First Reading

A reading from the Acts of the Apostles

Acts 11:1-18

In those days, the apostles and the brothers who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles too had received the word of God. When Peter returned to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers confronted him, saying, “You entered the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them.”

Peter then explained to them from the beginning what had happened: “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I had a vision. I saw something resembling a large sheet coming down, lowered from the sky by its four corners, and it came to me. Looking intently into it, I observed four-legged creatures of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles, and birds of the sky. Then I heard a voice say to me, ‘Get up, Peter. Slaughter and eat.’ But I replied, ‘Certainly not, Lord! I have never eaten anything profane or unclean.’ The voice from heaven answered a second time, ‘What God has made clean, you are not to call profane.’ This happened three times, and then everything was drawn up again into the sky.

At that very moment, three men sent to me from Caesarea arrived at the house where I was staying. The Spirit instructed me to go with them without hesitation. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man’s house. He reported to us how he had seen a guardian angel standing in his house, who said, ‘Send to Joppa for Simon, called Peter. He will speak words to you that will bring salvation to you and to your whole household.’ As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them as it had upon us at the beginning. Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ If then God gave them the same gift he gave to us when we came to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to be able to hinder God?”

When they heard this they stopped objecting and glorified God, saying, “God has then granted life-giving repentance to the Gentiles too.”

Gospel

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John

John 10:11-18

At that time, Jesus said to the Pharisees: “I am the good shepherd. A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. A hired man, who is not a shepherd and whose sheep are not his own, sees a wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away, and the wolf catches and scatters them, because he works for pay and has no concern for the sheep.

I am the good shepherd, because I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I will lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd.

This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have power to lay it down, and power to take it up again. This command I have received from my Father.”