Magnolia, TX Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: A(I).If the Ascension of the Lord is going to be celebrated next Sunday, the alternative Second Reading and Gospel shown here (which would otherwise have been read on that Sunday) may be used today.First readingActs 8:5-8,14-17 ©They laid hands on them, and they received the Holy SpiritPhilip went to a Samaritan town and proclaimed the Christ to them. The people united in welcoming the message Philip preached, either because they had heard of the miracles he worked or because they...

13 May 2023Saturday of the 5th week of Eastertide St. Robert Bellarmine Roman Catholic Church, Bayside, NY Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: A(I).First readingActs 16:1-10 ©'Come across to Macedonia and help us'From Cilicia Paul went to Derbe, and then on to Lystra. Here there was a disciple called Timothy, whose mother was a Jewess who had become a believer; but his father was a Greek. The brothers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of Timothy, and Paul, who wanted to have him as a travelling companion, had him circumcised. This was on account of the Jews in the locality...

“I Perceive That You Are Not Very Religious” (Acts 17:16-31) In our reading from the Book of Acts, Paul is in Athens, at the Areopagus, and he begins his address there by saying, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious.” Now I wonder how Paul might begin a speech here, if he came to America in our day. He might just say, “I Perceive That You Are Not Very Religious.” Not very religious: Let me explain. If you track the views and activity of Americans over recent decades, you would have to say that...

12 May 2023Friday of the 5th week of Eastertide St Pancras Catholic Church, Ipswich, Suffolk, UK Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: A(I).First readingActs 15:22-31 ©It has been decided by the Holy Spirit and by us not to burden you beyond these essentialsThe apostles and elders decided to choose delegates to send to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; the whole church concurred with this. They chose Judas known as Barsabbas and Silas, both leading men in the brotherhood, and gave them this letter to take with them: ‘The apostles and elders, your brothers, send greetings to the brothers of pagan...