19 May 2026 (Tuesday) | Tuesday of the 7th week of Eastertide | Easter Weekday | Tuesday of the Seventh Week of Easter

19 May 2026 (Tuesday)

Tuesday of the 7th week of Eastertide.

Easter Weekday.
Tuesday of the Seventh Week of Easter.

Readings from the Bible of the Roman Catholic Church:

First Reading: Acts 20: 17-27
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 68:10-11, 20-21 ℟. 33a or: ℟. Alleluia.
Gospel acclamation: Alleluia: John 14: 16
Gospel: John 17: 1-11a
Liturgical year 2026 (Cycle A/II)
Liturgical color: White or Gold.

First Reading : Acts 20:17‐27

(Reader) A reading from the Acts of the Apostles.

From 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 plots of the Jews. I have not hesitated to do anything that would be helpful to you; I have preached to you, and instructed you both in public and in your homes, urging both Jews and Greeks to turn to God and to believe in our Lord Jesus.
  ‘And now you see me a prisoner already in spirit; I am on my way to Jerusalem, but have no idea what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit, in town after town, has made it clear enough that imprisonment and persecution await me. But life to me is not a thing to waste words on, provided that when I finish my race I have carried out the mission the Lord Jesus gave me – and that was to bear witness to the Good News of God’s grace.
  ‘I now feel sure that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will ever see my face again. And so here and now I swear that my conscience is clear as far as all of you are concerned, for I have without faltering put before you the whole of God’s purpose.’

(Reader) The Word of the Lord.
(All) Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 68:10-11, 20-21 ℟. 33a or: ℟. Alleluia.

Kingdoms of the earth, sing to God.
or
Alleluia!
You poured down, O God, a generous rain:
  when your people were starved you gave them new life.
It was there that your people found a home,
  prepared in your goodness, O God, for the poor.
Kingdoms of the earth, sing to God.
or
Alleluia!
May the Lord be blessed day after day.
  He bears our burdens, God our saviour.
This God of ours is a God who saves.
  The Lord our God holds the keys of death.
Kingdoms of the earth, sing to God.
or
Alleluia!

Gospel acclamation: Alleluia: John 14: 16
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
16 I will ask the Father and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
(12. I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you to bear now. 13. However, when the Spirit of truth comes he will lead you to the complete truth, since he will not be speaking of his own accord, but will say only what he has been told; and he will reveal to you the things to come. (John 16:12-13)

Part One Section Two I. The Creeds Chapter Three I Believe In The Holy Spirit Article 8 I Believe In The Holy Spirit II. The Name, Titles, And Symbols Of The Holy Spirit https://www.vatican.va/content/catechism/en/part_one/section_two/chapter_three/article_8/ii_the_name,_titles,_and_symbols_of_the_holy_spirit.html

The Catechism #688, spells those ways out like this.  We know the Holy Spirit:
—in the Scriptures he inspired; 
—in the Tradition, to which the Church Fathers are always timely witnesses; 
—in the Church’s Magisterium, which he assists; 
—in the sacramental liturgy, through its words and symbols, in which the Holy Spirit puts us into communion with Christ; 
—in prayer, wherein he intercedes for us; 
—in the charisms and ministries by which the Church is built up; 
—in the signs of apostolic and missionary life; 
—in the witness of saints through whom he manifests his holiness and continues the work of salvation. 

Prayer to the Holy Spirit:

Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created, and you shall renew the face of the earth.

Let us pray.

O God, who have taught the hearts of the faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit, grant that in the same Spirit we may be truly wise and ever rejoice in his consolation.Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Gospel : John 17:1‐11

(Reader) A reading from the holy Gospel according to John.
(All) Glory to you, O Lord.

Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said:
‘Father, the hour has come:
glorify your Son
so that your Son may glorify you;
and, through the power over all mankind that you have given him,
let him give eternal life to all those you have entrusted to him.
And eternal life is this:
to know you,
the only true God,
and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.
I have glorified you on earth
and finished the work that you gave me to do.
Now, Father, it is time for you to glorify me
with that glory I had with you
before ever the world was.
I have made your name known
to the men you took from the world to give me.
They were yours and you gave them to me,
and they have kept your word.
Now at last they know
that all you have given me comes indeed from you;
for I have given them the teaching you gave to me,
and they have truly accepted this, that I came from you,
and have believed that it was you who sent me.
I pray for them;
I am not praying for the world
but for those you have given me,
because they belong to you:
all I have is yours
and all you have is mine,
and in them I am glorified.
I am not in the world any longer,
but they are in the world,
and I am coming to you.’

(Reader) The Gospel of the Lord.
(All) Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

For our reflection today:

The words of the Popes.

In the Gospel, John tells us that Jesus, before uttering a word, “looked up to heaven” (Jn 17:1). In these, the final hours of his life, Jesus is weighed down by anguish at the prospect of his passion, conscious of the dark night he is about to endure, feeling betrayed and abandoned. Yet in the same moment, he looks up to heaven. Jesus lifts his eyes to God. He does not resign himself to evil; he does not let himself be overwhelmed by grief; he does not retreat into the bitterness of the defeated and disappointed; instead, he looks to heaven. Prayer leads us to trust in God even in times of difficulty. It helps us to hope when things seem hopeless and it sustains us in our everyday struggles. Prayer is not a retreat, an escape, in the face of problems.  Instead, it is the only weapon at our disposal for keeping love and hope alive amid the weapons of death. It is not easy to lift our gaze when we are hurting, but faith helps us resist the temptation to turn in on ourselves. We may want to protest, to cry out to God in our pain. We should not be afraid to do so, for this too is prayer. (Pope Francis, Homily on the Holy Mass with the Myanmar Community in Rome, 16 May 2021)

POPE FRANCIS
MORNING MEDITATION IN THE CHAPEL OF THEDOMUS SANCTAE MARTHAE
The good lawyer
Tuesday, 3 June 2014

(by L'Osservatore Romano, Weekly ed. in English, n. 23, 6 June 2014)

In his homily at Santa Marta Pope Francis reflected on the certainty that “Jesus prays for us”, considering the day’s readings from the Gospel of John (17:1-11) and the Acts of the Apostles (20:17-27). We have the best defense lawyer on our side, who “does not speak much but loves” and who “in this very moment” is praying for each of us, showing “his wounds to the Father” to remind him of “the price he paid to save us”.

