First reading
Acts 8:5–8, 14–17
They laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
Responsorial psalm
Psalm 65(66):1–7, 16, 20
R. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
Second reading
1 Peter 3:15–18
In the body he was put to death, in the spirit he was raised to life.
Gospel acclamation
John 14:23
All who love me will keep my words, and my Father will love them and we will come to them.
Gospel
John 14:15–21
I shall ask the Father and he will give you another Advocate.
Images from the Word
- Spirit of truth
- Orphans
- I in you
- You will understand
- Laid hands on them
Liturgical notes
Zeal for the promotion and restoration of the liturgy is rightly held to be a sign of the providential dispositions of God in our time, as a movement of the Holy Spirit in His Church. It is today a distinguishing mark of the Church’s life.
—Vatican II, Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, §43
Our generation has witnessed a resurgence of the place of the Holy Spirit in our liturgy. Previously it was not common to speak of the working of the Spirit in the prayers of the Church. Nowadays we regularly name the Spirit working in our liturgy, particularly in the eucharistic prayers. It is only by the Spirit that the gifts we bring for consecration become the Body and Blood of Christ. As we share these gifts, we become one body, one spirit in Christ.
‘Almighty ever-living God, who restore us to eternal life in the Resurrection of Christ, increase in us, we pray, the fruits of this paschal Sacrament and pour into our hearts the strength of this saving food.’ —prayer after Communion