First reading	2 Samuel 6:12 - 19 ©
Word was brought to King David that the Lord had blessed the family of Obed-edom and all that belonged to him on account of the ark of God. David accordingly went and brought the ark of God up from Obed-edom’s house to the Citadel of David with great rejoicing. When the bearers of the ark of the Lord had gone six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a fat sheep. And David danced whirling round before the Lord with all his might, wearing a linen loincloth round him. Thus David and all the House of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with acclaim and the sound of the horn. They brought the ark of the Lord in and put it in position inside the tent that David had pitched for it; and David offered holocausts before the Lord, and communion sacrifices. And when David had finished offering holocausts and communion sacrifices, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of Hosts. He then distributed among all the people, among the whole multitude of Israelites, men and women, a roll of bread to each, a portion of dates, and a raisin cake. Then they all went away, each to his own house.

Gospel	Mark 3:31 - 35 ©
His mother and brothers now arrived and, standing outside, sent in a message asking for him. A crowd was sitting round him at the time the message was passed to him, ‘Your mother and brothers and sisters are outside asking for you’. He replied, ‘Who are my mother and my brothers?’ And looking round at those sitting in a circle about him, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers. Anyone who does the will of God, that person is my brother and sister and mother.’

Office of Readings

If this is the first Hour that you are reciting today, you should precede it with the Invitatory Psalm.

O God, come to my aid.
O Lord, make haste to help me.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen. Alleluia.

A suitable hymn may be inserted at this point.

Psalm 67 (68)
The Lord's triumphal journey
God arises and his enemies are scattered: those who hate him flee from his sight. You blow them away like wisps of smoke; as wax melts in front of a fire, so the wicked melt away before God. The righteous are glad and exult in God’s sight; they rejoice in their gladness. Sing to the Lord and celebrate his name! Make a road for him who rides upon the clouds – “The Lord” is his name. Rejoice in his sight, the father of orphans, defender of widows, God in his holy dwelling-place, God, who gives the lonely a house to dwell in, God, who leads captives out into prosperity; but the rebellious shall live in a desert land. God, when you set out in the sight of your people, when you crossed the wilderness – the earth shook. The heavens sent down dew at your coming – the God of Sinai, the God of Israel. At your bidding the rains came, O God, your inheritance was worn out but you refreshed it. All your creatures took up residence there, in your goodness you made a place for the needy. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Psalm 67 (68)

The Lord's triumphal journey

God arises and his enemies are scattered:
those who hate him flee from his sight.
You blow them away like wisps of smoke;
as wax melts in front of a fire,
so the wicked melt away before God.
The righteous are glad and exult in God’s sight;
they rejoice in their gladness.

Sing to the Lord and celebrate his name!
Make a road for him who rides upon the clouds –
“The Lord” is his name.
Rejoice in his sight,
the father of orphans, defender of widows,
God in his holy dwelling-place,
God, who gives the lonely a house to dwell in,
God, who leads captives out into prosperity;
but the rebellious shall live in a desert land.

God, when you set out in the sight of your people,
when you crossed the wilderness – the earth shook.
The heavens sent down dew at your coming –
the God of Sinai, the God of Israel.
At your bidding the rains came, O God,
your inheritance was worn out but you refreshed it.
All your creatures took up residence there,
in your goodness you made a place for the needy.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.

Psalm 67 (68)
The Lord gives out the word, and a great army of maidens brings the news: “The kings of the armies are fleeing, they are fleeing, and the fair one at home is dividing the spoils. While you sleep among the sheepfolds, the wings of the dove shine with silver, her feathers glow with green gold. Through her the Almighty scatters the kings, and the mountain of Salmon is white with snow. The mountain of Bashan is God’s mountain; the mountain of God is a high-peaked mountain. Why do you envy it, you high-peaked mountains, envy the mountain that God has chosen? The Lord will dwell there for ever. The chariots of God are ten thousand thousand: the Lord has come from Sinai to his holy sanctuary. You have scaled the heights, you have taken captives, you have received men as gifts so that even the rebels live with the Lord God. Blessings on the Lord, day after day! God will carry us, God our saviour. Our God is a God of salvation, our Lord is a Lord who rescues from death. Truly God will break the heads of his enemies, take the scalps of those who tread the path of crime. The Lord has spoken: “I shall bring them back from Bashan, I shall bring them back from the depths of the sea, so that your feet may be dipped in blood and the tongues of your dogs receive food from your enemies”. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Psalm 67 (68)

The Lord gives out the word,
and a great army of maidens brings the news:
“The kings of the armies are fleeing, they are fleeing,
and the fair one at home is dividing the spoils.
While you sleep among the sheepfolds,
the wings of the dove shine with silver,
her feathers glow with green gold.
Through her the Almighty scatters the kings,
and the mountain of Salmon is white with snow.

