FRIDAY 23 APRIL 2021 FIRST READING "This man is the instrument I have chosen to send my name to the nations" A Reading from the book of Acts of the Apostles (9, 1-20)

FRIDAY 23 APRIL 2021 

FIRST READING 

"This man is the instrument I have chosen to send my name to the nations" 

A Reading from the book of Acts of the Apostles (9, 1-20) 

In those days Saul was still in a murderous rage against the disciples of the Lord. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters for the synagogues in Damascus, so that, if he found men and women who were following the path of the Lord, he would bring them in chains to Jerusalem. As he was on his way and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from the sky enveloped him in its clarity. He was thrown to the ground; he heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" He asked: "Who are you, Lord? The voice replied, "I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting. Get up and enter the city: we will tell you what to do. His traveling companions had stopped, dumb with amazement: they heard the voice, but they saw no one. Saul got up from the ground and, although his eyes were open, he saw nothing. They took him by the hand to bring him into Damascus. For three days he was deprived of his sight and he went without eating or drinking.

Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. In a vision, the Lord said to him: “Ananias! He replied, "Here I am, Lord. "The Lord continued:" Get up, go to the street called rue Droite, to Jude's house: you will ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul. He's praying, and he had this vision: a man named Ananias come in and put his hands on him to restore his sight. Ananias replied, "Lord, I have heard much about this man, and all the evil he has inflicted on your faithful in Jerusalem. He is here, having received from the high priests the power to bind all who call on your name. "But the Lord said to him:" Go! for this man is the instrument which I have chosen to bring my name to the nations, kings and children of Israel. And me, I will show him how much he will have to suffer for my name. "

Ananie therefore left and entered the house. He laid his hands on Saul, saying, “Saul, my brother, the one who sent me is the Lord, it is Jesus who appeared to you on the way by which you came. Thus, you will regain your sight, and you will be filled with the Holy Spirit. Immediately fell from his eyes like scales, and he regained his sight. He got up, and then he was baptized. So he took some food and his strength returned. He spent a few days in Damascus with the disciples and, without further ado, he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, affirming that he is the Son of God. 

The Word of the Lord.

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