Thread: Have Mercy. It’s Low Sunday. Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.
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Posted by Wm Dewy (# 16712) on
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I visited a local Roman Catholic parish on Saturday night to hear Mass and heard a new name for today. The priest called this day in the Church’s calendar (2nd Sunday of Easter) Mercy Sunday. I’m accustomed to calling this day Low Sunday. But it made me wonder: in the local folk lore why do we call it that? Low attendance? Low church?
Local custom seems to have named a lot of Sundays this time of year, starting with Refreshment Sunday, followed by Passion Sunday, Palm Sunday, Easter Sunday, and now Low Sunday. Did most all of the Sundays of the year have a nickname?
I’m sorry if this isn’t Ecclesiantics material. Will some kind host please re-direct to the appropriate board? Thank you!
Posted by dj_ordinaire (# 4643) on
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'Mercy' relates to the cult of Christ's Divine Mercy revealed to St. Faustina. She believed that Christ had called for His Mercy to be celebrated on the Sunday after Easter following a novena beginning on Good Friday. It was made a Feast of the Universal Church by Pope John Paul who may have felt a strong affinity with Faustina, who was also Polish. It is also very popular in Ireland.
The relevant promise, copied from the image I keep in my room ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
runs:
'I desire that the Feast of Mercy be solemnly celebrated on the first Sunday after Easter. The soul that will go to Confession within 8 days and receive Holy Communion and spend some time in Adoration before the Blessed Sacrament on this day, shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment.
Jesus, I trust in you.
PS no, the thread is fine here!
[ 14. April 2012, 23:01: Message edited by: dj_ordinaire ]
Posted by Sir Pellinore (ret'd) (# 12163) on
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Well dj_ordinaire, that answers Wm Dewy's question with all the bells and whistles necessary.
I would regard that as the SOF equivalent of a hole in one.
Posted by dj_ordinaire (# 4643) on
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The 'Mercy Sunday' maybe - the 'Low Sunday' less so, although I have heard that this derives from 'Laud Sunday' after the Introit...
Posted by Sir Pellinore (ret'd) (# 12163) on
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I think the Mercy Sunday explanation gave you game, set and match.
Just rejoice! ![[Biased]](wink.gif)
Posted by Hart (# 4991) on
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It's Divine Mercy Sunday. Occasionally, I've heard it called Doubting Thomas Sunday, after the invariable gospel. I'm serving a priest's first mass tomorrow, so it certainly won't be an unceremonious affair!
Posted by Alogon (# 5513) on
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Charles Tournemire's organ mass for this Sunday is one of my favorites and I play it at least every other year. It usually goes into the bulletin as Introit, Offertoire, Toccata "for Quasimodo". People might think that the music has something to do with Victor Hugo's Quasimodo, the "Hunchback of Notre Dame". He was so-named, as I recall, because he was found on the cathedral steps as an infant on this Sunday. The Sunday is called Quasimodo, of course, because of the opening word of the introit.
As an aside, Katherine Bergeron in Decadent Enchantments describes the great popularity and influence of this novel. During its vogue, every fashionable Parisian wanted to display his or her newfound acquaintance with the details of Gothic architecture. It stimulated a love for this cathedral in particular and a desire to see the damage it had sustained in the French Revolution repaired. The Gothic revival movement and a Romantic fascination with things medieval in general followed (although there were other influences leading to this development). The re-establishment of a Benedictine monastery in Solesmes was one result.
Posted by The Silent Acolyte (# 1158) on
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I forget how I first heard this, but in my early, compulsive Anglocatholic days I had heard that Low Sunday was so called because Laudes was the first word of the Introit for the mass.
Googling for Introit Low Sunday turns up this link which (after much backing and filling) tells the same story, but with the Sequence providing the name, not the Introit.
[ 15. April 2012, 03:25: Message edited by: The Silent Acolyte ]
Posted by PD (# 12436) on
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At one time it was known as "Dominica in Albis" - Sunday in white, as those baptized on easter would still be in their baptismal robes. The English 'Whitsunday' for Pentecost has a similar origin except that was a day on which baptisms traditionally took place making the church white with baptismal robes.
PD
Posted by JeffTL (# 16722) on
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I've also heard folks refer to it (and, sometimes, the first Sunday in Christmas) as international associate pastors' day, after the typical homilist.
