Daily Bible Reading

READING OF THE DAY

A reading from the Book of the Acts of the Apostles
Acts 18:9-18

One night while Paul was in Corinth, the Lord said to him in a vision,
“Do not be afraid.
Go on speaking, and do not be silent, for I am with you.
No one will attack and harm you,
for I have many people in this city.”
He settled there for a year and a half
and taught the word of God among them.

But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia,
the Jews rose up together against Paul
and brought him to the tribunal, saying,
“This man is inducing people to worship God contrary to the law.”
When Paul was about to reply, Gallio spoke to the Jews,
“If it were a matter of some crime or malicious fraud,
I should with reason hear the complaint of you Jews;
but since it is a question of arguments over doctrine and titles
and your own law, see to it yourselves.
I do not wish to be a judge of such matters.”
And he drove them away from the tribunal.
They all seized Sosthenes, the synagogue official,
and beat him in full view of the tribunal.
But none of this was of concern to Gallio.

Paul remained for quite some time,
and after saying farewell to the brothers he sailed for Syria,
together with Priscilla and Aquila.
At Cenchreae he had shaved his head because he had taken a vow. 

GOSPEL OF THE DAY

From the Gospel according to John
16:20-23

Jesus said to his disciples: 
“Amen, amen, I say to you, you will weep and mourn,
while the world rejoices;
you will grieve, but your grief will become joy.
When a woman is in labor, she is in anguish because her hour has arrived;
but when she has given birth to a child,
she no longer remembers the pain because of her joy
that a child has been born into the world.
So you also are now in anguish.
But I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice,
and no one will take your joy away from you.
On that day you will not question me about anything.
Amen, amen, I say to you,
whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.”

THE WORDS OF THE POPES

And we must be truthful with ourselves: not all of Christian life is a celebration. Not all of it! We weep, very often we weep. When you are sick; when you have a problem in the family, with your son, with your daughter, your wife, your husband; when you realize that your salary won’t last until the end of the month and you have a sick child; when you realize you cannot pay your mortgage and have to move out… So many problems, so many that we have.

But Jesus tells us: “Do not be afraid!” “Yes, you will be sad, you will weep, and there will even be people who take pleasure in this, people who are against you”. … “Your sadness will turn into joy”. But it is difficult, when you go to a man or woman who is sick, who is suffering a lot, to say: “Take heart! Take heart! Tomorrow you will have joy!” No, you cannot say this. We must make them feel how Jesus made them feel. We too, when we are in the midst of darkness, seeing nothing: “I know, Lord, that this sorrow will turn into joy. I don’t know how, but I know it!” An act of faith in the Lord. An act of faith! To be courageous in suffering and to think that afterwards comes the Lord, afterwards comes joy, after the darkness comes the sun. May the Lord give all of us. This joy in hope. (Pope Francis, Homily at Santa Marta, 30 May 2014)