Readings

Daily OfficeHoly EucharistHoly Days

Thursday after the Fourth Sunday of Easter

MorningEvening

The Collect of the Day

Fourth Sunday of Easter

O God, whose Son Jesus is the good shepherd of your people: Grant that when we hear his voice we may know him who calls us each by name, and follow where he leads; who, with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Monica

Deepen our devotion, O Lord, and use us in accordance with your will; that inspired by the example of your servant Monica, we may bring others to acknowledge Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Psalms

50

Deus deorumBCP p. 654

1The Lord, the God of gods, has spoken; *he has called the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.

2Out of Zion, perfect in its beauty, *God reveals himself in glory.

3Our God will come and will not keep silence; *before him there is a consuming flame, and round about him a raging storm.

4He calls the heavens and the earth from above *to witness the judgment of his people.

5“Gather before me my loyal followers, *those who have made a covenant with me and sealed it with sacrifice.”

6Let the heavens declare the rightness of his cause; *for God himself is judge.

7Hear, O my people, and I will speak: “O Israel, I will bear witness against you; *for I am God, your God.

8I do not accuse you because of your sacrifices; *your offerings are always before me.

9I will take no bull-calf from your stalls, *nor he-goats out of your pens;

10For all the beasts of the forest are mine, *the herds in their thousands upon the hills.

11I know every bird in the sky, *and the creatures of the fields are in my sight.

12If I were hungry, I would not tell you, *for the whole world is mine and all that is in it.

13Do you think I eat the flesh of bulls, *or drink the blood of goats?

14Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving *and make good your vows to the Most High.

15Call upon me in the day of trouble; *I will deliver you, and you shall honor me.”

16But to the wicked God says: *“Why do you recite my statutes, and take my covenant upon your lips;

17Since you refuse discipline, *and toss my words behind your back?

18When you see a thief, you make him your friend, *and you cast in your lot with adulterers.

19You have loosed your lips for evil, *and harnessed your tongue to a lie.

20You are always speaking evil of your brother *and slandering your own mother’s son.

21These things you have done, and I kept still, *and you thought that I am like you.”

22“I have made my accusation; *I have put my case in order before your eyes.

23Consider this well, you who forget God, *lest I rend you and there be none to deliver you.

24Whoever offers me the sacrifice of thanksgiving honors me; *but to those who keep in my way will I show the salvation of God.”

Daily Office Readings

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Luke 6:39-49

39 He also told them a parable: “Can a blind person guide a blind person? Will not both fall into a pit? 40 A disciple is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully qualified will be like the teacher. 41 Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? 42 Or how can you say to your neighbor, ‘Friend, let me take out the speck in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye. 43 “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit; 44 for each tree is known by its own fruit. Figs are not gathered from thorns, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. 45 The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good, and the evil person out of evil treasure produces evil; for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks. 46 “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I tell you? 47 I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, hears my words, and acts on them. 48 That one is like a man building a house, who dug deeply and laid the foundation on rock; when a flood arose, the river burst against that house but could not shake it, because it had been well built. 49 But the one who hears and does not act is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the river burst against it, immediately it fell, and great was the ruin of that house.”

Col. 2:8-23

8 See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ. 9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have come to fullness in him, who is the head of every ruler and authority. 11 In him also you were circumcised with a spiritual circumcision, by putting off the body of the flesh in the circumcision of Christ; 12 when you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And when you were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive together with him, when he forgave us all our trespasses, 14 erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands. He set this aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it. 16 Therefore do not let anyone condemn you in matters of food and drink or of observing festivals, new moons, or sabbaths. 17 These are only a shadow of what is to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. 18 Do not let anyone disqualify you, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, dwelling on visions, puffed up without cause by a human way of thinking, 19 and not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows with a growth that is from God. 20 If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the universe, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world? Why do you submit to regulations, 21 “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch”? 22 All these regulations refer to things that perish with use; they are simply human commands and teachings. 23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-imposed piety, humility, and severe treatment of the body, but they are of no value in checking self-indulgence.

Wisdom 5:9-23

9 ‘All those things have vanished like a shadow, and like a rumour that passes by; 10 like a ship that sails through the billowy water, and when it has passed no trace can be found, no track of its keel in the waves; 11 or as, when a bird flies through the air, no evidence of its passage is found; the light air, lashed by the beat of its pinions and pierced by the force of its rushing flight, is traversed by the movement of its wings, and afterwards no sign of its coming is found there; 12 or as, when an arrow is shot at a target, the air, thus divided, comes together at once, so that no one knows its pathway. 13 So we also, as soon as we were born, ceased to be, and we had no sign of virtue to show, but were consumed in our wickedness.’ 14 Because the hope of the ungodly is like thistledown carried by the wind, and like a light frost driven away by a storm; it is dispersed like smoke before the wind, and it passes like the remembrance of a guest who stays but a day. 15 But the righteous live for ever, and their reward is with the Lord; the Most High takes care of them. 16 Therefore they will receive a glorious crown and a beautiful diadem from the hand of the Lord, because with his right hand he will cover them, and with his arm he will shield them. 17 The Lord will take his zeal as his whole armour, and will arm all creation to repel his enemies; 18 he will put on righteousness as a breastplate, and wear impartial justice as a helmet; 19 he will take holiness as an invincible shield, 20 and sharpen stern wrath for a sword, and creation will join with him to fight against his frenzied foes. 21 Shafts of lightning will fly with true aim, and will leap from the clouds to the target, as from a well-drawn bow, 22 and hailstones full of wrath will be hurled as from a catapult; the water of the sea will rage against them, and rivers will relentlessly overwhelm them; 23 a mighty wind will rise against them, and like a tempest it will winnow them away. Lawlessness will lay waste the whole earth, and evildoing will overturn the thrones of rulers.