Feast of Saint Charles Lwanga who with twelve companions suffered martyrdom in Uganda (+1886).

Reading of the Word of God

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

This is the Gospel of the poor,
liberation for the imprisoned,
sight for the blind,
freedom for the oppressed.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Acts 25,13-21

Some days later King Agrippa and Bernice arrived in Caesarea and paid their respects to Festus. Their visit lasted several days, and Festus put Paul's case before the king, saying, 'There is a man here whom Felix left behind in custody, and while I was in Jerusalem the chief priests and elders of the Jews laid information against him, demanding his condemnation. But I told them that Romans are not in the habit of surrendering any man, until the accused confronts his accusers and is given an opportunity to defend himself against the charge. So they came here with me, and I wasted no time but took my seat on the tribunal the very next day and had the man brought in. When confronted with him, his accusers did not charge him with any of the crimes I had expected; but they had some argument or other with him about their own religion and about a dead man called Jesus whom Paul alleged to be alive. Not feeling qualified to deal with questions of this sort, I asked him if he would be willing to go to Jerusalem to be tried there on this issue. But Paul put in an appeal for his case to be reserved for the judgement of the emperor, so I ordered him to be remanded until I could send him to Caesar.'

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Luke places here the encounter between Paul and King Agrippa II and his sister Bernice who have come to Caesarea to greet Festus, the Roman procurator who appears like a righteous one. Festus summarizes the trial that Paul is undergoing for Agrippa. The procurator, acutely, cuts to the heart of the problem: the accused, Paul, affirms that a certain Jesus, whom the Jews believe to be dead, is instead alive. The roman procurator considers this affirmation fairy-tale. In fact, without knowing, he had identified the problem. The issue contested to Paul was the centre of the apostle's preaching, a fact which also emerges from all of his letters: the death and resurrection of Jesus are the heart of the Gospel proclaims to his listeners. It is the heart of the proclamation of the Easter of Resurrection, the greatest gift God could give humanity. So much so that on the night of Holy Saturday, the Church sings of Adam's "happy fault" that led to the coming of the Saviour. In order to communicate this hope, which is the heart of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Paul faced difficulties and dangers of every kind and now is facing a lengthy trial. He is among the huge ranks of the disciples who gave their lives to testify to the resurrection of the Lord. Along the centuries Jesus' disciples who have followed this path are numberless. All of these brothers and sisters stand before us to show us the preciousness and the strength of Christ's love, which pushes us to give our lives for the Lord and our brothers and sisters.