R (see 18a) You have forgotten God who gave you birth.
You were unmindful of the Rock that begot you,
you forgot the God who gave you birth.
When the Lord saw this, he was filled with loathing
and anger toward his sons and daughters. R
“I will hide my face from them,” he said,
“and see what will then become of them.
What a fickle race they are,
sons with no loyalty in them!” R
“Since they have provoked me with their ‘no-god’
and angered me with their vain idols,
I will provoke them with a ‘no-people’;
with a foolish nation I will anger them.” R
Alleluia, alleluia. The Father willed to give us birth by the word of truth/ that we may be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. Alleluia, alleluia.
- The mustard seed becomes a large bush and the birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches. l
