March 30th : Night Vigil Sixth reading In the radiance of the Lord, make your way to light A reading from the book of Baruch 3:9-15,32-4:4

 March 30th :  Night Vigil

Sixth reading

In the radiance of the Lord, make your way to light

A reading from the book of Baruch 3:9-15,32-4:4 

Listen, Israel, to commands that bring life;

hear, and learn what knowledge means.

Why, Israel, why are you in the country of your enemies,

growing older and older in an alien land,

sharing defilement with the dead,

reckoned with those who go to Sheol?

Because you have forsaken the fountain of wisdom.

Had you walked in the way of God,

you would have lived in peace for ever.

Learn where knowledge is, where strength,

where understanding, and so learn

where length of days is, where life,

where the light of the eyes and where peace.

But who has found out where she lives,

who has entered her treasure house?

But the One who knows all knows her,

he has grasped her with his own intellect,

he has set the earth firm for ever

and filled it with four-footed beasts.

He sends the light – and it goes,

he recalls it – and trembling it obeys;

the stars shine joyfully at their set times:

when he calls them, they answer, ‘Here we are’;

they gladly shine for their creator.

It is he who is our God,

no other can compare with him.

He has grasped the whole way of knowledge,

and confided it to his servant Jacob,

to Israel his well-beloved;

so causing her to appear on earth

and move among men.

This is the book of the commandments of God,

the Law that stands for ever;

those who keep her live,

those who desert her die.

Turn back, Jacob, seize her,

in her radiance make your way to light:

do not yield your glory to another,

your privilege to a people not your own.

Israel, blessed are we:

what pleases God has been revealed to us.

The Word of the Lord.

Psalm

Psalm 18(19):8-11 

You have the message of eternal life, O Lord.

The law of the Lord is perfect,

  it revives the soul.

The rule of the Lord is to be trusted,

  it gives wisdom to the simple.

You have the message of eternal life, O Lord?.

The precepts of the Lord are right,

  they gladden the heart.

The command of the Lord is clear,

  it gives light to the eyes.

You have the message of eternal life, O Lord.

The fear of the Lord is holy,

  abiding for ever.

The decrees of the Lord are truth

  and all of them just.

You have the message of eternal life, O Lord.

They are more to be desired than gold,

  than the purest of gold

and sweeter are they than honey,

  than honey from the comb.

You have the message of eternal life, O Lord.