Trinity XXIV 2023

THE COLLECT. 
O LORD, we beseech thee, absolve thy people from their offences; that through thy bountiful goodness we may all be delivered from the bands of those sins, which by our frailty we have committed: Grant this, O heavenly Father, for Jesus Christ’s sake, our blessed Lord and Saviour.  Amen.

THE EPISTLE.  Colossians 1. 3
WE give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints; for the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the Gospel; which is come unto you, as it is in all the world, and bringeth forth fruit and increaseth, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth.  As ye also learned of Epaphras, our dear fellow-servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf; who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit.  For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you and make request that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding: that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness; giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.

THE GOSPEL.  S. Matthew 9. 18
WHILE Jesus spake these things unto John’s disciples, behold, there came a certain ruler, and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is even now dead: but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live.  And Jesus arose, and followed him, and so did his disciples.  And, behold, a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years, came behind him, and touched the hem of his garment: for she said within herself, If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole.  But Jesus turned him about, and when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole.  And the woman was made whole from that hour.  And when Jesus came into the ruler’s house, and saw the minstrels and the people making a noise, he said unto them, Give place; for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth.  And they laughed him to scorn.  But when the people were put forth, he went in, and took her by the hand, and the maid arose.  And the fame hereof went abroad into all that land.