Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.

The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary.

Sing and rejoice, O daughter Zion!

God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant could be seen in the temple.

I am the Lord, your God,/ who grasp your right hand;/ It is I who say to you, “Fear not,/ I will help you.”/ Fear not, O worm Jacob,/ O maggot Israel;/ I will help you, says the Lord;/ your redeemer is the Holy One of Israel./ I will make of you a threshing sledge,/ sharp, new, and double-edged,/ To thresh the mountains and crush them,/ to make the hills like chaff./ When you winnow them, the wind shall carry them off/ and the storm shall scatter them./ But you shall rejoice in the Lord,/ and glory in the Holy One of Israel.

Jesus said to the crowds: “Amen, I say to you, among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the Kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

Jesus said to the crowds: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.

To whom can you liken me as an equal?/ says the Holy One./ Lift up your eyes on high/ and see who has created these things:/ He leads out their army and numbers them,/ calling them all by name./ By his great might and the strength of his power/ not one of them is missing!/ Why, O Jacob, do you say,/ and declare, O Israel,/ “My way is hidden from the Lord,/ and my right is disregarded by my God”?

Jesus said to his disciples: “What is your opinion?

Comfort, give comfort to my people,/ says your God./ Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her/ that her service is at an end,/ her guilt is expiated;/ Indeed, she has received from the hand of the Lord/ double for all her sins.