Reading 1,Β Acts 17:15, 22-18:1

15Β Paul’s escort took him as far as Athens, and went back with instructions for Silas and Timothy to rejoin Paul as soon as they could.

22Β So Paul stood before the whole council of the Areopagus and made this speech: ‘Men of Athens, I have seen for myself how extremely scrupulous you are in all religious matters,

23Β because, as I strolled round looking at your sacred monuments, I noticed among other things an altar inscribed: To An Unknown God. In fact, the unknownΒ GodΒ you revere is the one I proclaim to you.

24Β ‘Since theΒ GodΒ who made the world and everything in it is himselfΒ LordΒ ofΒ heavenΒ and earth, he does not make his home in shrines made by human hands.

25Β Nor is he in need of anything, that he should be served by human hands; on the contrary, it is he who gives everything — includingΒ lifeΒ and breath — to everyone.

26Β From one single principle he not only created the whole human race so that they could occupy the entire earth, but he decreed the times and limits of their habitation.

27Β And he did this so that they might seek theΒ deityΒ and, by feeling their way towards him, succeed in finding him; and indeed he is not far from any of us,

28Β since it is in him that we live, and move, and exist, as indeed some of your own writers have said: We are all his children.

29Β ‘Since we are theΒ childrenΒ of God, we have no excuse for thinking that theΒ deityΒ looks like anything in gold, silver or stone that has been carved and designed by a man.

30Β ‘But now, overlooking the times of ignorance,Β GodΒ is telling everyone everywhere that they must repent,

31Β because he has fixed a day when the whole worldΒ willΒ be judged in uprightness by aΒ manΒ he has appointed. AndΒ GodΒ has publicly proved this by raising him from the dead.’

32Β At this mention of rising from the dead, some of them burst out laughing; others said, ‘We would like to hear you talk about this another time.’

33Β After that Paul left them,

34Β but there were some who attached themselves to him and became believers, among them Dionysius the Aeropagite and aΒ womanΒ called Damaris, and others besides.

1Β After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth,

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Responsorial Psalm,Β Psalms 148:1-2, 11-12, 13, 14

1Β Alleluia! PraiseΒ YahwehΒ from the heavens, praise him in the heights.

2Β Praise him, all his angels, praise him, all his host!

11Β kings of the earth and all nations, princes and allΒ judgesΒ on earth,

12Β young men and girls, old people andΒ childrenΒ together.

13Β Let them praise the name of Yahweh, for his name alone is sublime, his splendour transcends earth and heaven.

14Β For he heightens theΒ strengthΒ of his people, to the praise of all hisΒ faithful, theΒ childrenΒ of Israel, the people close to him.

Gospel,Β John 16:12-15

12Β I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you to bear now.

13Β However, when theΒ SpiritΒ ofΒ truthΒ comes heΒ willΒ lead you to the complete truth, since heΒ willΒ not be speaking of his own accord, butΒ willΒ say only what he has been told; and heΒ willΒ reveal to you the things to come.

14Β HeΒ willΒ glorify me, since all he reveals to youΒ willΒ be taken from what is mine.

15Β Everything the Father has is mine; that is why I said: all he reveals to youΒ willΒ be taken from what is mine.