Thursday of the Thirty-Second Week in Ordinary Time

I have found great joy and consolation in your charity, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed by you, brother. Because of this, I have enough confidence in Christ Jesus to command you concerning certain things, but I beg you instead, for the sake of charity, since you are so much like Paul: an old man and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ. I beg you, on behalf of my son, whom I have begotten in my chains, Onesimus. In times past, he was useless to you, but now he is useful both to me and to you. So I have sent him back to you. And may you receive him like my own heart. I myself wanted to retain him with me, so that he might minister to me, on your behalf, while I am in the chains of the Gospel. But I was willing to do nothing without your counsel, so as not to make use of your good deed as if out of necessity, but only willingly. So perhaps, then, he departed from you for a time, so that you might receive him again for eternity, no longer as a servant, but, in place of a servant, a most beloved brother, especially to me: but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord! Therefore, if you hold me to be a companion, receive him as you would me. But if he has harmed you in any way, or if he is in your debt, charge it to me. I, Paul, have written this with my own hand: I will repay. And I need not tell you, that you are also in debt yourself, to me. So it is, brother. May I delight with you in the Lord! Refresh my heart in Christ. I have written to you, trusting in your obedience, knowing, too, that you will do even more than what I say. But also, at once, prepare a lodging for me. For I am hoping, through your prayers, to present myself to you.