Posted by Ceremoniar (# 13596) on
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But the introit for today is Quasi Modo, not Laudes...Another name for Low/Divine Mercy Sunday is Quasi Modo Sunday, because of the introit, as another member mentioned.
For RCs, Divine Mercy Sunday has become quite a big deal. Divine Mercy is related to the Sacred Heart, and is a very popular devotion.
Posted by venbede (# 16669) on
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Quasimodo as in the hunchback of Notre Dame, who is found as a baby on this day.
I believe the Orthodox call it the Sunday of Thomas as the gospel reading is the resurrection appearance to Thomas (as it is in all three years of the RCL, the BCP and the Tridentine missal.)
There's also the business of it being the eight day, and the escatological aspect of the resurrection
It seems a shame to replace an ancient, biblical and rich traditional emphasis with that on a personal revelation.
Posted by venbede (# 16669) on
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Just got back from church. I went to a nearby old fashioned place (I have been to mass five times in the last two weeks at my usual place, so I hope I wasn't being frivolous.)
I was handed a BCP and the gospel there stops short of the appearance to Thomas. In fact, as the gospel was read from English Missal, the reading continued to describe Thomas.
Live and learn.
Posted by Forthview (# 12376) on
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The First Sunday after Easter (Second Sunday of Easter) must be the Sunday with the most names.Quasimodo Sunday,Dominica in albis(depositis),Low Sunday and now in the RC church Divine Mercy Sunday.In Germany it is called White Sunday.
Low Sunday,however,I always thought was in contrast to the previous 'High'Sunday of Easter Day.
Posted by venbede (# 16669) on
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quote:
Originally posted by Forthview:
Low Sunday,however,I always thought was in contrast to the previous 'High'Sunday of Easter Day.
Me too.
Posted by leo (# 1458) on
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But it is still the Easter Octave.
I wish the lectionary did't give us Thomas every year - vicar always away so I always preach. After 5 consecutive years' sermons on Thomas, I'm dredging the barrel.
Posted by Bishops Finger (# 5430) on
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leo, perhaps you should do as we did, and send out to 'Rent-A-Priest'.......(our parish priest married a wife yesterday, and therefore couldn't be at Mass today!).
I have always been told (informally) that Low Sunday was so-called because it was usually a bit of an anti-climax - numbers-wise - after the huge crowds attending on Easter Day. Our little shack, with its ASA of 30 or so, had 38 today - 26 adults and 12 under-16s, so we were quite chuffed.
Ian J.
Posted by Hart (# 4991) on
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quote:
Originally posted by leo:
I wish the lectionary did't give us Thomas every year - vicar always away so I always preach. After 5 consecutive years' sermons on Thomas, I'm dredging the barrel.
Tell them the old, old story, then. Tell them that by his wounds, we are healed. Tell them that revelation comes through wounds; that God is there -- frustratingly furtively, but there -- in their wounds. Tell them that the promised rest, the land of perfect sharing and where no-one is in need... tell them that that's real, that our wounded, risen Lord has walked there. Tell them that we walk there, a pilgrim people guided by fire, not tiptoeing around suffering, but through it, clinging to the hope of the cross. By his wounds we are saved.
With good news this good, why would you want to be novel?
[ 15. April 2012, 13:16: Message edited by: Hart ]
Posted by dj_ordinaire (# 4643) on
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quote:
Originally posted by Bishops Finger:
leo, perhaps you should do as we did, and send out to 'Rent-A-Priest'.......(our parish priest married a wife yesterday, and therefore couldn't be at Mass today!).
I have always been told (informally) that Low Sunday was so-called because it was usually a bit of an anti-climax - numbers-wise - after the huge crowds attending on Easter Day. Our little shack, with its ASA of 30 or so, had 38 today - 26 adults and 12 under-16s, so we were quite chuffed.
Ian J.
I don't know if this is where the 'low' in 'Low Sunday' comes from - as I say, I've heard other explanations! - but it would certainly seem appropriate for today, numbers low by our usual Sunday standards and certainly compared to last week's packed house.
Posted by Oferyas (# 14031) on
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quote:
Originally posted by Forthview:
Low Sunday,however,I always thought was in contrast to the previous 'High'Sunday of Easter Day.
