Readings Week Consecration of the Church

Hebrews 10:32-39 A Call to Persevere
A Reading from the Letter to the Hebrews. Father, give your blessing.
Pause for the blessing, then read:
Brothers and Sisters:
But recall those earlier days when, after you had been enlightened, you
endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly
exposed to abuse and persecution, and sometimes being partners with
those so treated. For you had compassion for those who were in prison,
and you cheerfully accepted the plundering of your possessions, knowing
that you yourselves possessed something better and more lasting.
Do not, therefore, abandon that confidence of yours; it brings a great
reward. For you need endurance, so that when you have done the will
of God, you may receive what was promised. For yet “in a very little
while, the one who is coming will come and will not delay; but my
righteous one will live by faith. My soul takes no pleasure in anyone
who shrinks back.” But we are not among those who shrink back and
so are lost, but among those who have faith and so are saved.
Praise be to God always!

John 17:20-23 Jesus Prays for his Disciples
Let us be attentive to the Gospel of Life and Salvation of our Lord Jesus
Christ as recorded by the apostle John.
The Lord Jesus says:
“I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will
believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you,
Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the
world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have
given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I
in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that
the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even
as you have loved me.”
This is the truth. Peace be with you.