Fourth Sunday of Easter (Year C)
9After this I looked, and there was a great crowd that no one could number. They were from every nation, tribe, people, and language. They were standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They wore white robes and held palm branches in their hands. 10They cried out with a loud voice:
“Victory belongs to our God
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb.”
11All the angels stood in a circle around the throne, and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell facedown before the throne and worshipped God, 12saying,
“Amen! Blessing and glory
and wisdom and thanksgiving
and honor and power and might
be to our God forever and always. Amen.”
13Then one of the elders said to me, “Who are these people wearing white robes, and where did they come from?”
14I said to him, “Sir, you know.”
Then he said to me, “These people have come out of great hardship. They have washed their robes and made them white in the Lamb’s blood. 15This is the reason they are before God’s throne. They worship him day and night in his temple, and the one seated on the throne will shelter them. 16They won’t hunger or thirst anymore. No sun or scorching heat will beat down on them, 17because the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them. He will lead them to the springs of life-giving water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
Prayer:
O God, whose Son Jesus is the good shepherd of your people: Grant that when we hear his voice we may know him who calls us each by name, and follow where he leads; who, with you and the Holy Spirit, lives and reigns, one God, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.
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