N Mass Readings for sixth Wednesday of Easter, May 12, 2010

This is an open book quiz; open a 2nd screen and take the quiz as you read the passages below. Take as much time and as many chances as you need to get 100.
Name: 


  1. Reading 1

    Acts 17:15, 22—18:1 in the New Testament of the Bible

    After Paul’s escorts had taken him to Athens,
    they came away with instructions for Silas and Timothy
    to join him as soon as possible.

    Then Paul stood up at the Areopagus and said:
    “You Athenians, I see that in every respect
    you are very religious.
    For as I walked around looking carefully at your shrines,
    I even discovered an altar inscribed, ‘To an Unknown God.’
    What therefore you unknowingly worship, I proclaim to you.
    The God who made the world and all that is in it,
    the Lord of heaven and earth,
    does not dwell in sanctuaries made by human hands,
    nor is he served by human hands because he needs anything.
    Rather it is he who gives to everyone life and breath and everything.
    He made from one the whole human race
    to dwell on the entire surface of the earth,
    and he fixed the ordered seasons and the boundaries of their regions,
    so that people might seek God,
    even perhaps grope for him and find him,
    though indeed he is not far from any one of us.
    For ‘In him we live and move and have our being,’
    as even some of your poets have said,
    ‘For we too are his offspring.’
    Since therefore we are the offspring of God,
    we ought not to think that the divinity is like an image
    fashioned from gold, silver, or stone by human art and imagination.
    God has overlooked the times of ignorance,
    but now he demands that all people everywhere repent
    because he has established a day on which he will ‘judge the world
    with justice’ through a man he has appointed,
    and he has provided confirmation for all
    by raising him from the dead.”

    When they heard about resurrection of the dead,
    some began to scoff, but others said,
    “We should like to hear you on this some other time.”
    And so Paul left them.
    But some did join him, and became believers.
    Among them were Dionysius,
    a member of the Court of the Areopagus,
    a woman named Damaris, and others with them.

    After this he left Athens and went to Corinth.



  1. Responsorial Psalm: Ps 148 in the Old Testament of the Bible

    R. Heaven and earth are full of your glory.

    Praise the LORD from the heavens;
    praise him in the heights.
    Praise him, all you his angels;
    praise him, all you his hosts.
    R. Heaven and earth are full of your glory.

    Let the kings of the earth and all peoples,
    the princes and all the judges of the earth,
    Young men too, and maidens,
    old men and boys.
    R. Heaven and earth are full of your glory.

    Praise the name of the LORD,
    for his name alone is exalted;
    His majesty is above earth and heaven.
    R. Heaven and earth are full of your glory.

    He has lifted up the horn of his people;
    Be this his praise from all his faithful ones,
    from the children of Israel, the people close to him.
    Alleluia.
    R. Heaven and earth are full of your glory.



  1. Gospel: John 16:12-15 in the New Testament of the Bible

    Jesus said to his disciples:
    “I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now.
    But when he comes, the Spirit of truth,
    he will guide you to all truth.
    He will not speak on his own,
    but he will speak what he hears,
    and will declare to you the things that are coming.
    He will glorify me,
    because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.
    Everything that the Father has is mine;
    for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine
    and declare it to you.”



  1. St. Damien of Molokai


    In the 1800s, the Hawaiian Islands suffered a severe leprosy epidemic. In order to contain the spread of the disease, those infected were isolated to the island of Molokai. Unfortunately, the Hawaiian government was remiss in their duties to properly care for the community of lepers and the suffering were abandoned to the island without any means to care for themselves. Ashore, they found no law and no organized society. Sexual immorality, violence, and drunkenness ignited by liquor made from tree roots became the way of life for the lepers. Hope was also abandoned and many of the inhabitants lived in despair. Some described the island as a “living graveyard.”

    But in 1873 a Belgian missionary priest, born as Joseph Van Veuster but known as Father Damien of the Fathers of the Sacred Heart, was sent at his own request to Molokai to work among the lepers. He had already lived and worked among the Hawaiian people for 9 years. His heart was consumed with compassion for the sickness and suffering which had destroyed these simple people. Originating with the European travelers who had “discovered the paradise” known as Hawaii, diseases such as small pox, cholera, influenza, and tuberculosis would nearly wipe out the native people who had no immunity to these foreign viruses. The most devastating disease would be leprosy.

    Father Damien requested and was granted the mission of serving exclusively on the island of Molokai. Since there was no cure for leprosy at the time, this choice meant certain death for the young priest who had just turned 33. Poet and author Robert Louis Stevenson wrote of Father Damien’s decision, “He shut to, with his own hands, the doors of his own sepulchre.”

    Amidst the chaos encountered upon his arrival on the tiny island, Father Damien worked immediately to restore human dignity and respect for life to each person. He organized burial details and performed funeral rites, so that death might have some beauty. He provided medical attention for the wounds and sicknesses that could be healed. He taught them how to grow crops so they could eat better. In a small chapel on the island, he began to preach and teach about the healing and saving power of Jesus Christ. The people began to sing and pray and love each other in holiness and humility.

    A small chapel on Molokai, named for St. Philomena, was soon filled to capacity each week. With the help of the island inhabitants, Father Damien built a larger one, which soon overflowed each Sunday as well. He gave the people the sacraments, baptizing, confirming, offering Confession and Last Rites. When he was able to have them, his own confessions were public. On occasion, his order would send a priest by boat who would anchor off shore from the island. Father Damien would wade as far out into the ocean as he was able. There he would yell out his transgressions so he might receive the pardon and mercy of the Father.

    Father Damien contracted leprosy himself in 1885, and in those final years worked diligently to complete the works that he had begun, building orphanages, organizing clinics, constructing housing. He died on April 15, 1889. Pope John Paul II beatified him in June 1995 under the title “Blessed Father Damien, Servant of Humanity.”






Mrs. Moroles
Oratory Athenaeum
Pharr, TX