14 March 2021, Sunday FIRST READING The Lord's anger and mercy manifested by the exile and deliverance of the people Reading from the second book of Chronicles (36, 14-16. 19-23)

14 March 2021, Sunday 

FIRST READING 

The Lord's anger and mercy manifested by the exile and deliverance of the people 

Reading from the second book of Chronicles (36, 14-16. 19-23) 

In those days all the chief priests and the people multiplied their infidelities, imitating all the abominations of the heathen nations, and they profaned the House which the Lord had consecrated in Jerusalem. The Lord, the God of their fathers, without delay and without tiring, sent them messengers, for he had mercy on his people and on his home. But they mocked the messengers of God, despised his words, and mocked his prophets; finally, there was no longer a remedy for the Lord's growing fury against his people. The Babylonians burned down the House of God, destroyed the rampart of Jerusalem, set fire to all its palaces, and reduced all their valuables to nothing. Nebuchadnezzar deported to Babylon those who had escaped the massacre; they became slaves to the king and his sons until the time of the Persian rule. Thus is fulfilled the word of the Lord proclaimed by Jeremiah: The earth will be desolate and it will rest for 70 years, until it has made up for all the desecrated Sabbaths with this rest.

Now, in the first year of the reign of Cyrus, king of Persia, for the fulfillment of the word of the Lord proclaimed by Jeremiah, the Lord inspired Cyrus, king of Persia. And he had his kingdom published - and even recorded in writing -: “Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he commissioned me to build him an house in Jerusalem in Judah. Whoever among you is of his people, the Lord his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem! " 

The Word of the Lord.

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