In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, [the earth was a formless wasteland, and darkness covered the abyss, while a mighty wind swept over the waters.

Hear, O Israel, the commandments of life:/ listen, and know prudence!/ How is it, Israel,/ that you are in the land of your foes,/ grown old in a foreign land,/ defiled with the dead,/ accounted with those destined for the netherworld?/ You have forsaken the fountain of wisdom!/ Had you walked in the way of God,/ you would have dwelt in enduring peace./ Learn where prudence is,/ where strength, where understanding;/ that you may know also/ where are length of days, and life,/ where light of the eyes, and peace./ Who has found the place of wisdom,/ who has entered into her treasuries?

God put Abraham to the test.

Brothers and sisters: Are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

The One who has become your husband is your Maker;/ his name is the Lord of hosts;/ your redeemer is the Holy One of Israel,/ called God of all the earth./ The Lord calls you back,/ like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit,/ a wife married in youth and then cast off,/ says your God./ For a brief moment I abandoned you,/ but with great tenderness I will take you back./ In an outburst of wrath, for a moment/ I hid my face from you;/ but with enduring love I take pity on you,/ says the Lord, your redeemer./ This is for me like the days of Noah,/ when I swore that the waters of Noah/ should never again deluge the earth;/ so I have sworn not to be angry with you,/ or to rebuke you./ Though the mountains leave their place/ and the hills be shaken,/ my love shall never leave you/ nor my covenant of peace be shaken,/ says the Lord, who has mercy on you./ O afflicted one, storm-battered and unconsoled,/ I lay your pavements in carnelians,/ and your foundations in sapphires;/ I will make your battlements of rubies,/ your gates of carbuncles,/ and all your walls of precious stones./ All your children shall be taught by the Lord,/ and great shall be the peace of your children./ In justice shall you be established,/ far from the fear of oppression,/ where destruction cannot come near you.

Thus says the Lord:/ All you who are thirsty,/ come to the water!/ You who have no money,/ come, receive grain and eat;/ come, without paying and without cost,/ drink wine and milk!/ Why spend your money for what is not bread,/ your wages for what fails to satisfy?/ Heed me, and you shall eat well,/ you shall delight in rich fare./ Come to me heedfully,/ listen, that you may have life./ I will renew with you the everlasting covenant,/ the benefits assured to David./ As I made him a witness to the peoples,/ a leader and commander of nations,/ so shall you summon a nation you knew not,/ and nations that knew you not shall run to you,/ because of the Lord, your God,/ the Holy One of Israel, who has glorified you.

The word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, when the house of Israel lived in their land, they defiled it by their conduct and deeds.

After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.

One of the Twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?” They paid him thirty pieces of silver, and from that time on he looked for an opportunity to hand him over.

The Lord God has given me/ a well-trained tongue,/ That I might know how to speak to the weary/ a word that will rouse them./ Morning after morning/ he opens my ear that I may hear;/ And I have not rebelled,/ have not turned back./ I gave my back to those who beat me,/ my cheeks to those who plucked my beard;/ My face I did not shield/ from buffets and spitting.