Seventh Sunday of Easter, C
Acts 7: 55-60
Psalm 97
Revelation 22: 12-14, 16-17, 20
John 17: 20-26

The First Reading (from Acts) describes the stoning of Stephen, the first Christian martyr. He is described as “looking up intently to heaven and where he saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.” This vision of the ascended Lord in glory strengthens Stephen to withstand his martyrdom and to forgive his stoners. The Responsorial Psalm, too, is echoing the Church’s Ascension theme of Christ as “the Lord Most High, over all the earth, far exalted above all gods.” The Second Reading ties the Ascension into the coming at the end of time, and says: “The Spirit and the Bride (i.e., the Church) say: Come! The One who gives this testimony says, ‘Yes, I am coming soon!’
Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!” The Gospel, from Jesus’ high priestly prayer, is a famous prayer for unity in the church, unity based on the union of the Father and the Son—a unity to be expressed in the spread of the Good News. But, as in the Second Reading, this is not just focused on earth, but on those things that are to come: “I wish that where I am, they also may be with Me, that they may see My glory that You gave Me.” In a hymn from the Matins of the Ascension in the Byzantine Church, these ideas are joined also: “Today the Powers on high see our nature in heaven, and they marvel at this wondrous Ascension, and they say to one another: Who is this who has just arrived in heaven? But when they recognize their own Lord, they order the gates of heaven to be opened. With them, let us praise unceasingly the One who shall come again from heaven in our flesh, as the judge of the universe and the almighty God!”

As we walk in Paschal brightness,
Knowing that the Lord is king,
All our hardships and our peril
Cannot stop us as we sing:
Justice is His throne’s foundation,
All the heav’ns His justice names,
You, the Lord Most High, are glorious,
Over other specious claims!

Stephen, filled with Spirit’s boldness,
Told of Christ at God’s right side,
Even as the crowd in vengeance
Stoned him, and in faith he died.
Jesus warned us: Worldly powers
Know Me not, and scorned My name;
All who claim Me as Messiah
Will alike share scorn and blame.

In the times of deepest darkness,
We shall hear this voice of love:
“Now behold Me, quickly coming!
Bringing down from heav’n above
Recompense for all your striving,
For your robes have been washed clean!
All you thirsty, come and drink here
Claiming life as yet unseen!

Amen! Amen! Come, Lord Jesus,
Bright and lovely Morning Star,
Bring Your Church to see the splendor
Dimly seen now from afar.
Show us, Master, how to love You
In our life and in our death;
Let us serve You and proclaim You
Till our final gasping breath.



The psalms for this week’s Liturgy of the Hours are taken from Week III, using the Easter antiphons. Everything from the reading on is taken from the Proper of the Season. According to the General Norms for the Liturgical Year and the Calendar, “the weekdays after the Ascension until the Saturday before Pentecost inclusive are a preparation for the coming of the Holy Spirit.” The Office Hymn at Vespers each day during this period is the classic “Veni Creator Spiritus.”

Propers from the Roman Gradual

As the Church gathers with Mary and the rest of the disciples in the Upper Room, we raise our voice in prayer, telling God, “Your face, Lord, will I seek; O hide not your face from your servant.” The Offertory reflects back to the celebration of the Ascension,
as does the Communion, which is taken from today’s Gospel, Jesus’ high priestly prayer.

Introit: Exaudi, Domine (Ps. 27:10-12, 1)
Hearken, O Lord, unto my voice, with which I have called to you, alleluia;
unto you my heart has said, “Your face, Lord, have I sought.”
Your face, O Lord, will I seek. O hide not your face from your servant,
alleluia, alleluia.
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom then shall I fear?
The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom then shall I be afraid?

Offertory: Ascendit Deus (Ps. 47:5)
God has gone up with a merry noise,
and the Lord with the sound of the trumpet, alleluia.

Communion: Pater, cum essem (Jn. 17:12,13,15)
(matches the Gospel in Year B)
Father, while I was with them,
I kept them in your Name, which you have given to me, alleluia;
but now I am coming to you.
I do not pray that you should take them out of the world,
but that you should keep them from the evil, alleluia, alleluia.

Propers from the Simple Gradual

Seventh Sunday of Easter can use any of the Ascension suite, BFW 175–183.

Entrance: BFW 79 (The Lord is my light and my salvation),
adding the concluding alleluia from BFW p. 378, VIII,
or BFW 176 (Jesus has been taken up to heaven . . . )
Response: Alleluia psalm BFW 216
or BFW 160 or BFW 161, or BFW169 or BFW 170
Gospel acclamation: BFW 162
Offertory: BFW 171 (Cry out to God with a joyful voice . . . )