A Prayer to St Dymphna – Hope. Wednesday; 15/05/19

Prayer to St. Dymphna – Hope

Good St. Dymphna, you placed all your hope in Christ’s promises, and sacrificed even your life in that hope. The Lord, God, rewarded your constancy by making your name known and loved over many centuries by the thousands whom you have aided in time of difficulty. Please assist us now in our present necessity, and intercede before God for our intentions. Obtain for us a firm hope like your own in God’s unfailing protection. Amen.

Reading 1, Acts 12:24–13:5

²⁴ The word of God continued to spread and to gain followers.

²⁵ Barnabas and Saul completed their task at Jerusalem and came back, bringing John Mark with them.

¹ In the church at Antioch the following were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen, who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.

² One day while they were offering worship to the Lord and keeping a fast, the Holy Spirit said, ‘I want Barnabas and Saulset apart for the work to which I have called them.’

³ So it was that after fasting and prayer they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

⁴ So these two, sent on their mission by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia and from there set sail for Cyprus.

⁵ They landed at Salamis and proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews; John acted as their assistant.

Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 67:2-3, 5, 6, 8

² Then the earth will acknowledge your ways, and all nations your power to save.

³ Let the nations praise you, God, let all the nations praise you.

⁵ Let the nations praise you, God, let all the nations praise you.

⁶ The earth has yielded its produce; God, our God has blessed us.

Gospel, John 12:44-50

⁴⁴ Jesus declared publicly: Whoever believes in me believes not in me but in the one who sent me,

⁴⁵ and whoever sees me, sees the one who sent me.

⁴⁶ I have come into the world as light, to prevent anyone who believes in me from staying in the dark any more.

⁴⁷ If anyone hears my words and does not keep them faithfully, it is not I who shall judge such a person, since I have come not to judge the world, but to save the world:

⁴⁸ anyone who rejects me and refuses my words has his judge already: the word itself that I have spoken will be his judge on the last day.

⁴⁹ For I have not spoken of my own accord; but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and what to speak,

⁵⁰ and I know that his commands mean eternal life. And therefore what the Father has told me is what I speak.