Prayer.
MAY our fasts be acceptable to Thee, O Lord, and, by ex piating our sins, may they make us worthy of Thy grace, and conduct us to eternal salvation. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, etc.
EPISTLE. Daniel xiv. 28-42.
In those days the Babylonians came to the king, and said : Deliver us Daniel, or else we will destroy thee and thy house. And the king saw that they pressed upon him violently : and being constrained by necessity he delivered Daniel to them. And they cast him into the den of lions, and he was there six days. And in the den there were seven lions, and they had given to them two carcasses every day, and two sheep : but then they were not given unto them to the intent that they might devour Daniel. Now there was in Judea a prophet called Habacuc, and he had boiled pottage, and had broken bread in a bowl : and was going into the field, to carry it to the reapers. And the angel of the Lord said to Habacuc : Carry the dinner which thou hast into Babylon to Daniel, who is in the lions den. And Habacuc said : Lord, I never saw Babylon, nor do I know the den. And the angel of the Lord took him by the top of his head, and carried him by the hair of his head, and set him in Babylon over the den in the force of his spirit. And Habacuc cried, saying: O Daniel, thou servant of God, take the dinner that God hath sent thee. And Daniel said : Thou hast remembered me, O God, and Thou hast not forsaken them that love Thee. And Daniel arose and ate. And the angel of the Lord presently set Habacuc again in his own place. And upon the seventh day the king came to bewail Daniel : and he came to the den, and looked in, and behold Daniel was sitting in the midst of the lions. And the king cried out with a loud voice, saying : Great art Thou, O Lord the God of Daniel. And he drew him out of the lions den. But those that had been the cause of his destruction, he cast into the den, and they were devoured in a moment before him. Then the king said : Let all the inhabitants of the whole earth fear the God of Daniel : for He is the Saviour, working signs, and wonders in the earth : Who hath delivered Daniel out of the lions den.
GOSPEL. John vii. 1-13.
At that time : Jesus walked in Galilee ; for He would not walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill Him. Now the Jews feast of Tabernacles was at hand. And His brethren said to Him: Pass from hence, and go into Judea: that Thy disciples also may see Thy works which Thou dost. For there is no man that doth anything in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If Thou do these things, manifest Thyself to the world. For neither did His brethren believe in Him. Then Jesus said to them : My time is not yet come : but your time is always ready. The world cannot hate you ; but Me it hateth : because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil. Go you up to this festival-day, but I go not up to this festival- day : because My time is not accomplished. When He had said these things, He Himself stayed in Galilee. But after His brethren were gone up, then He also went up to the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret. The Jews therefore sought Him on the festival-day, and said: Where is He? And there was much murmuring among the multitude concerning Him. For some said : He is a good man. And others said : No, but He seduceth the people. Yet no man spoke openly of Him, for fear of the Jews.
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Wednesday in Passion Week