I was taught that Low Sunday was a corruption of 'Dominica in Laudes' ('Sunday in [the Easter] praises', the final day of the old Easter Octave. In the Old Days (including my childhood!) there were certain elements of Easter Liturgy, now (rightly) extended to the Great 50 Days, which were once a feature of just the Easter Octave.
Posted by The Silent Acolyte (# 1158) on
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quote:
Originally posted by Hart:
quote:
Originally posted by leo:
I wish the lectionary did't give us Thomas every year - vicar always away so I always preach. After 5 consecutive years' sermons on Thomas, I'm dredging the barrel.
Tell them the old, old story, then. Tell them that by his wounds, we are healed. Tell them that revelation comes through wounds; that God is there -- frustratingly furtively, but there -- in their wounds. Tell them that the promised rest, the land of perfect sharing and where no-one is in need... tell them that that's real, that our wounded, risen Lord has walked there. Tell them that we walk there, a pilgrim people guided by fire, not tiptoeing around suffering, but through it, clinging to the hope of the cross. By his wounds we are saved.
With good news this good, why would you want to be novel?
And, you can wrap things around back to the Easter Vigil and the Five Wounds of Christ nailed right into the Paschal Candle. The soothing incense of those five Paschal wounds points from the enlightening of the Gentile Magi to the continuing witness and ministry of the women. I'm sure the Harrowing can get a look in as that hellish place, teeming with wounded people, is completely and utterly destroyed. Contrast the closed doors of the upper room with the destroyed gates of hell. Though he is incredulous at the resurrection of Jesus, at the resurrection of Lazarus, Thomas is willing go with Jesus to his death, and urges the other disciples so. That's just off the top of my head.
It must have been a bitch in the olden days, forty years ago, when the church universal had a one-year lectionary. I wonder whatever do the Orthodox do?
Posted by ken (# 2460) on
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I preached this morning. Didn't get as far as Thomas tho. All about "peace be with you"
Posted by Mamacita (# 3659) on
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quote:
Originally posted by dj_ordinaire:
quote:
Originally posted by Bishops Finger:
leo, perhaps you should do as we did, and send out to 'Rent-A-Priest'.......(our parish priest married a wife yesterday, and therefore couldn't be at Mass today!).
I have always been told (informally) that Low Sunday was so-called because it was usually a bit of an anti-climax - numbers-wise - after the huge crowds attending on Easter Day. Our little shack, with its ASA of 30 or so, had 38 today - 26 adults and 12 under-16s, so we were quite chuffed.
Ian J.
I don't know if this is where the 'low' in 'Low Sunday' comes from - as I say, I've heard other explanations! - but it would certainly seem appropriate for today, numbers low by our usual Sunday standards and certainly compared to last week's packed house.
That's the explanation I've heard. We had half the crowd from Easter but still most of our regulars were there. So not so "low" really.
Hart and TSA, your posts above on preaching Thomas are wonderful. Thank you.
Posted by IconiumBound (# 754) on
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Our parish had just one service rather than its usual four; plus a baptism. This resulted in a very large attendance of about 400 rather than the total of about 300 at the usual four services. I think the concept of Low (attendance) Sunday was put to rest.
Posted by Martin L (# 11804) on
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quote:
Originally posted by Mamacita:
We had half the crowd from Easter but still most of our regulars were there. So not so "low" really.
That was true for us too, although we were less than half of Easter. (Fortunately, we were shocked by a very high Easter attendance. Unfortunately, we must have scared them away.)
"Low Sunday" was never mentioned, but to be fair I don't typically hear it in Lutheran circles.
[ 15. April 2012, 22:31: Message edited by: Martin L ]
Posted by LutheranChik (# 9826) on
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Our Low Sunday was low numerically as well -- we usually have a very healthy Sunday turnout, but this morning you could hear crickets in the sanctuary.;-)
Posted by sonata3 (# 13653) on
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Has anyone else ever heard of this Sunday described as "Holy Hilarity Sunday"? One Lutheran pastor I had some years back used the sermon time simply to tell religious jokes -- and insisted this was an ancient tradition in the church.
Posted by LutheranChik (# 9826) on
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I've heard about that a few years ago but not much since, so I assume that it didn't gain a lot of traction.
Posted by PD (# 12436) on
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Low Sunday is always scrupulously referred to by me as Easter I. For us it was depressingly or reassuringly normal - depending on your outlook.
