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Today's Readings
Reading I
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
R. (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.
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.” |
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Saint Joseph the Worker
Died 1st Century
May 1
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On May 1, 1955, Pope Pius XII
granted a public audience to the Catholic Association of Italian Workers,
whose members had gathered in Saint Peter’s Square to celebrate the tenth
anniversary of their society. They were solemnly renewing, in common,
their promise of loyalty to the social doctrine of the Church, and it was
on that day that the Pope instituted the liturgical feast of May 1st, in
honor of Saint Joseph the Worker. He assured his audience and the working
people of the world: “You have beside you a shepherd, a defender and a
father” in Saint Joseph, the carpenter whom God in His providence chose to
be the virginal father of Jesus and the head of the Holy Family. He is
silent but has excellent hearing, and his intercession is very powerful
over the Heart of the Saviour.
We can conclude from the role for which Saint Joseph was chosen and named
by Heaven that he was a man of tried virtue and consummate holiness. No
other mortal man would ever hold a higher office. Saint Joseph surpassed
all the Saints of the Old Law in sanctity; in him the virtue of his
ancestors reached its culmination and perfection. Like Abraham, he was a
man of faith and obedience; like Isaac, one of prayer and vision; like
Jacob, he was patient and self-sacrificing; like Joseph of Egypt, his
chastity was inviolable. And like David, of whom he is the direct
descendant, he is a royal intercessor according to the heart of God. Ite
ad Joseph — Go to Joseph; to Joseph of Egypt, the pharaoh told the needy
to go for assistance to receive the grain that would save their lives. To
the new Joseph, the just man to whom the Son of God Himself was subject as
to a father, all Christians can go with confidence, and he will see to
their spiritual and temporal needs with paternal goodness.
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