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00:22Let us pray.
00:26Praise, honour and glory be to you, O Christ, who, when your disciples and friends deserted
00:32and left you, remained alone in the hands of sinful men, like a most gentle lamb within
00:39the jaws of a ravenous wool. Strengthen my excessive weakness and confirm my too great
00:46unstableness by the support of your grace, and join me to yourself with the bonds of
00:52love, that I may neither have no wish nor the power ever to depart or separate myself
00:58from you.
01:01Praise, honour and glory be to you, O Christ, who allowed yourself to be led around bound
01:07by an armed band and taken to Annas, allowing yourself to be stood before him as though you
01:15were a common criminal or robber.
01:19O unspeakable gentleness of my Redeemer, look, while they take and drag and thrust you forward,
01:27you uttered not a single word of complaint or murmur or word of resistance, but in silence
01:35you followed them wherever they led you, obeying their commands and permitted their wanton injuries
01:42to you. Grant, O Lord, that these your virtues may shine in me, to the everlasting glory of
01:49your name.
01:51Praise, honour and glory be to you, O Christ, King of heaven and earth, who in great humility,
01:58as poor and needy and of no account, was stood before the proud High Priest, and most sweetly
02:05endure the dreadful blow which his impious servant put upon you. Restrain, I beg you, in me all
02:14outbreak of anger and passion. Suppress all acts of indignation, and quench within me all
02:23desire of revenge, that when I am provoked by injury I may not be disturbed, I may offer
02:30no resistance, may suffer no disquiet, but endure everything with a quiet mind, may I
02:37even repay evil with good.
02:41Praise, honour and glory be to you, O Christ, who permitted himself to be lead-boned in a shameful
02:46manner to Caiaphas, that you might deliver us from the penalty of eternal death, restoring
02:53to us true liberty.
02:56Make me most ready to endure every reproach and all contempt for your name's sake.
03:03Grant that in the very middle of ridicule and outrage I may give you thanks with a perfect
03:08heart, and by means of these trials may grow and increase more and more in your love.
03:18Praise, honour and glory be to you, O Christ, who, when three times denied by your apostle
03:24Peter, mercifully turned and looked upon him with kindness, and brought him to repentance
03:31and holy sorrow for his sin. In like manner may you turn upon me also your eye of mercy and
03:39love, that I may weep over my past sins with the tears of true penitence, and may never again
03:46commit them. May I never be found sinning against your goodness in word or deed.
03:54Praise, honour and glory be to you, O Christ, who stood before the elders and the people of
03:59the Jews with a calm countenance and humble look, who did not refuse to be falsely accused,
04:05and to suffer many injuries. Give me grace never to say an untrue word, or to falsely accuse
04:13my neighbour, but that I may bear with all quietness of heart the calumnies that are heaped upon
04:20me. Casting all my troubles upon you, may I always, in silence, look for the grave and
04:27consolation at your hands.
04:31Praise, honour and glory be to you, O Christ, who, when Caiaphas the high priest, adjured you
04:39by the name of God, declared the truth, and proclaimed yourself the Son of God, and did
04:45not refuse to be counted by him and the rest who stood by as a blasphemer. May I fully abhor
04:52this contempt and defence against you. May I, in every place, reverence the presence of
05:00your divinity and majesty. May I think of you, adore, praise and love you, above all things,
05:08for ever and for ever. Amen.
05:15O Lord, open our lips, and our mouths shall sing your praise.
05:27O Lord, open our lips, and our mouths shall sing your praise.
05:28O be joyful in the Lord, open our lips, serve the Lord with gladness, and come in one
05:39his presence with a song. He is sure that the Lord, he is God, which is he as a
05:52father.
05:53O Lord, open our lips, and our hearts shall sing your praise. We are his people and the
05:59sheep of his pasture.
06:02O Lord, open your way into his peace with high speed, and in his holy cross with praise.
06:14O Lord, open our lips, and the Lord, open our lips, and the Lord with grace. We have been ready
06:22to
06:22For the Lord is gracious, his mercy is everlasting, and his truth emphleth from generation to generation.
06:45Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning,
07:01is now and ever shall be, world without end, all.
07:13Amen.
07:41When men rose up against us, they had swallowed us up quick.
07:52When men rose up against us, they had swallowed us up quick.
08:14When men rose up against us, they had swallowed us up quick.
08:44When men rose up against us, they had swallowed us up quick.
09:14Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning,
09:32is now and ever shall be, world without end, all.
09:46Amen.
09:57A reading from the Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 3.
10:03Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time for prayer, at three o'clock in
10:09the afternoon.
10:10A man, lame from birth, was being carried up, who was placed at the temple gate called Beautiful Gate, every
10:18day, that he might beg for money from those going into the temple courts.
10:23When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple courts, he asked them for money.
10:29Peter looked at him directly, as did John, and said, Look at us.
10:35So the lame man paid attention to them, expecting to receive something from them.
10:41But Peter said, I have no silver or gold, but what I do have I give you.
10:46In the name of Jesus Christ, the Nazarene, stand up and walk.
10:52But then Peter took hold of him by the right hand, and raised him up.
10:56And at once the man's feet and ankles were made strong.
11:00He jumped up, stood and began walking around, and he entered the temple courts with them, walking and leaping and
11:08praising God.
11:11All the people saw him walking, and praising God, and they recognised him as the man who used to sit
11:17and ask for donations at the beautiful gate of the temple.
11:21And so they were filled with astonishment and amazement at what had happened to him.
11:28While the man was hanging on to Peter and John, all the people, astounded, ran together to them in the
11:35covered walkway called Solomon's Portico.
11:39When Peter saw this, he declared to the people,
11:42Men of Israel, why are you amazed at this?
11:46Why do you stare at us as if we had made this man walk by our own power or piety?
