Martyr Nestor of Thessalonica; St Procla, the wife of Pontius Pilate.; Our Venerable Father Demetrius of Basarabov (Romania) (13th c.)

But I trust in the Lord that I myself also will come shortly.

²⁵But I thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker, fellow soldier, and your apostle and servant of my need, ²⁶since he longed for you all, and was very troubled because you had heard that he was sick. ²⁷For indeed he was sick nearly to death, but God had mercy on him, and not on him only, but on me also, that I might not have sorrow on sorrow. ²⁸I have sent him therefore the more diligently, that when you see him again, you may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful. ²⁹Receive him therefore in the Lord with all joy, and hold such people in honor, ³⁰because for the work of Christ he came near to death, risking his life to supply that which was lacking in your service toward me.

“I tell you, keep asking, and it will be given you. Keep seeking, and you will find. Keep knocking, and it will be opened to you. ¹⁰For everyone who asks receives. He who seeks finds. To him who knocks it will be opened.

¹¹“Which of you fathers, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he won’t give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? ¹²Or if he asks for an egg, he won’t give him a scorpion, will he? ¹³If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”