The Saturday within the Octave of the Feast of the Holy Trinity
Posted on June 21, 2025 by under
Scripture: Acts 16:9-15 (NKJV)
16:9 And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them.
11 Therefore, sailing from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samothrace, and the next day came to Neapolis, 12 and from there to Philippi, which is the foremost city of that part of Macedonia, a colony. And we were staying in that city for some days. 13 And on the Sabbath day we went out of the city to the riverside, where prayer was customarily made; and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there. 14 Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul. 15 And when she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” So she persuaded us.
Devotion
At this point in St. Paul’s apostolic journeys and ministry he wanted to preach more in Asia. But just before this reading, Luke tells us that “the Spirit did not permit them.” Rather, it was time for St. Paul and his company to go to Macedonia, which they understood to mean that the Lord had called them to preach the Gospel there. This statement of Scripture makes it plain that the Holy Spirit is God—in this case, He is identified as “the Lord” in the way that we normally speak of God.
This call and the preaching of the Gospel also bore much fruit. A woman named Lydia, who already was a worshiper of God, heard the Gospel, was baptized along with her household, and invited Paul and his company to stay at her house. It was to the congregation that was formed here that Paul wrote his epistle to the Philippians, which speaks at length of Paul’s joy to see God’s Word spread among them, and to see the evident fruits of faith in their generosity. At the time St. Paul wrote this letter, there were evidently many more believers there, as St. Paul also writes to the bishops and deacons.
Collect: Almighty and Everlasting God, Who hast given unto us, Thy servants, grace, by the confession of a true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of the Divine Majesty to worship the Unity: We beseech Thee, that Thou wouldest keep us steadfast in this faith, and evermore defend us from all adversities; Who livest and reignest, One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