The mountain of Bashan is God’s mountain;
the mountain of God is a high-peaked mountain.
Why do you envy it, you high-peaked mountains,
envy the mountain that God has chosen?
The Lord will dwell there for ever.
The chariots of God are ten thousand thousand:
the Lord has come from Sinai to his holy sanctuary.
You have scaled the heights, you have taken captives,
you have received men as gifts
so that even the rebels live with the Lord God.

Blessings on the Lord, day after day!
God will carry us, God our saviour.
Our God is a God of salvation,
our Lord is a Lord who rescues from death.
Truly God will break the heads of his enemies,
take the scalps of those who tread the path of crime.

The Lord has spoken:
“I shall bring them back from Bashan,
I shall bring them back from the depths of the sea,
so that your feet may be dipped in blood
and the tongues of your dogs receive food from your enemies”.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.

Psalm 67 (68)
They have seen your processions, O God, the processions of God, my king, to his sanctuary. First came the singers, last the musicians, between them the maidens playing their drums. “Bless God in the assemblies: bless the Lord, you who spring from Israel!” There was young Benjamin, leading them, the princes of Judah in their rich robes, the princes of Zebulun, the princes of Naphtali. O God, command in your strength; make firm what you have achieved in us. From your temple in Jerusalem, kings shall bring you tribute. Rebuke the wild beast of the reeds, the herd of bulls, the lords of peoples. Let them lie prostrate before you with tribute of silver. Scatter the peoples that delight in war. Nobles will come from Egypt, Ethiopia will stretch out its hands to God. Kingdoms of the earth, sing to God; celebrate the Lord. Sing to God who rides on the highest heavens, at the origin of all things. Listen! – he speaks, a voice of power. Acknowledge the strength of the Lord: his majesty is over Israel, his strength is in the clouds. God inspires awe in his holy place; he, the God of Israel, gives power to his people; he gives them strength. Blessed be God! Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Psalm 67 (68)

They have seen your processions, O God,
the processions of God, my king, to his sanctuary.
First came the singers, last the musicians,
between them the maidens playing their drums.
“Bless God in the assemblies:
bless the Lord, you who spring from Israel!”
There was young Benjamin, leading them,
the princes of Judah in their rich robes,
the princes of Zebulun, the princes of Naphtali.

O God, command in your strength;
make firm what you have achieved in us.
From your temple in Jerusalem,
kings shall bring you tribute.
Rebuke the wild beast of the reeds,
the herd of bulls, the lords of peoples.
Let them lie prostrate before you with tribute of silver.
Scatter the peoples that delight in war.
Nobles will come from Egypt,
Ethiopia will stretch out its hands to God.

Kingdoms of the earth, sing to God;
celebrate the Lord.
Sing to God who rides on the highest heavens,
at the origin of all things.
Listen! – he speaks, a voice of power.

Acknowledge the strength of the Lord:
his majesty is over Israel,
his strength is in the clouds.
God inspires awe in his holy place;
he, the God of Israel, gives power to his people;
he gives them strength.
Blessed be God!

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.

