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SEVENTH WEEK OF EASTER
FRIDAY
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ENTRANCE ANTIPHON
Christ loved us and washed us clean of our sins by his Blood,
and made us into a kingdom, priests for his God and Father,
alleluia.
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COLLECT
O God, who by the glorification of your Christ and the light of the Holy Spirit
have unlocked for us the gates of eternity,
grant, we pray, that, partaking of so great gift,
our devotion may grow deeper and our faith be strengthened.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ,
your Son,
who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God,
for ever and ever.
R.) Amen.
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FIRST READING
ACTS 25:13-21
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A READING FROM THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES
(A DEAD MAN CALLED JESUS WHOM PAUL ALLEGED TO BE ALIVE.)
King Agrippa and Bernice arrived in Caesarea and paid their respects to Festus.
Their visit lasted several days, and Festus put Paul’s case before the king,
“There is a man here,”
he said,
“whom Felix left behind in custody, and while I was in Jerusalem the chief priests and elders of the Jews laid information against him, demanding his condemnation.
But I told them that Romans are not in the habit of surrendering any man, until the accused confronts his accusers and is given an opportunity to defend himself against the charge.
So they came here with me, and I wasted no time but took my seat on the tribunal the very next day and had the man brought in.
When confronted with him, his accusers did not charge him with any of the crimes I had expected; but they had some argument or other with him about their own religion and about a dead man called Jesus whom Paul alleged to be alive.
Not feeling qualified to deal with questions of this sort, I asked him if he would be willing to go to Jerusalem to be tried there on this issue.
But Paul put in an appeal for his case to be reserved for the judgment of the august emperor, so I ordered him to be remanded until I could send him to Caesar.”
The word of the Lord.
R.) Thanks be to God.
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responsorialpsalmcatholic 