We had a total 39 at our two Masses, which is low side of average, but they broke down differently to usual. Instead of the usual 3-1 split in favour of the later service it was more like 5-3 which made the early service seem much busier than usual.
The vestry meeting between services was tiresome as there was something of a "dead nags' Derby" of pet peeves and projects. I had a hard time keeping them on course without loosing my temper.
PD
Posted by Belle Ringer (# 13379) on
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Maybe because I grew up very low church, I never heard of Low Sunday as a name on a liturgical calendar, only as reference to predictable low attendance Sundays -- Sunday after Easter, Sunday after Christmas, New Years Day if it is a Sunday, perhaps one or two others -- is the first Sunday after school lets out a low attendance Sunday?
Church where I'm doing choir 'til summer (half the alto section is out sick, so I'm subbing), had such low attendance this morning I was startled. Probably half of the usual, 1/4 of Easter Sunday. Then I remembered it's a low Sunday, i.e. normal for the placement in the year.
Posted by PD (# 12436) on
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The traditional 'low Sundays' here are
The Sunday before or after Christmas - if Christmas is within two days
Memorial Day weekend
Fourth of July weekend if the fourth is observed on either Friday or Monday.
Labor Day weekend
The Sunday after Thanksgiving
The three summer public holidays can result in a Sunday in which we are light on regulars and heavy on visitors. The absolutely worst attendance of the year is usually the Sunday after Thanksgiving. For us Easter I/Low Sunday is business as usual after the High Celebration and all the trimmings over Easter, not attendance-wise.
PD
Posted by Alogon (# 5513) on
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Our preacher today said that Low Sunday is so called because those baptized on the Easter Vigil were given all of Easter week to celebrate their baptism, but Low Sunday marked the end of this celebration.
Posted by venbede (# 16669) on
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quote:
Originally posted by sonata3:
Has anyone else ever heard of this Sunday described as "Holy Hilarity Sunday"? One Lutheran pastor I had some years back used the sermon time simply to tell religious jokes -- and insisted this was an ancient tradition in the church.
No, I haven't. I'm glad I wasn't present at the service you describe.
I wonder if "Low Sunday" is a purely English term?
Posted by Chorister (# 473) on
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I've only ever heard of it called Low Sunday. Numbers were certainly low at Llandaff Cathedral as the choir and sunday school were both on holiday. It also meant the volume of singing was low as well.
Posted by venbede (# 16669) on
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Right. Looking up my battered copy of the Daily Missal, ed Dom Gaspar Lefevbre OSB 1924, I read:
Low Sunday or Octave of Easter
Low Sunday, so called in order to emphasise the contrast between the great Easter solemnity and the Sunday which ends the Octave, is also known as Quasimodo from the first words of the Introit. In the Latin Missal and Breviary it is called Domenica in Albis.. Another Latin name, Pascha clausum in preserved in the French Paques closes.
[ 16. April 2012, 08:06: Message edited by: venbede ]
Posted by Jonah the Whale (# 1244) on
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quote:
Originally posted by Belle Ringer:
Maybe because I grew up very low church, I never heard of Low Sunday as a name on a liturgical calendar, only as reference to predictable low attendance Sundays
Same here. We managed to avoid the low attendance this year because it was our chaplain's last Sunday with us, so quite a few folks turned up to say goodbye to him. I don't think we can manage the same trick next year though.
Posted by Ceremoniar (# 13596) on
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Divine Mercy Sunday was a big to-do at our shack (and any number of others in the area). After our 11:30AM Solemn Mass, we had a pot-luck luncheon in our hall, which was still decorated from a rather large parish wedding the day before.
At 2PM the priest went back into the box to hear more confessions until 3PM, which Our Lord told St. Faustina is the Hour of Mercy. At that time the Divine Mercy image was blessed and the chaplet sung (to the familiar traditional setting previously used on EWTN), led by our deacon. We are fortunate to have a first-class relic of St. Faustina, so the day's events were concluded by the faithful venerating the relic.
[ 16. April 2012, 11:53: Message edited by: Ceremoniar ]
Posted by venbede (# 16669) on
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And I read this in Liturgy and Worship, A Companion to the Prayer Books of the Anglican Communion, ed Lowther Clarke, 1st ed 1932.
Low Sunday is derived from Laudes, the first word of the old Sequence.
