Daily Liturgy
Thursday May 26, 2022
PHILIP NERI, Priest
Introduction
St. Philip Neri was a priest of Rome in the 16th century. He founded the Oratorians, a congregation for secular priests. At a time of religious decadence, he did much to revive a true religious sense and devotion to the eucharist. He was very original and always of joyous disposition, often playing practical jokes on friends , so much so that some doubted his sanctity. His biography tells that his heart beat so strongly with love of God that one day two of his ribs cracked.
Opening Prayer
God, our Father,
you want us to be joyful people
as we are disciples of the risen Lord
who defeated death as the great enemy.
Thank you for creating us for happiness.
Help us to make our own
the motto of Saint Philip Neri
that joy is the best way to perfection.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Reading 1: ACTS 18:1-8
Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.
There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus,
who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla
because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome.
He went to visit them and, because he practiced the same trade,
stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade.
Every Sabbath, he entered into discussions in the synagogue,
attempting to convince both Jews and Greeks.
When Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia,
Paul began to occupy himself totally with preaching the word,
testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus.
When they opposed him and reviled him,
he shook out his garments and said to them,
“Your blood be on your heads!
I am clear of responsibility.
From now on I will go to the Gentiles. So he left there and went to a house
belonging to a man named Titus Justus, a worshiper of God;
his house was next to a synagogue.
Crispus, the synagogue official, came to believe in the Lord
along with his entire household, and many of the Corinthians
who heard believed and were baptized.
Responsorial Psalm 98:1, 2-3AB, 3CD-4
(see 2b) The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Sing to the LORD a new song,
for he has done wondrous deeds;
His right hand has won victory for him,
his holy arm.
R. The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.
or:
R. Alleluia.
The LORD has made his salvation known:
in the sight of the nations he has revealed his justice.
He has remembered his kindness and his faithfulness
toward the house of Israel.
R. The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.
or:
R. Alleluia.
All the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation by our God.
Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands;
break into song; sing praise.
R. The Lord has revealed to the nations his saving power.
or:
R. Alleluia.
Alleluia: JN 14:18
Alleluia, alleluia.
I will not leave you orphans, says the Lord;
I will not come back to you, and your hearts will rejoice.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel: JN 16:16-20
Jesus said to his disciples:
“A little while and you will no longer see me,
and again a little while later and you will see me.”
So some of his disciples said to one another,
“What does this mean that he is saying to us,
‘A little while and you will not see me,
and again a little while and you will see me,’
and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?”
So they said, “What is this ‘little while’ of which he speaks?
We do not know what he means.”
Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them,
“Are you discussing with one another what I said,
‘A little while and you will not see me,
and again a little while and you will see me’?
Amen, amen, I say to you,
you will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices;
you will grieve, but your grief will become joy.”
Intercessions
– For those responsible for the earth, that the Spirit may guide them to respect God’s work of creation, its beauty and integrity, we pray:
– For people facing death, that their hope in the resurrection may assure them that God will give them everlasting life, we pray:
– For those who suffer, that they may know that God knows and that the Spirit may turn their pain into joy, we pray:
Prayer over the Gifts
Lord our God,
with bread and wine we celebrate
the feast meal to which Jesus invites us.
Let us be together here with him
in the joy of friendship and love
that unites us as your happy people.
Let this eucharist prepare us
to share one day in the joy
which you have prepared for all who love you,
We ask you this through Christ our Lord.
Prayer after Communion
Lord, our faithful God,
we have celebrated with joy
the liberating presence among us
of your Son Jesus Christ
and we have eaten from his table.
Accompany us through life
through the Holy Spirit of your Son,,
the playful Spirit of wisdom and fantasy,
of encounter and gratuitous love,
that hand in hand we may go on
believing in the unexpected
and making the impossible come true,
until you gather us around the table
of your feast that lasts for ever.
Blessing
“A sad saint is a sad sort of saint,” said St. Philip Neri. God loves the joyful giver. May God give us the joy of people risen with Christ:the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Commentary
Christian Sorrow
When the world is madly after pursuit of happiness, Christianity fells like killjoy. Why is it so?
In the movie Hotel Rwanda that tells the story of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, Jack, a journalist, plays back the horrible scenes of lynching that he recorded, to some of the stunned officials of the hotel. They ask Jack to send the footage immediately to the international news channels so that the world will see and respond. Jack pessimistically refuses commenting thus: “I think that when people turn on their TVs and see this footage, they’ll say, ‘Oh my God, that’s horrible,’ and then they’ll go back to eating their dinners.”
Sad, but true! Yet, when the ‘world’ goes back to dinner, authentic Christians simply cannot: They are compelled to share in the suffering of their brethren and alleviate the same. They seem like killjoys, but they have a joy that can never be taken away.
Reflection taken from Bible Diary 2022;
written by Fr.Paulson Velyannoor, CMF