[To his Excellency, Theophilus. Many attempts have been already made to draw up an account of those events which have reached their conclusion among us,

But the angel said to him: " Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth shall bear you a son, whom you shall call by the name John.

"I am Gabriel," the angel answered, "who stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.

"This is what the Lord has done for me," she said, "now that he has deigned to take away the reproach under which I have been living."

Gabriel came into her presence and said: "Hail, you who have been highly favored! The Lord is with you."

This day there has been born to you, in the town of David, a Savior, who is Christ and Lord.

And, when they saw it, they told of all that had been said to them about this child.

And the shepherds went back, giving glory and praise to God for all that they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not die until he had seen the Lord's Christ.

His parents were amazed when they saw him, and his mother said to him: "My child, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been searching for you in great distress."

Now after the baptism of all the people, and when Jesus had been baptized and was still praying, the heavens opened,

"I will give you all this power, and the splendor of them; for it has been given into my hands and I give it to whom I wish.

Coming to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, Jesus, as was his custom, went on the Sabbath into the Synagogue, and stood up to read the Scriptures.

And Jesus began: "This very day this passage has been fulfilled in your hearing."

"Doubtless," said Jesus, "you will remind me of the saying-- 'Doctor, cure yourself;' and you will say 'Do here in your own country all that we have heard that has been done at Capernaum.'

"We have been hard at work all night, Sir," answered Simon, "and have not caught anything, but, at your bidding, I will throw out the nets."

When he saw their faith, Jesus said: "Friend, your sins have been forgiven you."

Which is the easier?--to say 'Your sins have been forgiven you'? or to say 'Get up, and walk about'?

Instantly the man stood up before their eyes, took up what he had been lying on, and went to his home, praising God.

He may be compared to a man building a house, who dug, and went deep, and laid the foundation upon the rock. Then, when a flood came, the river swept down upon that house, but had no power to shake it, because it had been built well.

When the Pharisee who had invited Jesus saw this, he said to himself: "Had this man been 'The Prophet,' he would have known who, and what sort of woman, this is who is touching him, and that she is an outcast."

And for this, I tell you, her sins, many as they are, have been pardoned, because she has loved greatly; but one who has little pardoned him, loves but little."

Then he said to the woman: "Your sins have been pardoned."

As well as some women who had been cured of wicked spirits and of infirmities. They were Mary, known as Mary of Magdala (from whom seven demons had been expelled),

"To you," he said, "the knowledge of the hidden truths of the Kingdom of God has been imparted, but to others in parables only, that 'though they have eyes they may not see, and though they have ears, they may not understand.'

Those who had seen it told them how the possessed man had been delivered;

Then the woman, when she saw that she was discovered, came forward trembling, and threw herself down before him; and, in the presence of all the people, she told him her reason for touching him, and that she had been cured instantly.

Peter and his companions had been overpowered by sleep but, suddenly becoming wide awake, they saw Jesus glorified and the two men who were standing beside him.

But the disciples did not understand the meaning of this; it had been concealed from them so that they did not see it, and they were afraid to question him as to what he meant.

Alas for you, Chorazin! Alas for you, Bethsaida! For, if the Miracles which have been done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have sat in sackcloth and ashes and repented long ago.

Yet do not rejoice in the fact that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names have been enrolled in Heaven."

Everything has been committed to me by my Father; nor does any one know who the Son is, except the Father, or who the Father is, except the Son and those to whom the Son may choose to reveal him."

Some of whom they will persecute and kill, in order that the 'blood' of all the prophets 'that has been spilt' since the creation of the world may be exacted from this generation--

So do not be afraid, my little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the Kingdom.

This you do know, that, had the owner of the house known at what time the thief was coming, he would have been on the watch, and would not have let his house be broken into.

while one who does not know his master's wishes, but acts so as to deserve a flogging, will receive but few. From every one to whom much has been given much will be expected, and from the man to whom much has been entrusted the more will be demanded.

But this woman, a daughter of Abraham, who has been kept in bondage by Satan for now eighteen years, ought not she to have been released from her bondage on the Sabbath?"

"When you are invited by any one to a wedding banquet, do not seat yourself in the best place, for fear that some one of higher rank should have been invited by your host;

And sent his servant, when it was time for the dinner, to say to those who had been invited 'Come, for everything is now ready.'

Presently the servant said 'Sir, your order has been carried out, and still there is room.'

'No,' he said to his father, 'look at all the years I have been serving you, without ever once disobeying you, and yet you have never given me even a kid, so that I might have a merry-making with my friends.

The Law and the Prophets sufficed until the time of John. Since then the Good News of the Kingdom of God has been told, and everybody has been forcing his way into it.

Near his gateway there had been laid a beggar named Lazarus, who was covered with sores,

It would be good for him if he had been flung into the sea with a mill-stone round his neck, rather than that he should prove a snare to even one of these lowly ones.

And so with you--when you have done all that you have been told, still say 'We are but useless servants; we have done no more than we ought to have done.'"

On his return, after having been appointed King, he directed that the servants to whom he had given his money should be summoned, so that he might learn what amount of trade they had done.

"Would that you had known, while yet there was time--even you--the things that make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your sight.

When Herod saw Jesus, he was exceedingly pleased, for he had been wanting to see him for a long time, having heard a great deal about him; and he was hoping to see some sign given by him.

And Herod and Pilate became friends that very day, for before that there had been ill-will between them.

(Barabbas was a man who had been put in prison for a riot that had broken out in the city and for murder.)

He released the man who had been put in prison for riot and murder, as they demanded, and gave Jesus up to be dealt with as they pleased.

The Roman Captain, on seeing what had happened, praised God, exclaiming: "This must have been a good man!"

All the friends of Jesus had been standing at a distance, with the women who accompanied him from Galilee, watching all this.

And, when he had taken it down, he wrapped it in a linen sheet, and laid him in a tomb cut out of stone, in which no one had yet been buried.

They found that the stone had been rolled away from the tomb;

"This is what I told you," he said, "when I was still with you--that everything that had been written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms, must be fulfilled."

And now I am myself about to send upon you that which my Father has promised. But you must remain in the city until you have been invested with power from above."