Daily Reading for Monday, April 26th, 2021

Reading 1, Acts 11:1-18

¹ The apostles and the brothers in Judaea heard that gentiles too had accepted the word of God,

² and when Peter came up to Jerusalem the circumcised believers protested to him

³ and said, 'So you have been visiting the uncircumcised and eating with them!'

⁴ Peter in reply gave them the details point by point,

⁵ 'One day, when I was in the town of Jaffa,' he began, 'I fell into a trance as I was praying and had a vision of something like a big sheet being let down from heaven by its four corners. This sheet came right down beside me.

⁶ I looked carefully into it and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles, and birds of heaven.

⁷ Then I heard a voice that said to me, "Now, Peter, kill and eat!"

⁸ But I answered, "Certainly not, Lord; nothing profane or unclean has ever crossed my lips."

⁹ And a second time the voice spoke from heaven, "What God has made clean, you have no right to call profane."

¹⁰ This was repeated three times, before the whole of it was drawn up to heaven again.

¹¹ 'Just at that moment, three men stopped outside the house where we were staying; they had been sent from Caesarea to fetch me,

¹² and the Spirit told me to have no hesitation about going back with them. The six brothers here came with me as well, and we entered the man's house.

¹³ He told us he had seen an angel standing in his house who said, "Send to Jaffa and fetch Simon known as Peter;

¹⁴ he has a message for you that will save you and your entire household."

¹⁵ 'I had scarcely begun to speak when the Holy Spirit came down on them in the same way as it came on us at the beginning,

¹⁶ and I remembered that the Lord had said, "John baptised with water, but you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit."

¹⁷ I realised then that God was giving them the identical gift he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ; and who was I to stand in God's way?'

¹⁸ This account satisfied them, and they gave glory to God, saying, 'God has clearly granted to the gentiles too the repentance that leads to life.'

Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 42:2-3; 43:3, 4

² I thirst for God, the living God; when shall I go to see the face of God?

³ I have no food but tears day and night, as all day long I am taunted, 'Where is your God?'

³ Send out your light and your truth; they shall be my guide, to lead me to your holy mountain to the place where you dwell.

⁴ Then I shall go to the altar of God, to the God of my joy. I will rejoice and praise you on the harp, O God, my God.

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