May Christ Build You
Up In Faith and In Truth
I am sure
that you are well grounded in the Scriptures and nothing of their message
escapes you. I, however, have not been so fortunate. As these same Scriptures
put it: Be angry and do not
sin and Do not let the sun set on your
anger. Blessed is the man who
bears this in mind, as I am sure you do.
May God
the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and the eternal high priest himself, the
Son of God, Jesus Christ, build you up in faith and in truth and in great
gentleness. May you never know anger, but be patient, long-suffering,
persevering and chaste. May he grant you a place among his saints; and may he
give the same to us along with you, as well as to all on earth who put their
faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and in his Father
who has raised him from the dead.
Keep all
the saints in your prayers. Pray, too, for our rulers, for our leaders, and for
all those in power, even for those who persecute and hate you, and for those
who are enemies of the cross. In this way, your good works will be seen by all
men, and you will be perfected in him.
Both you
and Ignatius have written me to ask whether anyone going to Syria will deliver
your letter as well as ours. If the opportunity offers itself, I will do it; if
I cannot, I will send a representative.
As you
request, we have returned to you the letters Ignatius sent us and as many other
letters as we had; they are being enclosed with this letter. You will derive
great benefit from them, for they are full of faith and patience, and great
edification in all that refers to our Lord. Send us any certain information you
may possess about Ignatius and his companions.
I am
sending this letter to you by Crescens, whom I commended to you when I was
present, and do so again. He has lived blamelessly among us, as I am sure he
will among you. When his sister comes to you, she too will come with our
commendation.
May you
find protection in the Lord Jesus Christ, and may his grace be with all who are
yours. Amen.
Source: The Liturgy of the Hours – Office of
Readings
From a letter of Saint Polycarp to the Philippians
Image
taken from Wikimedia
Commons
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for your interest in our blog! Your comment will be viewed shortly to be added to our blog. :)