Saturday, April 16, 2005

reading and prayer for the ninth day of the novendiales

A reading from the treatise "On the Prescription of Heretics" by Tertullian, priest:

"Every family has to be traced back to its origins. That is why we can say that all these great churches constitute that one original Church of the apostles; for it is from them that they all come. They are all primitive, all apostolic, because they are all one. They bear witness to this unity by the peace in which they all live, the brotherhood which is their name, the fellowship to which they are pledged. The principle on which these associations are based is common tradition by which they share the same sacramental bond. The only way in which we can prove what the apostles taught--that is to say, what Christ revealed to them--is through those same churches. They were founded by the apostles themselves, who first preached to them by what is called the living voice and later by means of letters."


Prayer:

Lord,
hear the prayers we offer for John Paul,
your servant and priest.
He faithfully fulfilled his ministry in your name.
May he rejoice for ever
in the fellowship of your saints.
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

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