Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercy and the God of all consolation. He consoles us in all our afflictions and thereby enables us to console others in their tribulations, offering them the consolation with which we ourselves are consoled by God.
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and undefiled is this: to come to the aid of orphans and widows in their hardships and to keep oneself untarnished by the world.
The righteous call out, and the Lord hears them; he rescues them from all their troubles. The Lord remains close to the brokenhearted, and he saves those whose spirit is crushed.
Do not forsake your friend or the friend of your father, and do not run to your brother’s house when troubles befall you; far better is a friend nearby than a brother who is far away.
Yours, O Lord, are greatness, power, glory, strength, and majesty, for everything in heaven and on earth is yours. Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all.