That doesn't sound convincing. There is no sequence that day in the Roman missal. The obvious sequence to have is the one for Easter Day, Victimae paschale laudes, in which case the Sunday is named after the third word of the sequence, which sounds odd.
Alternatively there was a Sarum sequence for the day, beginning "Laudes", which would suggest that it was an exclusively English usage.
In which case, I'm surprised Dom Gaspar included the title. The Daily Missal suggestion seems more convincing.
Posted by Alogon (# 5513) on
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quote:
Originally posted by venbede:
Alternatively there was a Sarum sequence for the day, beginning "Laudes", which would suggest that it was an exclusively English usage.
Are you sure it is just a Sarum sequence, or is it one of the many pan-Western sequences whose suppression by the Council of Trent Roman Catholics (but not Anglicans) must accept?
The English hymnal provides at least one example of such a sequence, Laetabundus for Christmas. This is no longer usable by most of the Roman Catholic church. However, because the author was a Praemonstratensian, it is allowed to the Norbertine order.
Posted by Fr Weber (# 13472) on
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quote:
Originally posted by venbede:
Just got back from church. I went to a nearby old fashioned place (I have been to mass five times in the last two weeks at my usual place, so I hope I wasn't being frivolous.)
I was handed a BCP and the gospel there stops short of the appearance to Thomas. In fact, as the gospel was read from English Missal, the reading continued to describe Thomas.
Live and learn.
Until discovering this for myself, I had wondered why some of the minor propers refer to St Thomas, and why the Hymnal 1940 suggests the verses of O Filii et filiae that refer to Thomas as appropriate for Low Sunday.
Posted by Fr Weber (# 13472) on
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quote:
Originally posted by venbede:
And I read this in Liturgy and Worship, A Companion to the Prayer Books of the Anglican Communion, ed Lowther Clarke, 1st ed 1932.
Low Sunday is derived from Laudes, the first word of the old Sequence.
That doesn't sound convincing. There is no sequence that day in the Roman missal. The obvious sequence to have is the one for Easter Day, Victimae paschale laudes, in which case the Sunday is named after the third word of the sequence, which sounds odd.
Alternatively there was a Sarum sequence for the day, beginning "Laudes", which would suggest that it was an exclusively English usage.
In which case, I'm surprised Dom Gaspar included the title. The Daily Missal suggestion seems more convincing.
Unless your Missal predates Pius V, it will likely have only 5 sequences in it. There were, prior to Trent, dozens and dozens of them, for all sorts of feasts.
And Alogon, "Laetabundus" is also in the Dominican Missal!
Posted by Sir Pellinore (ret'd) (# 12163) on
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Whatever's in a name, I'm sure hoping the aforesaid Mercy is still available to us lowly sinners down below. ![[Votive]](graemlins/votive.gif)
Posted by venbede (# 16669) on
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quote:
Originally posted by Alogon:
quote:
Originally posted by venbede:
Alternatively there was a Sarum sequence for the day, beginning "Laudes", which would suggest that it was an exclusively English usage.
Are you sure it is just a Sarum sequence, or is it one of the many pan-Western sequences whose suppression by the Council of Trent Roman Catholics (but not Anglicans) must accept?
I suspect it never existed and the pre-Tridentine sequence for the day was Victimae paschali laudes.
Posted by venbede (# 16669) on
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... and that Dom Gaspar is right (low because not so high), and the derivation from laudes is an etiological myth.
Posted by Patrick (# 305) on
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Christ is risen!
In the Orthodox Pentecostarion,the Sunday in question is titled the Sunday of Thomas or Antipascha. Its Office has peculiarities, such that the first Sunday after Pascha with full Paschal features, apart from Pascha Itself, is the next Sunday: that of the Myrrhbearing Women. To the best of my knowlege all the churches, East and West, recall the appearance of our Lord to Thomas on that Sunday. The Armenians and Copts certainly do so.
I grew up when the Latin Church, and all western liturgical churches, had but a single set of readings for the Sundays of the year. That did not prevent, I think, good sermons, creative sermons, thoughtful sermons from being preached no more than it does in Orthodoxy. The only Sunday that preachers dreaded was the one in the post-Pentecost season where the Gospel advises that we make friends with the Mammon of Iniquity: what to make of that was a constant worry.