Reading	Deuteronomy 26:1 - 19 ©
The profession of faith
When you come to the land the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance, when you have taken possession of it and are living in it, you must set aside the first-fruits of all the produce of the soil raised by you in the land the Lord is giving you. You must put them in a pannier and go to the place where the Lord your God chooses to give his name a home. You must go to the priest then in office and say to him, “Today I declare to the Lord my God that I have come to the land the Lord swore to our fathers he would give us”. The priest shall then take the pannier from your hand and lay it before the altar of the Lord your God. Then, in the sight of the Lord your God, you must make this pronouncement: “My father was a wandering Aramaean. He went down into Egypt to find refuge there, few in numbers; but there he became a nation, great, mighty, and strong. The Egyptians ill-treated us, they gave us no peace and inflicted harsh slavery on us. But we called on the Lord, the God of our fathers. The Lord heard our voice and saw our misery, our toil and our oppression; and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with mighty hand and outstretched arm, with great terror, and with signs and wonders. He brought us here and gave us this land, a land where milk and honey flow. Here then I bring the first-fruits of the produce of the soil that you, the Lord, have given me”. You must then lay them before the Lord your God, and bow down in the sight of the Lord your God. Then you are to feast on all the good things the Lord has given you, you and your household, and with you the Levite and the stranger who lives among you. In the third year, the tithing year, when you have finished reckoning the tithe of all your produce and have given it to the Levite, the stranger, the orphan and the widow, and they have eaten it in your towns and had their fill, you are to say in the sight of the Lord your God: “I have cleared my house of all that was consecrated. Yes, I have given it to the Levite, the stranger, the orphan and the widow, in accordance with all the commandments you laid on me, not going beyond your commandments, not forgetting them. I have not eaten any bread of mourning; I have consumed nothing that was unclean; I have offered nothing to the dead. I have obeyed the voice of the Lord my God and I have done all as you commanded me. Look down from the dwelling place of your holiness, from heaven, and bless your people Israel and the soil you have given us as you swore to our fathers, a land where milk and honey flow”. The Lord your God today commands you to observe these laws and customs; you must keep and observe them with all your heart and with all your soul. You have today made this declaration about the Lord: that he will be your God, but only if you follow his ways, keep his statutes, his commandments, his ordinances, and listen to his voice. And the Lord has today made this declaration about you: that you will be his very own people as he promised you, but only if you keep all his commandments; then for praise and renown and honour he will set you high above all the nations he has made, and you will be a people consecrated to the Lord, as he promised.

Reading

Deuteronomy 26:1 - 19 ©

The profession of faith

When you come to the land the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance, when you have taken possession of it and are living in it, you must set aside the first-fruits of all the produce of the soil raised by you in the land the Lord is giving you. You must put them in a pannier and go to the place where the Lord your God chooses to give his name a home. You must go to the priest then in office and say to him, “Today I declare to the Lord my God that I have come to the land the Lord swore to our fathers he would give us”.
The priest shall then take the pannier from your hand and lay it before the altar of the Lord your God. Then, in the sight of the Lord your God, you must make this pronouncement: “My father was a wandering Aramaean. He went down into Egypt to find refuge there, few in numbers; but there he became a nation, great, mighty, and strong. The Egyptians ill-treated us, they gave us no peace and inflicted harsh slavery on us. But we called on the Lord, the God of our fathers. The Lord heard our voice and saw our misery, our toil and our oppression; and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with mighty hand and outstretched arm, with great terror, and with signs and wonders. He brought us here and gave us this land, a land where milk and honey flow. Here then I bring the first-fruits of the produce of the soil that you, the Lord, have given me”.
You must then lay them before the Lord your God, and bow down in the sight of the Lord your God. Then you are to feast on all the good things the Lord has given you, you and your household, and with you the Levite and the stranger who lives among you.
In the third year, the tithing year, when you have finished reckoning the tithe of all your produce and have given it to the Levite, the stranger, the orphan and the widow, and they have eaten it in your towns and had their fill, you are to say in the sight of the Lord your God: “I have cleared my house of all that was consecrated. Yes, I have given it to the Levite, the stranger, the orphan and the widow, in accordance with all the commandments you laid on me, not going beyond your commandments, not forgetting them. I have not eaten any bread of mourning; I have consumed nothing that was unclean; I have offered nothing to the dead. I have obeyed the voice of the Lord my God and I have done all as you commanded me. Look down from the dwelling place of your holiness, from heaven, and bless your people Israel and the soil you have given us as you swore to our fathers, a land where milk and honey flow”.
The Lord your God today commands you to observe these laws and customs; you must keep and observe them with all your heart and with all your soul.
You have today made this declaration about the Lord: that he will be your God, but only if you follow his ways, keep his statutes, his commandments, his ordinances, and listen to his voice. And the Lord has today made this declaration about you: that you will be his very own people as he promised you, but only if you keep all his commandments; then for praise and renown and honour he will set you high above all the nations he has made, and you will be a people consecrated to the Lord, as he promised.

