Wednesday of the Second Week of Easter

Wednesday of the Second Week of Easter. John 3:16 - God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son. God did not send his Son to condemn but to save. The light came into the world. The apostles jailed and freed by the angel: go and tell the people everything about this life.

The high priest and the Sadducees, filled with jealousy, arrest the apostles and put them in jail. During the night, the angel of the Lord opens the prison doors, leads them out, and says: go and take your place in the temple area, and tell the people everything about this life. They go to the temple early in the morning and teach. When the Sanhedrin sends for them, the officers find the jail locked and the guards at their posts, but no one inside. The apostles are found in the temple teaching. In the Gospel, the conclusion of the Nicodemus conversation: God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. The light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light. Whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.

DEACON/PRIEST: Lord Jesus, you are the only-begotten Son given by the Father so that the world might not perish but have eternal life. PEOPLE: Lord, have mercy.

DEACON/PRIEST: Christ Jesus, you came not to condemn but to save, and your light reveals our works as done in God. PEOPLE: Christ, have mercy.

DEACON/PRIEST: Lord Jesus, you open prison doors and send your people to tell everyone about this life. PEOPLE: Lord, have mercy.

PRIEST: The Lord hears the cry of the poor. Let us bring our prayers before the God who so loved the world that he gave his only Son.

DEACON/LECTOR:

1. For the whole Church, from Pope Leo to the newest member baptized at the Easter Vigil: that John 3:16 would never become so familiar that it loses its power to astonish, we pray to the Lord.

2. For those who carry a voice of condemnation they have mistaken for God - who believe they are failing, who hear judgment where there should be mercy - that today's Gospel would reach them clearly: God did not send his Son to condemn, we pray to the Lord.

3. For those imprisoned by addiction, mental illness, grief, or circumstances beyond their control, that the God who sent an angel to open the jail doors would open a door of hope for them, we pray to the Lord.

4. For the newly baptized in their tenth day of the faith, that the love described in John 3:16 would be the foundation they build everything else on, we pray to the Lord.

5. For our parish, that we would be a community where the light does not expose and shame but reveals that people's works are done in God, and where the prison doors are always being opened, we pray to the Lord.

6. For those who have died in the faith of John 3:16 - who believed in the only-begotten Son and trusted the promise of eternal life - that the life they trusted would now be theirs fully and forever, we pray to the Lord.

PRIEST: God of love, you gave your only Son so that the world would not perish. We believe. We receive. And we go to tell the people everything about this life, because the prison doors are open and the message cannot be contained. Through Christ our Risen Lord. Alleluia! Amen.