Mass Readings - Sunday, 17th May 2020

FIRST READING
A reading from the Acts of the Apostles    8:5-8. 14-17
They laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

Philip 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
saw them for themselves. There were, for example, unclean spirits
that came shrieking out of many who were possessed, and several
paralytics and cripples were cured. As a result there was great
rejoicing in that town.
When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted
the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, and they went
down there, and prayed for the Samaritans to receive the Holy Spirit,
for as yet he had not come down on any of them: they had only
been baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid hands
on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

The Word of the Lord.



Responsorial Psalm    Ps 65
Response: Cry out with joy to God all the earth.

1. Cry out with joy to God all the earth,
O sing to the glory of his name.
O render him glorious praise.
Say to God: ‘How tremendous your deeds’
Response: Cry out with joy to God all the earth.

2. ‘Before you all the earth shall bow;
shall sing to you, sing to your name!’
Come and see the works of God,
tremendous his deeds among men.
Response: Cry out with joy to God all the earth.

3. He turned the sea into dry land,
they passed through the river dry-shod.
Let our joy then be in him;
he rules for ever by his might.
Response: Cry out with joy to God all the earth.

4. Come and hear, all who fear God.
I will tell what he did for my soul:
Blessed be God who did not reject my prayer
nor withhold his love from me.
Response: Cry out with joy to God all the earth.   



SECOND READING
A reading from the first letter of St Peter    3:15-18
In the body he was put to death, in the spirit he was raised to life.

Reverence the Lord Christ in your hearts, and always have your
answer ready for people who ask you the reason for the hope that
you all have. But give it with courtesy and respect and with a clear
conscience, so that those who slander you when you are living a
good life in Christ may be proved wrong in the accusations that they
bring.
And if it is the will of God that you should suffer, it is better to suffer for
doing right than for doing wrong.
Why, Christ himself, innocent though he was, had died once for sins,
died for the guilty, to lead us to God. In the body he was put to
death, in the spirit he was raised to life.

The Word of the Lord



Gospel Acclamation   Jn 14: 23

Alleluia, alleluia!
Jesus said: ‘If anyone loves me he will keep my word,
and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him.’
Alleluia!



GOSPEL
A reading from the Gospel according to John    14:15-21
I shall ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate

Jesus said to his disciples:
‘If you love me you will keep my commandments.
I shall ask the Father,
and he will give you another Advocate
to be with you for ever,
that Spirit of truth
whom the world can never receive
since it neither sees nor knows him;
but you know him,
because he is with you, he is in you.
I will not leave you orphans;
I will come back to you.
In a short time the world will no longer see me;
but you will see me,
because I live and you will live.
On that day you will understand
that I am in my Father
and you in me and I in you.
Anybody who receives my commandments
and keeps them will be one who loves me;
and anybody who loves me
will be loved by my Father,
and I shall love him and show myself to him.’

The Gospel of the Lord.