Let us set ourselves to know the Lord;
that he will come is as certain as the dawn
his judgement will rise like the light,
he will come to us as showers come,
like spring rains watering the earth.
What am I to do with you, Ephraim?
What am I to do with you, Judah?
This love of yours is like a morning cloud,
like the dew that quickly disappears.
This is why I have torn them to pieces by the prophets,
why I slaughtered them with the words from my mouth,
since what I want is love, not sacrifice;
knowledge of God, not holocausts.

I will show God’s salvation to the upright.

The God of gods, the Lord,
  has spoken and summoned the earth,
from the rising of the sun to its setting.
‘I find no fault with your sacrifices,
  your offerings are always before me.

I will show God’s salvation to the upright.

Were I hungry, I would not tell you,
  for I own the world and all it holds.
Do you think I eat the flesh of bulls,
  or drink the blood of goats?

I will show God’s salvation to the upright.

‘Pay your sacrifice of thanksgiving to God
  and render him your votive offerings.
Call on me in the day of distress.
  I will free you and you shall honour me.’

I will show God’s salvation to the upright.

Though it seemed Abraham’s hope could not be fulfilled, he hoped and he believed, and through doing so he did become the father of many nations exactly as he had been promised: Your descendants will be as many as the stars. Even the thought that his body was past fatherhood – he was about a hundred years old – and Sarah too old to become a mother, did not shake his belief. Since God had promised it, Abraham refused either to deny it or even to doubt it, but drew strength from faith and gave glory to God, convinced that God had power to do what he had promised. This is the faith that was ‘considered as justifying him.’ Scripture however does not refer only to him but to us as well when it says that his faith was thus ‘considered’; our faith too will be ‘considered’ if we believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, Jesus who was put to death for our sins and raised to life to justify us.

Alleluia, alleluia!
Open our heart, O Lord,
to accept the words of your Son.
Alleluia!