Mass Readings
Catholic Ireland
Liturgical Readings for : Thursday, 18th April, 2024Léachtaí Gaeilge
Next Sunday's Readings
Thursday, Third Week of Easter
We need to study the Holy Scriptures with humility before God daily.
Optional memorial of St Laserian, bishop
FIRST READING
A reading from the Book Acts of the Apostles 8:26-40
If you believe with all your heart, you may be baptised.
The 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 treasurer. He was now on his way home; and as he sat in his chariot he was reading the prophet Isaiah.
The Spirit said to Philip, ‘Go up and meet that chariot.‘
When Philip ran up, he heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked,
‘Do you understand what you are reading?’
‘How can I’, he replied ‘unless I have someone to guide me?’
So he invited Philip to get in and sit by his side.
Now the passage of scripture he was reading was this:
Like a sheep that is led to the slaughter-house,
like a lamb that is dumb in front of its shearers,
like these he never opens his mouth.
He has been humiliated and has no one to defend him.
Who will ever talk about his descendants, since his life on earth has been cut short!
The eunuch turned to Philip and said,
‘Tell me, is the prophet referring to himself or someone else?‘
Starting, therefore, with this text of scripture Philip proceeded to explain the Good News of Jesus to him.
Further along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said,
‘Look, there is some water here; is there anything to stop me being baptised?‘
He ordered the chariot to stop, then Philip and the eunuch both went down into the water and Philip baptised him. But after they had come up out of the water again Philip was taken away by the Spirit of the Lord, and the eunuch never saw him again but went on his way rejoicing.
Philip found that he had reached Azotus and continued his journey proclaiming the Good News in every town as far as Caesarea.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 65
Response Cry out with joy to God all the earth.
Or Alleluia!
1. O peoples, bless our God, let the voice of his praise resound,
of the God who gave life to our souls and kept our feet from stumbling. Response
2. Come and hear, all who fear God. I will tell what he did for my soul:
to him I cried aloud, with high praise ready on my tongue. Response
3. Blessed be God who did not reject my prayer
nor withhold his love from me. Response
Gospel Acclamation
Alleluia, Alleluia!
The Lord, who hung for us upon the tree, has risen from the tomb.
Alleluia!
or Jn 6: 51
Alleluia, Alleluia!
I am the living bread which has come down from heaven, says the Lord.
Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever.
Alleluia!
GOSPEL
The Lord be with you. And with your spirit
A reading from the Gospel according to John 6:44-51 Glory to you, O Lord
I am the living bread which has come down from heaven.
Jesus said to the crowd:
‘No one can come to me unless he is drawn by the Father who sent me, and I will raise him up at the last day.
It is written in the prophets: They will all be taught by God to hear the teaching of the Father, and to learn from it,
is to come to me.
Not that anybody has seen the Father, except the one who comes from God: he has seen the Father.
I tell you most solemnly,
everybody who believes has eternal life.
I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the desert and they are dead;
but this is the bread that comes down from heaven,
so that a man may eat it and not die.
I am the living bread which has come down from heaven.
Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever;
and the bread that I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the world.’
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Gospel Reflection Thursday Third Week of Easter John 6:44-51
In the gospel reading, Jesus declares that all who come to him have been drawn to him by the Father, ‘No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me’. God is always drawing us towards his Son, who says of himself in the gospel reading, ‘I am the bread of life’. God often draws us to his Son in and through other people of faith.
In the first reading, God initially draws the Ethiopian to his Son through the Scriptures. When the Ethiopian reflects on a passage from Isaiah, he begins to ask questions, ‘Is the prophet referring to himself or someone else?’ He needed the help of a person of faith to answer this question, the help of the deacon Philip. God who began to draw the Ethiopian to his Son through the Scriptures now draws him fully to his Son through the spiritual accompaniment of Philip, the preacher of the gospel. Philip’s ministry to the Ethiopian led the Ethiopian to take an initiative of his own, ‘Look, there is some water here; is there anything to stop me being baptized?’ It is as if the final step of God drawing the Ethiopian to his Son was through the medium of creation, water. Having allowed God to work through him to bring the Ethiopian to Jesus, Philip moved on from him, and the Ethiopian continued on his way rejoicing. God will find many ways of bringing us to his Son, if we allow ourselves to be drawn.
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The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd. and used with the permission of the publishers. http://dltbooks.com/
The Scripture Reflection is made available with our thanks from his book Reflections on the Weekday Readings 2024: The Word is near to you, on your lips and in your heart by Martin Hogan and published by Messenger Publications 2022/23, c/f www.messenger.ie/bookshop/
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