A reading from
the Book of the Prophet Isaiah 49:8-15
Thus says the Lord:/ In a time of favor I answer you,/ on the day of salvation I help you;/ and I have kept you and given you as a covenant to the people,/ To restore the land/ and allot the desolate heritages,/ Saying to the prisoners: Come out!/ To those in darkness: Show yourselves!/ Along the ways they shall find pasture,/ on every bare height shall their pastures be./ They shall not hunger or thirst,/ nor shall the scorching wind or the sun strike them;/ For he who pities them leads them/ and guides them beside springs of water./ I will cut a road through all my mountains,/ and make my highways level./ See, some shall come from afar,/ others from the north and the west,/ and some from the land of Syene./ Sing out, O heavens, and rejoice, O earth,/ break forth into song, you mountains./ For the Lord comforts his people/ and shows mercy to his afflicted.
But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me;/ my Lord has forgotten me.”/ Can a mother forget her infant,/ be without tenderness for the child of her womb?/ Even should she forget,/ I will never forget you.
The word of the Lord.
