*Ps 138:17*
To me, Your friends, O God, are made exceedingly honorable; their principality is exceedingly strengthened.
*Ps 138:1-2*
O Lord, You have probed me and You know me; You know when I sit and when I stand.
Glory Be to the Father…
To me, Your friends, O God, are made exceedingly honorable; their principality is exceedingly strengthened.
Protect Your people and make them holy, O Lord, so that, guarded by the help of Your Apostle James, they may please You by their conduct and serve You with peace of mind.
Through our Lord…
Lesson from the first letter of St. Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians
*1 Cor. 4:9-15*
Brethren: I think God has set forth us the Apostles last of all, as men doomed to death, seeing that we have been made a spectacle to the world, and to angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ, but you are wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, but we are without honor! To this very hour we hunger and thirst, and we are naked and buffeted, and have no fixed abode. And we toil, working with our own hands. We are reviled and we bless, we are persecuted and we bear with it, we are maligned and we entreat, we have become as the refuse of this world, the offscouring of all, even until now! I write these things not to put you to shame, but to admonish you as my dearest children. For although you have ten thousand tutors in Christ, yet you have not many fathers. For in Christ Jesus, through the gospel, did I beget you.
*Ps 44:17-18*
You shall make them princes through all the land; they shall remember Your name, O Lord.
℣. The place of your fathers your sons shall have; therefore shall nations praise You. Alleluia, alleluia.
*John 15:16*
℣. I have chosen you out of the world, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain. Alleluia.
Continuation ☩ of the Holy Gospel according to Matthew
*Matt 20:20-23*
In that time: came to him the mother of the sons of Zebedee with her sons, adoring and asking something of him. Who said to her: What wilt thou? She saith to him: Say that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left, in thy kingdom. And Jesus answering, said: You know not what you ask. Can you drink the chalice that I shall drink? They say to him: We can. He saith to them: My chalice indeed you shall drink; but to sit on my right or left hand, is not mine to give to you, but to them for whom it is prepared by my Father.
*Ps 18:5*
Through all the earth their voice resounds, and to the ends of the world, their message.
May the holy martyrdom of blessed James, the Apostle, make acceptable the offerings of Your people; and because our own merits are insufficient, may his prayer make them pleasing to You.
Through our Lord…
*of Apostles*
It is truly meet and just, right and for our salvation, to entreat Thee humbly, O Lord, that Thou wouldst not desert Thy flock, O everlasting Shepherd, but, through Thy blessed Apostles, wouldst keep it under Thy constant protection; that it may be governed by those same rulers, whom as vicars of Thy work, Thou didst set over it to be its pastors. And therefore with Angels and Archangels, with Thrones and Dominations, and with all the hosts of the heavenly army, we sing the hymn of Thy glory, evermore saying:
*Matt 19:28*
You who have followed Me shall sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
