Office of Readings

  He is the living stone, rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him; set yourselves close to him so that you too, the holy priesthood that offers the spiritual sacrifices which Jesus Christ has made acceptable to God, may be living stones making a spiritual house. As scripture says: See how I lay in Zion a precious cornerstone that I have chosen and the man who rests his trust on it will not be disappointed. That means that for you who are believers, it is precious; but for unbelievers, the stone rejected by the builders has proved to be the keystone, a stone to stumble over, a rock to bring men down. They stumble over it because they do not believe in the word; it was the fate in store for them.

  But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation, a people set apart to sing the praises of God who called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people at all and now you are the People of God; once you were outside the mercy and now you have been given mercy.

  I urge you, my dear people, while you are visitors and pilgrims to keep yourselves free from the selfish passions that attack the soul. Always behave honourably among pagans so that they can see your good works for themselves and, when the day of reckoning comes, give thanks to God for the things which now make them denounce you as criminals.

  For the sake of the Lord, accept the authority of every social institution: the emperor, as the supreme authority, and the governors as commissioned by him to punish criminals and praise good citizenship. God wants you to be good citizens, so as to silence what fools are saying in their ignorance. You are slaves of no one except God, so behave like free men, and never use your freedom as an excuse for wickedness. Have respect for everyone and love for our community; fear God and honour the emperor.

  We have learned to notice in the case of material stones, that those which are stronger and more powerful are placed first in the foundations, so that the weight of the whole building can be put securely on them. Similarly you must understand that from among these living stones there are some in the foundations of this spiritual building. Now who are those who are laid in the foundations? The apostles and the prophets. This is what Paul himself has to say in his teaching, ‘You are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the corner stone.’

  You must learn that Christ also himself is the foundation of the building which we are now describing, so that you may more eagerly prepare yourself for the construction of his building and be found to be one of those stones which are closer to the foundation. For these are the words of Paul the apostle, ‘For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Christ Jesus.’ Blessed therefore are those who will be found to have constructed sacred and religious buildings upon that glorious foundation.

  But in this building of the church there must also be an altar. From this I conclude that whichever of you ‘living stones’ are ready for this and prepared to give up time to prayers, to offer entreaties to God day and night and to offer up the sacrifices of supplication, such people I say are the stones out of which Jesus builds his altar.

  Study now what praise is offered to these same stones of the altar. ‘Moses the lawgiver,’ he said, ‘ordered that an altar be built out of unhewn stones, untouched by the chisel.’ Who now are these unhewn stones ? Perhaps these unhewn, unviolated stones could be the holy apostles, all making together one altar by reason of their harmony and concord. For so it is reported of them that, as all prayed together with one accord and opened their mouths, they said, ‘You, Lord, who know the hearts of all men.’

  These men therefore who were able to pray with one mind, with one voice, with one voice in one spirit, are perhaps worthy of being all employed to build together one altar upon which Jesus may offer sacrifice to the Father.

  However, let us too try to take care that we may all with one mind say the same things, having the same sentiments, doing nothing in strife nor through vainglory, but remaining with one feeling, one sentiment, in the hope that we too can be made fitting stones for the altar.