April 23, 2006, Thursday of the third week of Easter.

A reading from the Acts of the Apostles.

The angel of the Lord spoke to Philip,

Get up and head south on the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza, the desert route.

So he got up and set out.

Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch,

a court official of the Candace,

that is the queen of the Ethiopians,

in charge of her entire treasury,

who had come to Jerusalem to worship,

and was returning home.

Seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah.

The Spirit, said to Philip, go and join up with that chariot.

Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and said,

Do you understand what you are reading?

He replied,

How can I, unless someone instructs me?

So he invited Philip to get in and sit with him.

This was the scripture passage he was reading. Like a sheep he was

led to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opened not his mouth. In his

humiliation, justice was denied him.

Who will tell of his posterity, for his life is taken from the earth?

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