4 June 2025 (Wednesday) / Easter Weekday

4 June 2025 (Wednesday)

Easter Weekday.

Readings from the Bible of the Roman Catholic Church:

First Reading: Acts 20: 28-38

Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 68: 29-30, 33-35a, 35bc-36ab

Alleluia: John 17: 17b, 17a

Gospel: John 17: 11b-19

First Reading: Acts 20: 28-38

Take heed to yourselves, and to the whole flock, wherein the Holy Ghost hath placed you bishops, to rule the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. I know that, after my departure, ravening wolves will enter in among you, not sparing the flock. And of your own selves shall arise men speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch, keeping in memory, that for three years I ceased not, with tears to admonish every one of you night and day. And now I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, who is able to build up, and to give an inheritance among all the sanctified. I have not coveted any man’s silver, gold, or apparel, as You yourselves know: for such things as were needful for me and them that are with me, these hands have furnished. I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring you ought to support the weak, and to remember the word of the Lord Jesus, how he said: It is a more blessed thing to give, rather than to receive. And when he had said these things, kneeling down, he prayed with them all. And there was much weeping among them all; and falling on the neck of Paul, they kissed him, being grieved most of all for the word which he had said, that they should see his face no more. And they brought him on his way to the ship.

Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 68: 29-30, 33-35a, 35bc-36ab

R. (33a) Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth.

or

R. Alleluia.

Command thy strength, O God: confirm, O God, what thou hast wrought in us. From thy temple in Jerusalem, kings shall offer presents to thee.

R. Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth.

or

R. Alleluia.

Sing to God, ye kingdoms of the earth: sing ye to the Lord: Sing ye to God, who mounteth above the heaven of heavens, to the east. Behold he will give to his voice the voice of power.

R. Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth.

or

R. Alleluia.

Give ye glory to God for Israel, his magnificence, and his power is in the clouds. God is wonderful in his saints: the God of Israel is he who will give power and strength to his people.

R. Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth.

or

R. Alleluia.

Alleluia: John 17: 17b, 17a

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

17 Your word, O Lord, is truth; consecrate us in the truth.

(17. Consecrate them in the truth; your word is truth).

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel: John 17: 11b-19

Lifting up his eyes to heaven, Jesus prayed, saying: Holy Father, keep them in thy name whom thou has given me; that they may be one, as we also are. While I was with them, I kept them in thy name. Those whom thou gavest me have I kept; and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition, that the scripture may be fulfilled. And now I come to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy filled in themselves. I have given them thy word, and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world; as I also am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep them from evil. They are not of the world, as I also am not of the world. Sanctify them in truth. Thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for them do I sanctify myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

For our reflection today:

In the prayer of the Upper Room, Jesus prays for the disciples: “Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be  consecrated in truth” (John 17:17–19). Afterwards, Jesus extends this same prayer to include the future generations of his disciples. Above all, he prays for unity, so that “the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me” (John 17:23). Toward the end of his intercession, Jesus returns to the key themes mentioned earlier, underscoring once again their vital importance. In this context, he prays for all those whom the Father has given him: “that they may be with me where I am, to behold my glory which you have given me in your love for me before the foundation of the world” (John 17:24).

9. Truly, the “priestly prayer” of Jesus is the synthesis of that self-revelation of God in the Son, which lies at the heart of the Gospels. The Son speaks to the Father in the name of the unity that he shares with him. “You, Father, are in me and I in you” (John 17:21). At the same time, he prays that the fruits of the saving mission for which he came into the world may be poured out upon humanity. In doing so, he reveals the mysterium Ecclesiae, the mystery of the Church—which is born from his salvific mission, and he prays for its future development in the midst of the “world”.  He opens the perspective of glory,  to which all those who “welcome” his word are called together with him. (Pope John Paul II, General Audience, 22 July 1987)

Jonathan Fabian Ginunggil,

Most High Servant, 

Jesus, Mary, Joseph Ministry of Love (Blessed  and Saints and the Nine Choirs of Angels)