4th Sunday after Easter: follow the mass live! (9:30 am EDT)
Sung Mass of the 4th Sunday after Easter - Saint-Césaire - 9:30 am (EDT)
Today's liturgy exalts the justice of God (Intr., Ev.) which is manifested in the triumph of Jesus and the sending of the Holy Spirit. "The right hand of the Lord has made his power shine forth by raising Christ from the dead" (All.)
and by making him ascend to heaven on the day of his Ascension. It is expedient for us that Jesus should leave the earth, for from heaven he will send to his Church the Spirit of truth (Ev.), that excellent gift which comes from the Father of lights (Ep.).
The Holy Spirit will teach us all truth (Ev., Off., Sec.), "he will announce" what Jesus will say to him and it is by listening to this word of life that we will be saved (Ep.). The Holy Spirit will tell us the wonders that God has done for His Son (Intr., Off.) and this testimony of glorious righteousness to Our Lord will comfort our souls and sustain us in the midst of persecutions.
And since, in the words of St. James, "the test of our faith produces patience, which banishes inconsistency and makes works perfect" (1st Night), "we will thus imitate the patience of our God and Father" (2nd Night) in whom "there is no variation or change" (Ep.) and "our hearts will then be fixed where the true joys are" (Or.).
The Holy Spirit will also convince Satan and the world of the sin they have committed by delivering Jesus to death (Ev., Com.) and by continuing to persecute him in his Church.
