(Remember, when our Lord speaks to the future “Israel,” He is talking about the Church. He is talking about… us. -nvp)
Friday in the Octave of Pentecost
From healthy life come activity and joy. God shares His life with man and gives him the infused virtues and spiritual gifts. These abiding habits are more than a mere capacity for good: they are a positive inclination to good; they counter the inclinations to evil that bedevil souls. The good that each person does is an outflow, a continuation, of the impulse to good that God places in that person. This hour-to-hour goodness is the marching victory of Christ, His Holy Spirit’s wonder of the moment. It touches all souls of good will and releases the springs of joy.
COLLECT
O merciful God, may Your Church, which owes its unity to the Holy Spirit, never be troubled by the attacks of her enemies.
O merciful God, may Your Church, which owes its unity to the Holy Spirit, never be troubled by the attacks of her enemies.
LESSON Joel 2:23-24, 26-27
Thus says the Lord God: “O children of Sion, rejoice, and be joyful in the Lord your God: because he hath given you a teacher of justice, and he will make the early and the latter rain to come down to you as in the beginning. And the floors shall be filled with wheat, and the presses shall overflow with wine, and oil. And you shall eat in plenty, and shall be filled and you shall praise the name of the Lord your God; who hath done wonders with you, and my people shall not be confounded for ever. And you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel: and I am the Lord your God, and there is none besides: and my people shall not be confounded forever,” says the Lord almighty.
Thus says the Lord God: “O children of Sion, rejoice, and be joyful in the Lord your God: because he hath given you a teacher of justice, and he will make the early and the latter rain to come down to you as in the beginning. And the floors shall be filled with wheat, and the presses shall overflow with wine, and oil. And you shall eat in plenty, and shall be filled and you shall praise the name of the Lord your God; who hath done wonders with you, and my people shall not be confounded for ever. And you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel: and I am the Lord your God, and there is none besides: and my people shall not be confounded forever,” says the Lord almighty.