11:53The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our forefathers, has glorified his servant Jesus,
11:59whom you handed over and rejected in the presence of Pilate, after he had decided to release him.
12:06But you rejected the Holy and Righteous One, and asked that a man who was a murderer be released to
12:12you.
12:14You killed the originator of life, whom God had raised from the dead.
12:21To this fact we are witnesses.
12:24On the basis of faith in Jesus' name, his very name has made this man, who you see and know,
12:31strong.
12:32The faith that is through Jesus has given him this complete help in the presence of you all.
12:40Now, brothers, I know you acted in ignorance, as did your rulers.
12:45But the things God foretold long ago through all the prophets, that is, Christ would suffer, he has fulfilled in
12:52this way.
12:54Therefore repent, and turn back, that your sins may be wiped out,
12:59so that the times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,
13:03so that he may send the Messiah appointed for you, that is, Jesus.
13:09This one heaven must receive until the time all things are restored,
13:14which God declared from times long ago through his holy prophets.
13:19Moses said,
13:21The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me, from amongst your brothers.
13:27You must obey him in everything he tells you.
13:31Every person who does not obey that prophet will be destroyed and so removed from the people.
13:39All the prophets, from Samuel and those who followed him,
13:43have spoken about and denounced these days,
13:46You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your ancestors,
13:52saying to Abraham,
13:54In your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed.
13:59God raised up his servant and sent him first to you,
14:03to bless you by turning each one of you from your iniquities.
14:09This is the word of the Lord.
14:12Thanks be to God.
14:19One of the first things that strikes when reading this passage is the bond that is built between Peter and
14:25John.
14:26For here they are seen going about together and making their way to the temple to pray and to preach.
14:35Both Peter the spokesman and John the favourite had brothers within the twelve with whom they had been paired when
14:43sent on their mission preaching and healing in the name of Jesus during his lifetime.
14:49And the events of that first Easter Sunday morning had clearly formed a bond between them.
14:57Secondly, despite their being ardent followers of Christ, they had not renounced their Jewish upbringing.
15:03And it would seem that they continued the habit while they were in Jerusalem of going to the temple three
15:10times a day to pray at nine, noon and at three.
15:16We are told it was the hour of prayer.
15:20How many of us, I wonder, have just one hour of prayer set aside at the same time every day?
15:27Or do we just try and squeeze in a few minutes, as and when we can manage it?
15:34Then we come to the realisation that the cripple must have been known to the disciples.
15:38For if this man was put to the gate every day to beg from those going to pray, and the
15:46disciples were in the habit of going to pray, this must not have been their first encounter.
15:53But on this particular occasion, though, the Holy Spirit led both Peter and John to fix their eyes upon this
15:59man, thereby gaining the cripple's attention.
16:04Imagine all the people passing through the gate, and they would turn their eyes in the opposite direction.
16:11And yet, here were two men who had their eyes fixed on the beggar.
16:16No wonder his interest was piqued.
16:21The miracle takes place in due course, but for me the key to this account is to marvel at the
16:27workings of the Holy Spirit.
16:30For how many years had this miserable wretch been placed at the temple gate?
16:35And yet it was the only hope he had.
16:39How many times he must have wondered why it was his lot in life to be in such a situation?
16:46How many times do we pray for relief from a particular problem or sickness, and nothing appears to happen?
16:56Perhaps it is a function of our lack of a true faith.
17:00But what of the serious, committed believer, who continues to suffer in pain, year in, year out, year after year?
17:13God truly has his own time and place for everything.
17:19For us, this can create a problem, because we can never begin to hope, to understand heavenly things while we
17:27are here on earth.
17:29One day, surely, all will be revealed to us.
17:35Without wanting to jump too far forward, the healing of this man would create an opportunity for mass conversion.
17:45Yes, it could be argued that the price of these conversions were paid by the man's suffering.
17:51But what a small price to pay for an eternity of blessing.
17:57So we should never attempt to reproach God for his lack of attention to our prayer.
18:02For he will always answer the prayers of his faithful.
18:06Sometimes, in the most wonderful way imaginable.
18:13The cripples' dancing and thanksgiving quickly attract a large crowd.
18:19And given the crowd, the two do not waste the opportunity to speak out.
18:24Most surely, it was not us who performed the miracle,
18:28but the Christ who was crucified and rose again from the dead.
18:34And we learn a little later, that there were many thousands converted on the back of this episode.
18:41We are often given opportunities to witness for Jesus.
18:45Perhaps not always obviously.
18:47And more often than not, the easy option is to ignore it and to move on.
18:53But we should remember Peter and John.
18:58They stopped and seized the opportunity.
19:02And the results were impressive, even though the message they had for the crowd
19:07was perhaps a little controversial and painful.
19:12We, too, have a duty to Jesus as his followers
19:15to make the most of any chance or opportunity we may have to spread the message.
19:21Especially, for example,
19:23or regardless of any concern for our personal interest.
19:27And we should be prepared
19:29for the most amazing results.
19:37Let us pray.
19:39O God,
19:41who has at this time
19:42taught the hearts of your faithful people
19:44by sending to them
19:46the light of your Holy Spirit,
19:49grant us
19:50by the same Spirit
19:51to have a right judgment
19:53in all things
19:54and evermore to rejoice
19:57in his holy comfort
19:59through the merits
20:00of Christ Jesus
20:02our Saviour
20:03who lives
20:04and reigns with you
20:06in the unity
20:07of the same Spirit
20:08one God
20:09world without end.
20:12Amen.
20:17May the Lord bless us
20:19and keep us from all evil
20:21bringing us to everlasting life.
20:25Amen.
20:38Amen.
21:08Amen.
21:30Amen.
21:31Amen.
21:32Amen.
21:34Amen.
21:35You