- Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which separated and came to rest on each one of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different languages, as the Spirit enabled them to do so.
- For you, O God, have put us to the test;
you have purified us as silver is refined. - All I want is to come to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and to share in his sufferings by becoming conformed to his death.
- Finally, all of you should be united in spirit, sympathetic, filled with love for one another, compassionate, and humble.
- I rejoice in the Lord with all my heart;
my soul exults in my God.
For he has clothed me in garments of salvation
and wrapped me in a robe of saving justice,
like a bridegroom adorned with a garland
or a bride bedecked with her jewels. - For the carved images of the nations are powerless;
they are nothing more than wood cut from a forest,
fashioned with a knife by craftsmen
and embellished with silver and gold.
Then they are fastened with hammers and nails
to prevent them from toppling.
Like scarecrows in a cucumber field
they are unable to speak,
and they must be carried from place to place
since they cannot walk.
Do not be afraid of them,
for they can do no harm,
nor do they have any power to do good. - Thus you could understand that the Lord, your God, was disciplining you, just like a father disciplines his son.
- Just as water reflects one’s face,
so does one human heart reflect another. - And the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I wish to make another creature who will be like him.”
- Anyone who is victorious will be dressed like these in white robes, and I shall not blot his name from the book of life. Rather, I shall acknowledge it in the presence of my Father and his angels.
- I also ask that the women should dress themselves modestly and decently in suitable clothing. They should be adorned not with braided hair or with gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good works, as is fitting for women who profess their reverence for God.
- Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may show yourselves blameless and beyond reproach, children of God without spot in the midst of an evil and depraved generation, among which you shine like lights in the world as you hold fast tenaciously to the word of life.
- But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them. For it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.”
- So we must not fall asleep as the others do, but we must stay alert and sober.
- This water prefigured Baptism, which now saves you. It does so not by the washing away of dirt from the body but by the pledge of a good conscience given to God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
- While he was departing as they gazed upward toward the sky, suddenly two men dressed in white robes stood beside them, and they said, “Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking up into the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will come back in the same way as you have seen him going into heaven.”
- O God, you are my God,
for whom I have been searching earnestly.
My soul yearns for you
and my body thirsts for you,
like the earth when it is parched,
arid and without water. - Can anyone withhold the water of baptism from these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?
- May the God of perseverance and encouragement grant that you may live in harmony with one another, following in the example of Jesus Christ.
- If he refuses to listen to them, report it to the Church. And if he refuses to listen to the Church, treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector.
- The birth of Jesus Christ occurred in this way. When his mother Mary was engaged to Joseph, but before they came to live together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.
- You are the light of the world. A city built upon a mountain cannot be hidden.
- But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid! I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has been raised, as he promised he would be. Come and see the place where he lay.”
- They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and offered worship and service to the creature rather than to the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. That is why God abandoned them to their shameful passions. Their women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural practices. Likewise, men gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another. Men committed shameful acts with men and received in their own persons the fitting penalty for their perversion. Furthermore, since these people did not see fit to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their depraved way of thinking and to all types of vile behavior.
- He answered, “Because you have such little faith. Amen, I say to you, if you have faith as tiny as a mustard seed, you will be able to say to this mountain: ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.Who is this King of glory?
The Lord of hosts:
he is the King of glory. Selah