She (Hannah) was deeply distressed and prayed to the Lord, and wept bitterly. She made this vow: ‘O Lord of hosts, if only you will look on the misery of your servant, and remember me, and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a male child, then I will set him before you as…
Read more
Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights;I have put my spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations. From Isaiah 42:1-4,6-7, NRSV Today the Church celebrates the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord when, as Luke’s gospel tell us, the Holy Spirit descended on…
Read more
For the Lord honours a father above his children, and he confirms a mother’s right over her children.Those who honour their father atone for sins, and those who respect their mother are like those who lay up treasure. From Ecclesiasticus 3:2-6,12-14,NRSV On this Feast of the Holy Family, we hear from a book that contained wise…
Read more
Do not love the world or the things in the world. The love of the Father is not in those who love the world; for all that is in the world—the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the pride in riches—comes not from the Father but from the world. And the world…
Read more
I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church. I became its servant according to God’s commission that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully…
Read more
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; but if we walk in…
Read more
We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— this life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it, and declare to you the eternal life…
Read more
Stephen, full of grace and power, did great wonders and signs among the people. Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and others of those from Cilicia and Asia, stood up and argued with Stephen. But they could not withstand the wisdom and the…
Read more
Break forth together into singing, you ruins of Jerusalem;for the Lord has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem.The Lord has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations;and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. From Isaiah 52:7-10 , NRSV Isaiah’s words were first addressed to the people of Israel…
Read more
But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan: Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the Lord: Are you the one to build me a house to live in? Now therefore thus you shall say to my servant David: Thus says the Lord of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep to…
Read more
