Epistle. 1 _Corinthians_ xv. 1, 10. _Brethren:_ I make known unto you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you have received, and wherein you stand, by which also you are saved: if you hold fast after what manner I preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all, which I also received: how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures: and that he was buried, and that he arose again the third day according to the Scriptures: and that he was seen by Cephas; and after that by the eleven. Then was he seen by more than five hundred brethren at once; of whom many remain until this present, and some are fallen asleep. After that he was seen by James, then by all the apostles: and last of all, he was seen also by me, as one born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the Church of God. But by the grace of God I am what i am; and his grace in me hath not been void. Gospel. _Mark_ vii. 31, 37. _At that time:_ Jesus going out of the coast of Tyre, he came by Sidon to the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the coast of Decapolis. And they bring to him one deaf and dumb: and they besought him that he would lay his hand upon him. And taking him from the multitude apart, he put his fingers into his ears, and spitting, he touched his tongue: and looking up to heaven, he groaned and said to him: Ephpheta, that is, Be opened. And immediately his ears were opened, and the string of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke right. And he charged them that they should tell no man. But the more he charged them, so much the more a great deal did they publish it. And so much the more did they wonder, saying: He hath done all things well; he hath made both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak. Credo. {447} Twelfth Sunday After Pentecost. Epistle. 2 _Corinthians_ iii. 4, 9. _Brethren:_ We have confidence through Christ towards God: not that we are sufficient to think any thing of ourselves as of ourselves: but our sufficiency is from God. Who also hath made us fit ministers of the New Testament, not in the letter, but in the spirit. For the letter killeth; but the spirit quickeneth. Now if the ministration of death, engraven with letters upon stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses, for the glory of his countenance, which is made void: how shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather in glory? For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more the ministration of justice aboundeth in glory.