Today Is: Saint Thomas

Collect for: Saint Thomas
Everliving God, who strengthened your apostle Thomas with firm and certain faith in your Son?s resurrection: Grant us so perfectly and without doubt to believe in Jesus Christ, our Lord and our God, that our faith may never be found wanting in your sight; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Old Testament
Habakkuk 2:1-4

1 I will stand my watch And set myself on the rampart, And watch to see what He will say to me, And what I will answer when I am corrected. 2 Then the LORD answered me and said: 'Write the vision And make it plain on tablets, That he may run who reads it. 3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; Because it will surely come, It will not tarry. 4 Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith.

Officiant: The Word of the Lord.
The People: Thanks be to God.

Psalm
Psalm 126

1 When the LORD brought back the captivity of Zion, We were like those who dream. 2 Then our mouth was filled with laughter, And our tongue with singing. Then they said among the nations, 'The LORD has done great things for them.' 3 The LORD has done great things for us, And we are glad. 4 Bring back our captivity, O LORD, As the streams in the South. 5 Those who sow in tears Shall reap in joy. 6 He who continually goes forth weeping, Bearing seed for sowing, Shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, Bringing his sheaves with him.

*At the end of the Psalms this is sung or said
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: *
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

New Testament
Hebrews 10:35-39, 1

35 Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. 36 For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise: 37 For yet a little while, And He who is coming will come and will not tarry. 38 Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.' 39 But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.

1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Officiant: The Word of the Lord.
The People: Thanks be to God.

Gospel
John 20:24-29

Introduction to the Gospel:
Deacon:The Lord be with you.
People: And also with you. Or And with your spirit
Deacon: May the Lord be on our minds, on our lips, and on our hearts as we hear His Holy Gospel. The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Saint John.
People: Glory to You, Lord Christ.
Deacon: We are reading from John's Gospel chapter 20, beginning at verse 24.

24 Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 The other disciples therefore said to him, 'We have seen the Lord.' So he said to them, 'Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.' 26 And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, 'Peace to you!' 27 Then He said to Thomas, 'Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.' 28 And Thomas answered and said to Him, 'My Lord and my God!' 29 Jesus said to him, 'Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.'

After the Gospel reading, the deacon elevates the book and says:
Deacon: The Gospel of the Lord.
People: Praise to You, Lord Christ.