April 15, 2004, Monday of the third week of Easter.

A reading from the Acts of the Apostles.

Stephen, filled with grace and power, was working great wonders and signs among the people.

Certain members of the so-called synagogue of Friedman, Serenians and Alexandrians, and people from Silesia and Asia, came forward and debated with Stephen.

But they could not withstand the wisdom and the spirit with which he spoke.

Then they instigated some men to say, we have heard him speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God.

They stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes accosted him,

seized him and brought him before the Sanhedron.

They presented false witnesses who testified.

This man never stopped saying things against this holy

place and the law, for we have heard him claim that this Jesus, the Nazarean, will destroy this place

and change the customs that Moses handed down to us, while those who sat in the Sanhedron

looked intently at him and saw that

his face was like the face of an angel. The Word of the Lord. The Responsorial Psalm. The response

is, Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord.

Though princes meet and talk against me,

your servant meditates on your statutes.

Yes, your decrees are my delight.

They are my counselors.

Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord.

I declared my ways, and you answered me. Teach me your statutes. Make me understand the way of your precepts, and I will meditate on your wondrous deeds.

Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord.

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