Anyhow, IMHO, the main point of preaching is not so much explication of the text (which I for one love doing) as deriving from the text application, in the ideal instance, relevant to the concrete congregation being addressed. I know of one Anglican theologian who, on that basis, refused all offers as a guest preacher: he did not know the congregation personally. Preaching requires prayer and reflection: the richness of the Gospels, of course, is no small assistance. Above all else, the preacher, in spiritu humilitatis, should not aim at originality but rather at useful insights. Originality is a modern notion, coming into being at the same time as copyrights. For the ancients and medievals, truth was common property, which they borrowed from each other without use of footnotes.
Posted by ChaliceGirl (# 13656) on
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quote:
Originally posted by ken:
I preached this morning. Didn't get as far as Thomas tho. All about "peace be with you"
I preached too, about Thomas and how he got a second chance to see Jesus.
I admit I was kind of glad it was "low" Sunday. A full church would have made me nervous! I'm still a novice preacher.
Posted by sebby (# 15147) on
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quote:
Originally posted by leo:
But it is still the Easter Octave.
I wish the lectionary did't give us Thomas every year - vicar always away so I always preach. After 5 consecutive years' sermons on Thomas, I'm dredging the barrel.
For some - perhaps me included - that pericope is one of the most important and moving accounts read in the whole of Eastertide.
Posted by venbede (# 16669) on
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The cross and wounds, the resurrection, the Incarnation ("my Lord and my God"), the mission of the church ("blessed are those who have not seen").
The whole Christian message is there.
Not to mention consistency with the ancient church, East and West.
And the Book of Common Prayer omitted it.
Posted by +Chad (# 5645) on
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quote:
Originally posted by Sir Pellinore (ret'd):
Whatever's in a name, I'm sure hoping the aforesaid Mercy is still available to us lowly sinners down below.
Indeed, Sir P., and more than one Sunday a year.
Posted by Amazing Grace (# 95) on
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quote:
Originally posted by venbede:
quote:
Originally posted by sonata3:
Has anyone else ever heard of this Sunday described as "Holy Hilarity Sunday"? One Lutheran pastor I had some years back used the sermon time simply to tell religious jokes -- and insisted this was an ancient tradition in the church.
No, I haven't. I'm glad I wasn't present at the service you describe.
I wonder if "Low Sunday" is a purely English term?
Nope, I was entirely familiar with it as an American Presbyterian.
Our programs last week said "Thomas Sunday" (after the Gospel of the day) although one of the items on our annual report to the Diocese says "Low Sunday attendance". So both terms are in use in TEC.
Posted by leo (# 1458) on
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quote:
Originally posted by sebby:
quote:
Originally posted by leo:
But it is still the Easter Octave.
I wish the lectionary did't give us Thomas every year - vicar always away so I always preach. After 5 consecutive years' sermons on Thomas, I'm dredging the barrel.
For some - perhaps me included - that pericope is one of the most important and moving accounts read in the whole of Eastertide.
But others feel differently. We don't get the Emmaus Road every year. Nor Mary Mag in the garden. So why Thomas?
Posted by venbede (# 16669) on
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With the C of E lectionary, Mary Magdalen is an option on Easter Day in every year.
Thomas is the universal reading is most traditions East and West and specific to the eighth day. None of the other resurrection stories are for any specific day other than Easter Day itself.
Posted by Pancho (# 13533) on
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quote:
Originally posted by venbede:
It seems a shame to replace an ancient, biblical and rich traditional emphasis with that on a personal revelation.
Nothing changed in the propers of the Mass for that day, as far as I'm aware of. The theme of Divine Mercy is exactly in keeping with "ancient, biblical and rich traditional emphasis" of that day.
The opening prayer for the day (in the previous translation):
"God of mercy,
you wash away our sins of water,
you give us new birth in the Spirit,
and redeem us in the blood of Christ.
As we celebrate Christ's resurrection
increase our awareness of these blessings,
and renew your gift of life within us."
The responsorial psalm is from Psalm 118:
"Let the House of Israel say, 'His mercy endures forever'.."
The second reading for year B is from the first Letter of St. John:
"This is the one who came through water and blood, Jesus Christ, not by water and alone, but by water and blood..."
The Gospel is from the Gospel according to St. John, chapter 20, where the apostles are granted the power to absolve sins:
"He breathed on them and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained."
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