“I pray for them, I do not pray for the world but for the ones you have given me, because they are yours” (Jn 17:1-11). But the liturgy, the Holy Father pointed out, also presents another “farewell discourse” to us in the first reading, wherein from Miletus, St Paul sends for the elders of the Church in Ephesus to bid them farewell (Acts 20:17-27).

St Paul tells them that he does not know his destiny: “except that in one city after another the Holy Spirit has been warning me that that imprisonment and hardships await me”. The story continues with the account [from the following day’s reading from Acts 20:37-38] that they “were all weeping loudly and they threw their arms around Paul and kissed him, for they were deeply distressed that he had said that they would never see his face again. Then they escorted him to the ship”. Paul, however, encouraged them to go forward, to preach the Gospel, and not to tire.

Even Jesus’ talk — noted the Pope — is “a farewell discourse, before going to Gethsemane to begin the passion”. And “the disciples were saddened” because of this. But “a small phrase from Jesus’ words of farewell make us think”, he explained. Jesus, in fact, “talks to the Father, and in this conversation he says: ‘I pray for them’”. So “Jesus prays for us”. A fact that may seem “a bit strange”, because “we think it is right to pray to Jesus, and that Jesus gives us grace. But Jesus prays for us! Jesus who prays, Jesus the man-God who prays! And he prays for us: he prays for me, he prays for you, and for each one of us”.

In reality, the Bishop of Rome continued, Jesus already “clearly said this to Peter”, assuring him of his prayer “that your faith not diminish”. He also recalled how Jesus “prayed for Lazarus before the tomb”. And in this “same farewell discourse, he prays for all the disciples who will come and who will believe” in him. “He does not pray for the world, but for them”, telling the Father that his prayer is “for the ones you have given me, because they are yours”. Therefore, Jesus reminds us that “we all belong to the Father and he prays for us before the Father”.

In this regard, St Paul, the Pope explained, “in the eighth chapter of the Letter to the Romans, tells us that it is a prayer of intercession”. Thus “today, while we are praying here, Jesus is praying for us, he is praying for his Church”. And “the apostle John” reassures us that even when we sin we know that “we have a lawyer before the Father: one who prays for us and defends us before the Father, and he absolves us”.

It is important, the Pontiff remarked, “to carefully consider this truth, this reality: in this moment Jesus is praying for me. I can go forward in life because I have a lawyer who defends me. If I am guilty, I have many sins”, Jesus “is a good defense attorney and will speak about me to the Father”. And just “to highlight that he is the first lawyer, he tells us: I will send you another Paraclete, another lawyer. But he is the first. And he prays for me, and in the prayer of intercession that today, after his ascension into heaven, Jesus says for each of us”. In this way, “when — [whether] at church, at home with our families — we are in need or have problems, we say ‘pray for me’, we have to say the same to Jesus: ‘Lord, pray for me’”.

And today how does Jesus pray? “I believe that he does not talk too much with the Father — he loves” the Pope responded. He then added: “But there is one thing that Jesus does today, I am certain that he does: he shows his wounds to the Father. And Jesus, with his wounds, prays for us as if to say ‘Father, this is the price! Help them, protect them, they are your children whom I have saved’”.

Otherwise, advised Pope Francis, “one would not understand why Jesus, after the Resurrection, had this glorious, beautiful body: there were no bruises, there were no cuts from the scourging — all were healed, but the five wounds were there”. And “Jesus wanted to take them to heaven to pray for us, to show the Father the price”, as if to say: “This is the price, do not leave them alone now, help them!”.

“We — he continued — must have, this faith that Jesus, in this moment, intercedes before the Father for us, for each one of us. And when we pray, we are asking: “Jesus, help me, Jesus, give me strength, solve this problem, forgive me!”. To pray in this way, the Pope explained, “is okay”, but at the same time one must not forget to also say: “Jesus, pray for me, show the Father your wounds, which are also mine; they are the wounds of my sin, they are the wounds of my problem at this time”. In this way Jesus is the “intercessor who only shows his wounds to the Father — this happens today, at this time”.

In closing, the Holy Father returned to Jesus’ words to Peter, his prayer “that your faith not diminish”. With the certainty that he prays in the same way for “each one of us: ‘I pray for you brother, sister, I pray for you, that your faith not weaken!’”. For this we must have “faith in this prayer of Jesus, with his wounds, before the Father”.

Jonathan Fabian Ginunggil,
Pelayan Atasan Tertinggi / Most High Servant,
Yesus, Maria, Yusuf Pelayanan Kasih / Jesus, Mary, Joseph Ministry of Love 
(Blessed and Saints and the Nine Choirs of Angels)

My vocation is Blessed and Saints.

"I am the most humble of all the Saints in Heaven" Mary, Mother of God."

"I am the handmaid of the Lord, said Mary ‘let what you have said be done to me."

Mother Mary is the most humble Saint in Heaven and she is also the Mother of God for us all
(Luke 1:38)