SEVENTH SUNDAY OF EASTER
May 21, 2023
AS WE GATHER
Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! What comfort it is to have someone tell us: “You are in my prayers”! We need and depend on family, friends, and other faithful members of Christ’s Church as they keep us in their prayers and bring our names before the heavenly throne of grace. There is even greater comfort in knowing that Jesus not only kept us in His prayer but that He continues to pray for us. Through His Spirit He has brought us to saving faith. All the details of our lives and faith are His concern, because He watches out for His own, the very ones He came to redeem with His own life-giving death on the cross of Calvary. He is praying for those whom the Father has given Him; He is praying for us. That gives us a new perspective to our praying “The Lord’s Prayer” and to all our prayers and hymns. Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!
BIBLE READINGS
FIRST READING: Acts 1:12-26
(Matthias is chosen to replace Judas.)
EPISTLE READING: 1 Peter 4:12-19; 5:6-11
(Facing suffering and temptation)
HOLY GOSPEL: John 17:1-11
(Jesus prays the High Priestly Prayer.)