May 7, 2004, Tuesday of the sixth week of Easter.

A reading from the Acts of the Apostles.

The crowd in Philippi joined in the attack on Paul and Silas,

and the magistrates had them stripped and ordered them to be beaten with rods.

After inflicting many blows on them,

they threw them into prison and instructed the jailer to guard them securely. When he received these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and secured their feet to a stake.

About midnight, while Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God as the prisoners

listened, there was suddenly such a severe earthquake that the foundations of the jail shook, all the doors flew open, and the

chains of all were pulled loose. When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open,

he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, thinking that the prisoners had escaped.

But Paul shouted out in a loud voice, do no harm to yourself, we are all here.

He asked for a light and rushed in, and trembling with fear, he fell down before Paul and Silas.

Then he brought them out and said,

Sirs, what must I do to be saved?

And they said, believe in the Lord Jesus,

and you and your household will be saved.

So they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to everyone in his

house. He took them in at that hour of the night and bathed their wounds. Then he and all his family

were baptized at once. He brought them up into his house and provided a meal,

and with his household, rejoiced at having come to faith in God. The Word of the Lord.

The response, Oriol Psalm. The response is, Your right hand saves me, O Lord.

I will give thanks to you, O Lord, with all my heart, for you have heard the words of my mouth.

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