Q: I have a question about the readings for the 6th Sunday of Easter in a diocese that celebrates Ascension on a Sunday. As I’m doing the brochure for my first mass on the 6th Sunday of Easter, I want to ask you: Do we take the first reading and psalm from the 6th Sunday and then the second reading and gospel from the 7th Sunday ??
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A: In conferences or dioceses where the Ascension falls on Sunday, the lectionary offers the option of hearing some of the readings for the Seventh Sunday of Easter that will be lost. In all the years that dioceses like mine have celebrated Ascension on a Sunday, I do not know of anyone who has taken advantage of this option. But it is there for the sake of those who like the 7th Sunday readings.
In my experience, in our parishes, most preachers, readers, and musicians have prepared for mass on the Sixth Sunday of Easter using the readings of the Sixth Sunday of Easter.
You are free to go with the 2nd reading and gospel of the 7th Sunday, but just be sure everyone knows! Otherwise they’ll probably expect everything from the 6th.