Praying the Sunday Mass Readings with St Beuno’s Outreach

St Beuno’s Outreach is based in St Beuno’s Jesuit Spirituality Centre in the hills of North Wales, in the Diocese of Wrexham. The Outreach began in 1989, with the idea of helping people develop and maintain a personal relationship with God through Christ by praying the Word of God in the Sunday liturgy. From a prayerful awareness of the Spirit working in and through us will come a sense of mission, a desire to join Christ in his mission.

How to pray with Scripture - from St Beuno's Outreach
It is usually most helpful when entering into a formal period of prayer to spend some time quietening down and centring on God. The following indications, known as “Anchor Points” have been found to provide a good framework for your prayer. Particularly important after coming to some inner quiet is the slow entry and slow exit from prayer.

FOUR ANCHOR POINTS

  1. PREPARATION

Choose your place of prayer. Make yourself comfortable, you may like to light a candle. Get in touch with your feelings: What is my frame of mind? What do I want to say to the Lord; what do I desire?

  1. ENTRY INTO PRAYER

Become quiet and still. Relax. Try to put aside any distractions. Choose a passage of scripture. Make the sign of the cross, visibly or in your heart. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide your prayer. Read your chosen text slowly several times. Notice what comforts or disturbs you.

  1. SLOW EXIT FROM PRAYER

Speak to the Lord in your own words about this time of prayer, what has it meant to you. Perhaps finish with the Glory be to the Father or a favourite prayer of your own. Make a sign of the cross, internal or external. Leave your place of prayer, thanking God for the time he has spent with you.

  1. REFLECTION AFTER PRAYER

Ask for whatever grace you need to respond to our Lord, “with my whole heart, my whole soul, my whole mind”. If possible, do this in a different place. Recall the prayer period: Was it good to be at prayer?  Did you learn something; maybe feel that the Lord was asking something of you? Notice how you are feeling now. You may find it helpful to jot down your thoughts in a notebook.

Fifth Sunday of Easter, Year A, 3rd May 2026

The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone

As we continue to live through this joyful Eastertide, the readings this week show us the new Christians attempting to organise their community. After prayer and discernment, they solve the dispute between the Hebrews and the Hellenists and appoint seven leaders. (First Reading)

The Psalm celebrates in song the word of the Lord, who is merciful and loves justice and right.

The Second Reading seeks to reassure us. We are a chosen race, a royal priesthood and a holy nation. Christ is the cornerstone of the building, and all Christians its living stones.

The Gospel comes from the Last Supper discourse, where Jesus prepares his friends for his departure. Thomas and Philip find it hard to follow his words, but they will never be alone, for Jesus will be alongside them. He is the way, the truth and the life.

This week, we pray for all who are unable to accept Jesus as the cornerstone of their life. As we go about our own lives in the coming days, we might use the response to the psalm: ‘May your merciful love be upon me, as I hope in you, O Lord’.

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