A Prayer in Praise of God’s Greatness
Almighty, true and incomparable God,
You are present in all things,
yet in no way limited by them.
You remain unaffected by place,
untouched by time,
unperturbed by years,
and undeceived by words.
You are not subject to birth
and in no need of protection.
You are beyond all corruption,
above all change,
immutable by nature.
You live in unapproachable light
and are invisible,
yet You are known to all those
who seek You with hope and love.
You are the God of Israel,
and of all who hope in Christ.
Amen.
Today’s Reading
Acts 15:1-2, 22-29
1 Then some men came down from Judaea and taught the brothers, ‘Unless you have yourselves circumcised in the tradition of Moses you cannot be saved.’
2 This led to disagreement, and after Paul and Barnabas had had a long argument with these men it was decided that Paul and Barnabas and others of the church should go up to Jerusalem and discuss the question with the apostles and elders.
22 Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to choose delegates from among themselves to send to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas, known as Barsabbas, and Silas, both leading men in the brotherhood,
23 and gave them this letter to take with them: ‘The apostles and elders, your brothers, send greetings to the brothers of gentile birth in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia.
24 We hear that some people coming from here, but acting without any authority from ourselves, have disturbed you with their demands and have unsettled your minds;
25 and so we have decided unanimously to elect delegates and to send them to you with our well-beloved Barnabas and Paul,
26 who have committed their lives to the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
27 Accordingly we are sending you Judas and Silas, who will confirm by word of mouth what we have written.
28 It has been decided by the Holy Spirit and by ourselves not to impose on you any burden beyond these essentials:
29 you are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from illicit marriages. Avoid these, and you will do what is right. Farewell.’
Responsorial Psalm,
Psalms 67:2-3, 5, 6, 8
2 Then the earth will acknowledge your ways, and all nations your power to save.
3 Let the nations praise you, God, let all the nations praise you.
5 Let the nations praise you, God, let all the nations praise you.
6 The earth has yielded its produce; God, our God has blessed us.
Gospel, John 14:23-29
23 Jesus replied: Anyone who loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him and make a home in him.
24 Anyone who does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not my own: it is the word of the Father who sent me.
25 I have said these things to you while still with you;
26 but the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all I have said to you.
27 Peace I bequeath to you, my own peace I give you, a peace which the world cannot give, this is my gift to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.
28 You heard me say: I am going away and shall return. If you loved me you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.
29 I have told you this now, before it happens, so that when it does happen you may believe.
Reading 2,
Revelation 21:10-14, 22-23
10 In the spirit, he carried me to the top of a very high mountain, and showed me Jerusalem, the holy city, coming down out of heaven from God.
11 It had all the glory of God and glittered like some precious jewel of crystal-clear diamond.
12 Its wall was of a great height and had twelve gates; at each of the twelve gates there was an angel, and over the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel;
13 on the east there were three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates.
14 The city walls stood on twelve foundation stones, each one of which bore the name of one of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
22 I could not see any temple in the city since the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb were themselves the temple,
23 and the city did not need the sun or the moon for light, since it was lit by the radiant glory of God, and the Lamb was a lighted torch for it.
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