Reading	From the Detailed Rules for Monks by Saint Basil the Great
How shall we repay the Lord for all his goodness to us?
What words can adequately describe God’s gifts? They are so numerous that they defy enumeration. They are so great that any one of them demands our total gratitude in response. Yet even though we cannot speak of it worthily, there is one gift which no thoughtful man can pass over in silence. God fashioned man in his own image and likeness; he gave him knowledge of himself; he endowed him with the ability to think which raised him above all living creatures; he permitted him to delight in the unimaginable beauties of paradise, and gave him dominion over everything upon earth. Then, when man was deceived by the serpent and fell into sin, which led to death and to all the sufferings associated with death, God still did not forsake him. He first gave man the law to help him; he set angels over him to guard him; he sent the prophets to denounce vice and to teach virtue; he restrained man’s evil impulses by warnings and roused his desire for virtue by promises. Frequently, by way of warning, God showed him the respective ends of virtue and of vice in the lives of other men. Moreover, when man continued in disobedience even after he had done all this, God did not desert him. No, we were not abandoned by the goodness of the Lord. Even the insult we offered to our Benefactor by despising his gifts did not destroy his love for us. On the contrary, although we were dead, our Lord Jesus Christ restored us to life again, and in a way even more amazing than the fact itself, for his state was divine, yet he did not cling to his equality with God, but emptied himself to assume the condition of a slave. He bore our infirmities and endured our sorrows. He was wounded for our sake so that by his wounds we might be healed. He redeemed us from the curse by becoming a curse for our sake, and he submitted to the most ignominious death in order to exalt us to the life of glory. Nor was he content merely to summon us back from death to life; he also bestowed on us the dignity of his own divine nature and prepared for us a place of eternal rest where there will be joy so intense as to surpass all human imagination. How, then, shall we repay the Lord for all his goodness to us? He is so good that he asks no recompense except our love: that is the only payment he desires. To confess my personal feelings, when I reflect on all these blessings I am overcome by a kind of dread and numbness at the very possibility of ceasing to love God and of bringing shame upon Christ because of my lack of recollection and my preoccupation with trivialities.

Reading

From the Detailed Rules for Monks by Saint Basil the Great

How shall we repay the Lord for all his goodness to us?

What words can adequately describe God’s gifts? They are so numerous that they defy enumeration. They are so great that any one of them demands our total gratitude in response.
Yet even though we cannot speak of it worthily, there is one gift which no thoughtful man can pass over in silence. God fashioned man in his own image and likeness; he gave him knowledge of himself; he endowed him with the ability to think which raised him above all living creatures; he permitted him to delight in the unimaginable beauties of paradise, and gave him dominion over everything upon earth.
Then, when man was deceived by the serpent and fell into sin, which led to death and to all the sufferings associated with death, God still did not forsake him. He first gave man the law to help him; he set angels over him to guard him; he sent the prophets to denounce vice and to teach virtue; he restrained man’s evil impulses by warnings and roused his desire for virtue by promises. Frequently, by way of warning, God showed him the respective ends of virtue and of vice in the lives of other men. Moreover, when man continued in disobedience even after he had done all this, God did not desert him.
No, we were not abandoned by the goodness of the Lord. Even the insult we offered to our Benefactor by despising his gifts did not destroy his love for us. On the contrary, although we were dead, our Lord Jesus Christ restored us to life again, and in a way even more amazing than the fact itself, for his state was divine, yet he did not cling to his equality with God, but emptied himself to assume the condition of a slave.
He bore our infirmities and endured our sorrows. He was wounded for our sake so that by his wounds we might be healed. He redeemed us from the curse by becoming a curse for our sake, and he submitted to the most ignominious death in order to exalt us to the life of glory. Nor was he content merely to summon us back from death to life; he also bestowed on us the dignity of his own divine nature and prepared for us a place of eternal rest where there will be joy so intense as to surpass all human imagination.
How, then, shall we repay the Lord for all his goodness to us? He is so good that he asks no recompense except our love: that is the only payment he desires. To confess my personal feelings, when I reflect on all these blessings I am overcome by a kind of dread and numbness at the very possibility of ceasing to love God and of bringing shame upon Christ because of my lack of recollection and my preoccupation with trivialities.

Concluding Prayer
Almighty and ever-living God, guide our actions and make them pleasing to you, so that in the name of your beloved Son we may overflow with good works. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God for ever and ever. Amen.

Mass Readings

Office of Readings