Surrexit Christus Alleluia!
 

Seventh Sunday of Easter : Reading cycle Year B
† 4th June 2000
Cycle of Prayer: World Communications Day

First Reading from the Acts of the Apostles 1 : 15 - 17, 20 - 26
The Christian community decides on the replacement for Judas, and chooses one of their number who has been with them since the beginning and can give witness to all that Jesus, said and did, and who will share the ministry of spreading the gospel. An important condition of election being that the one chosen should bear witness to the resurrection of the Lord. Thus Matthias is listed as one of the Twelve Apostles.

Second Reading from First Letter of John 4 : 11 - 16
There is a typical Johannine contrast between the ‘hatred’ of the world, and the ‘love’ initiative taken by God. The love that God shows can only be found through Jesus Christ. We know that God loves us through the experience of having God living in us, and because of the gift of the Spirit. “If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him, and he in God.”

Gospel according to John 17 : 11 - 19
Just as Jesus, when he was in the world, shepherded his disciples and kept them together, so having received the Word, these same disciples, now no longer part of the world are commissioned to go out into the world, and in their turn to bring forth truth. Jesus prays that the Father will protect them from evil and consecrate them in truth.