Ribbon Placement:

Office of Readings for Friday in Week 7 of Easter

God, come to my assistance.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:

HYMN

There's a wideness in God's mercy

There is plentiful redemption

For the love of God is broader

If our love were but more simple

Souls of men, why will you scatter

There is welcome for the sinner

PSALMODY

Ant. 1 I am worn out with crying, with longing for my God, alleluia.

Psalm 69:2-22; 30-37

I

Save me, O God,

I have sunk into the mud of the deep

I am wearied with all my crying,

More numerous than the hairs on my head

How can I restore

Let those who hope in you not be put to shame

It is for you that I suffer taunts,

When I afflict my soul with fasting

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:

Ant. I am worn out with crying, with longing for my God, alleluia.

Ant. 2 I needed food and they gave me gall; I was parched with thirst and they gave me vinegar, alleluia.

II

This is my prayer to you,

Save me from the waters of the deep

Lord, answer, for your love is kind;

You know how they taunt and deride me;

For food they gave me poison;

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:

Ant. I needed food and they gave me gall; I was parched with thirst and they gave me vinegar, alleluia.

Ant. 3 Seek the Lord and you will live, alleluia.

III

As for me in my poverty and pain

I will praise God’s name with a song;

The poor when they see it will be glad

For God will bring help to Zion

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:

Psalm-prayer

God our Father, to show the way of salvation, you chose that the standard of the cross should go before us, and you fulfilled the ancient prophecies in Christ’s Passover from death to life. Do not let us rouse your burning indignation by sin, but rather, through the contemplation of his wounds, make us burn with zeal for the honor of your Church and with grateful love for you.

Ant. Seek the Lord and you will live, alleluia.

Sacred Silence (indicated by a bell) – a moment to reflect and receive in our hearts the full resonance of the voice of the Holy Spirit and to unite our personal prayer more closely with the word of God and public voice of the Church.

Christ Jesus you have risen from the dead, alleluia.

READINGS

First reading

The elder to a Lady who is elect and to her children.

In truth I love each of you—and not only I but also all those who have come to know the truth. This love is based on the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever. In truth and love, then, we shall have grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son.

It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the path of truth, just as we were commanded by the Father. But now, my Lady, I would make this request of you (not as if I were writing you some new commandment; rather, it is a commandment we have had from the start): let us love one another. This love involves our walking according to the commandments, and as you have heard from the beginning, the commandment is the way in which you should walk.

Many deceitful men have gone out into the world, men who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. Such is the deceitful one! This is the antichrist! Look out that you yourselves do not lose what you have worked for; you must receive your reward in full.

Anyone who is so “progressive” that he does not remain rooted in the teaching of Christ does not possess God, while anyone who remains rooted in the teaching possesses both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you who does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house; do not even greet him, for whoever greets him shares in the evil he does.

While there is much more that I could write you, I do not intend to put it down on paper; instead, I hope to visit you and talk with you face to face, so that our joy may be full.

The children of your elect sister send you their greetings.

RESPONSORY See 2 John 5, 3; Deuteronomy 5:33

The Father has given us this commandment – it is not a new commandment but one that we have received from the beginning –

Follow the path the Lord has taught you and you shall live.

Second reading

Our Lord commanded us to baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. In baptism, then, we profess faith in the Creator, in the only-begotten Son and in the gift which is the Spirit. There is one Creator of all things, for in God there is one Father from whom all things have their being. And there is one only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom all things exist. And there is one Spirit, the gift who is in all. So all follow their due order, according to the proper operation of each: one power, which brings all things into being, one Son, through whom all things come to be, and one gift of perfect hope. Nothing is wanting to this flawless union: in Father, Son and Holy Spirit, there is infinity of endless being, perfect reflection of the divine image, and mutual enjoyment of the gift.

Our Lord has described the purpose of the Spirit’s presence in us. Let us listen to his words: I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. It is to your advantage that I go away; if I go, I will send you the Advocate. And also: I will ask the Father and he will give you another Counselor to be with you for ever, the Spirit of truth. He will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine.

From among many of our Lord’s sayings, these have been chosen to guide our understanding, for they reveal to us the intention of the giver, the nature of the gift and the condition for its reception. Since our weak minds cannot comprehend the Father or the Son, we have been given the Holy Spirit as our intermediary and advocate, to shed light on that hard doctrine of our faith, the incarnation of God.

We receive the Spirit of truth so that we can know the things of God. In order to grasp this, consider how useless the faculties of the human body would become if they were denied their exercise. Our eyes cannot fulfill their task without light, either natural or artificial; our ears cannot react without sound vibrations, and in the absence of any odor our nostrils are ignorant of their function. Not that these senses would lose their own nature if they were not used; rather, they demand objects of experience in order to function. It is the same with the human soul. Unless it absorbs the gift of the Spirit through faith, the mind has the ability to know God but lacks the light necessary for that knowledge.

This unique gift which is in Christ is offered in its fullness to everyone. It is everywhere available, but it is given to each man in proportion to his readiness to receive it. Its presence is the fuller, the greater a man’s desire to be worthy of it. This gift will remain with us until the end of the world, and will be our comfort in the time of waiting. By the favors it bestows, it is the pledge of our hope for the future, the light of our minds, and the splendor that irradiates our understanding.

RESPONSORY

The time has come for me to return to him who sent me, says the Lord, do not be sad or let your hearts be troubled.

If I do not go, the Paraclete will not come. When I am taken up, I will send him to you.

CONCLUDING PRAYER

O God,

ACCLAMATION (at least in the communal celebration)

Let us praise the Lord.