First Reading

Reading from the Acts of the Apostles

Acts 16:11-15

In those days, we set sail from Troas and made a straight run to Samothrace; the next day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, a Roman colony and the principal city of the region of Macedonia.

We spent some days in Philippi. On the sabbath we went outside the city gate along the river where we thought there was a place of prayer. We sat and spoke with the women who had gathered there.

One of them, a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, a worshiper of God, listened, and the Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what Paul was saying. After she and her household had been baptized, she offered us an invitation, «If you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my home,» and she prevailed on us.

Gospel

Reading from the holy Gospel according to Saint John

John 15:26–16:4

At that time Jesus said to his disciples: «When the Advocate comes whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth that proceeds from the Father, he will testify to me. And you also testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.

I have told you this so that you may not fall away. They will expel you from the synagogues; in fact, the hour is coming when everyone who kills you will think he is offering worship to God. They will do this because they have not known either the Father or me. I have told you this so that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you.»