First reading: Acts 6:8-15
Stephen was filled with grace and power and began to work miracles and great signs among the people. But then certain people came forward to debate with Stephen, some from Cyrene and Alexandria who were members of the synagogue called the Synagogue of Freedmen, and others from Cilicia and Asia. They found they could not get the better of him because of his wisdom, and because it was the Spirit that prompted what he said. So they procured some men to say, ‘We heard him using blasphemous language against Moses and against God.’ Having in this way turned the people against him as well as the elders and scribes, they took Stephen by surprise, and arrested him and brought him before the Sanhedrin. There they put up false witnesses to say, ‘This man is always making speeches against this Holy Place and the Law. We have heard him say that Jesus the Nazarene is going to destroy this Place and alter the traditions that Moses handed down to us.’ The members of the Sanhedrin all looked intently at Stephen, and his face appeared to them like the face of an angel.
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 118(119):23-24,26-27,29-30
They are happy whose life is blameless.
Though princes sit plotting against me,
I ponder on your statutes.
Your will is my delight;
your statutes are my counsellors.
They are happy whose life is blameless.
I declared my ways and you answered;
teach me your statutes.
Make me grasp the way of your precepts,
and I will muse on your wonders.
They are happy whose life is blameless.
Keep me from the way of error
and teach me your law.
I have chosen the way of truth
with your decrees before me.
They are happy whose life is blameless.
Gospel Acclamation
[replaced when day falls on St Joseph the Worker memorial 1 May]
Alleluia, alleluia!
‘You believe, Thomas, because you can see me.
Happy are those who have not seen and yet believe.
Alleluia!