Easter: Friday of the Sixth Week
(Friday after Ascension)

“They all seized Sosthenes, the synagogue official, and beat him in full view of the tribunal. But none of this was of concern to Gallio.” (Acts of the Apostles 18:17)

In commenting on these verses from today’s First Reading, Saint John Chrysostom writes:

“This man let us also imitate: to them that beat us, let us return blow for blow, by meekness, by silence, by long-suffering. More grievous these wounds, greater this blow and more heavy. . . . You, a human being, insult your fellow man? You, a servant, your fellow servant? But why do I wonder at this, when many even insult God? Let this be a consolation to you when suffering insult. Are you insulted? God also is insulted. Are you reviled? God also was reviled. Are you treated with scorn? Why, so was our Master also. In these things he shares with us but not so in the contrary things. For he never insulted another unjustly: God forbid! He never reviled, never did a wrong. So that we are those who share with him, not you. For to endure when insulted is God’s part; to be merely abusive is the part of the devil.” (Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles, 39)


Collect
O God, who restore us to eternal life
in the Resurrection of Christ,
raise us up, we pray, to the author of our salvation,
who is seated at your right hand,
so that, when our Savior comes again in majesty,
those you have given new birth in Baptism
may be clothed with blessed immortality.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.


The Lord is risen. Alleluia!
He is risen, indeed. Alleluia!


Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen