Daily Gospel
12. May 2024 : Seventh Sunday of Easter
St. Epiphanius, Archbishop (c. 310 - 403)
Acts of the Apostles 1,15-17.20a.20c-26.
Peter stood up in the midst of the brothers (there was a group of about one hundred and twenty persons in the one place). He said,
"My brothers, the scripture had to be fulfilled which the holy Spirit spoke beforehand through the mouth of David, concerning Judas, who was the guide for those who arrested Jesus.
He was numbered among us and was allotted a share in this ministry.
For it is written in the Book of Psalms: 'Let his encampment become desolate, and may no one dwell in it.'
And: 'May another take his office.'
Therefore, it is necessary that one of the men who accompanied us the whole time the Lord Jesus came and went among us,
beginning from the baptism of John until the day on which he was taken up from us, become with us a witness to his resurrection."
So they proposed two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias.
Then they prayed, "You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen
to take the place in this apostolic ministry from which Judas turned away to go to his own place."
Then they gave lots to them, and the lot fell upon Matthias, and he was counted with the eleven apostles.
Psalms 103(102),1-2.11-12.19-20ab.
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
and all my being, bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits.
For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so surpassing is his kindness toward those who fear him.
As far as the east is from the west,
so far has he put our transgressions from us.
The LORD has established his throne in heaven,
and his kingdom rules over all.
Bless the LORD, all you his angels,
you mighty in strength, who do his bidding.
First Letter of John 4,11-16.
Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must love one another.
No one has ever seen God. Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us.
This is how we know that we remain in him and he in us, that he has given us of his Spirit.
Moreover, we have seen and testify that the Father sent his Son as savior of the world.
Whoever acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him and he in God.
We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us. God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 17,11b-19.
Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed, saying: "Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are.
When I was with them I protected them in your name that you gave me, and I guarded them, and none of them was lost except the son of destruction, in order that the scripture might be fulfilled.
But now I am coming to you. I speak this in the world so that they may share my joy completely.
I gave them your word, and the world hated them, because they do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world.
I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the evil one.
They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world.
Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth.
As you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world.
And I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be consecrated in truth."
Communion in the unity of the faith
The Church is united by a bond of mutual charity so strong that it is one in the plurality of its members and mysteriously whole in each, so much so that, if the entire universal Church is rightly presented as the only and unique Bride of Christ, we also believe that, through the mystery of the sacrament, each soul is the Church in its fullness. One in all and all in each, it is singular in the plurality of her members thanks to the unity of faith, and multiple in each of them thanks to the diversity of charisms joined by the cement mortar of charity, for all come of the One. (…)
The secret of this indivisible unity was revealed by the Word when he said to the Father, speaking of his disciples: “It is not for them alone that I pray, but for those also who, thanks to their word, will believe in me. Let all be one. » (Jn 17:20-21) If then those who believe in Christ are one, the whole body is present through the mystery of the sacrament, where the eyes of the flesh see only one member. (…)
The necessity of this communion in Christ was considered so certain by our Fathers that they included it in the symbol of the Catholic profession of faith and ordered us to repeat it often among the rudiments of the Christian faith. . For immediately after having said: “I believe in the Holy Spirit, in the Holy Church”, we add: “in the communion of saints”, so that in the very act in which we bear witness to God of our faith, we let us also affirm the communion of the Church, which is one with him. This communion of saints in the unity of faith is such that, believing in one Holy Spirit, they are admitted by the grace of adoption to the one eternal life.
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