Easter Wednesday

Official Translation

Reading 1 – Acts 3.1-10

Peter and John were going up into the temple
at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour.
A certain man who was
crippled from his mother’s womb
was carried and laid daily
at the gate of the temple called “Beautiful”,
to ask beg for alms from those who entered the temple.

Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple,
he asked to receive alms.
Peter, fastening his eyes on him, together with John, said,
“Look at us.”
He listened to them,
expecting to receive something from them.
But Peter said, “Of silver and gold I have none,
but what I have I give you.
In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,
get up and walk!”

He took him by the right hand and raised him up.
Immediately his feet and his ankle bones received strength.
Leaping up, he stood, and began to walk.
He entered with them into the temple,
walking, leaping, and praising God.
All the people saw him walking and praising God.
They recognized him,
that it was he who used to sit
begging for alms
at the Beautiful Gate of the temple.
They were filled with wonder and amazement
at what had happened to him.

Responsorial – Psalm 105.1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 8-9 Resp. 3b

R. Rejoice, O hearts of those who seek the Lord. or R. Alleluia

Give thanks to the Lord! Call on his name!
Make his acts known among the nations.
Sing to him, sing praises to him!
Tell of all his marvelous works.

R. Rejoice, O hearts of those who seek the Lord. or R. Alleluia

Glory in his holy name.
Rejoice, O hearts of those who seek the Lord.
Seek the Lord and his strength.
Seek his face forevermore.

R. Rejoice, O hearts of those who seek the Lord. or R. Alleluia

You seed of Abraham, his servant,
you children of Jacob, his chosen ones.
He is the Lord, our God.
His judgments are in all the earth.

R. Rejoice, O hearts of those who seek the Lord. or R. Alleluia

He has remembered his covenant forever,
the word which he commanded to a thousand generations:
the covenant which he made with Abraham;
his oath to Isaac.

R. Rejoice, O hearts of those who seek the Lord. or R. Alleluia

Gospel - Luke 24.13-35

Two of them were going that very day
to a village named Emmaus,
which was almost seven miles from Jerusalem.
They talked with each other
about all of these things
which had happened.
While they talked and questioned together,
Jesus himself came near,
and went with them.
But their eyes were kept
from recognizing him.

He said to them,
“What is the subject that you are conversing
with one another about while walking?
And they stopped, sorrowful.
One of them, named Cleopas, answered him,
“Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem
who does not know the things
which have happened there in these days?”
He said to them, “What things?”

They said to him,
“The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth,
who was a prophet mighty in deed and word
before God and all the people;
and how our chief priests and rulers
delivered him up to be condemned to death,
and crucified him.
But we were hoping that it was he
who would redeem Israel.
Yes, and besides all this,
it is now the third day
since these things happened,
and certain women of our company amazed us,
having arrived early at the tomb:
when they did not find his body,
they came saying that they had
even seen a vision of angels,
who said that he was alive.
Some of us went to the tomb,
and found it just like the women had said,
but him they did not see.”

He said to them,
“O fools and slow of heart to believe
in all that the prophets have spoken!
Did not the Christ have to suffer these things
and so enter into his glory?”
Beginning from Moses and all the prophets,
he explained to them in all the Scriptures
the things concerning himself.

They drew near to the village,
where they were going,
and he acted like he would go further.
They urged him, saying, “Stay with us,
for it is almost evening, and the day is already fading.”
He went in to stay with them.

When he had sat down at the table with them,
he took the bread and blessed it.
Breaking it, he gave to them.
Their eyes were opened, and they recognized him,
and he vanished out of their sight.
They said to one another,
“Were our hearts not burning within us,
while he spoke to us along the way,
and while he opened the Scriptures to us?”

They rose up that very hour,
returned to Jerusalem,
and found the eleven gathered together,
and those who were with them, saying,
“The Lord is risen indeed,
and has appeared to Simon!”
They related the things
that happened along the way,
and how he was recognized by them
in the breaking of the bread.