17 March 2021, Wednesday FIRST READING "I established you, so that you would be the alliance of the people, to raise up the country" Reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah (49, 8-15)

17 March 2021, Wednesday 

FIRST READING 

"I established you, so that you would be the alliance of the people, to raise up the country" 

Reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah (49, 8-15) 

Thus says the Lord: In the right time I heard you; in the day of salvation I helped you. I have fashioned you, established you, so that you will be the alliance of the people, to restore the country, to restore the devastated inheritances and to say to the prisoners: "Get out"! to the captives of darkness: "Show yourself"! Along the roads, they will be able to graze; on the bare heights will be their pastures. They will not be hungry or thirsty; the scorching wind and the sun will no longer strike them. He, full of compassion, will guide them, lead them to living waters. With all my mountains I will make a way, and my way will be made better.

Here they are: they come from afar, some from the north and the west, others from the southern lands. Heavens, shout for joy! Earth, rejoice! Mountains, burst into cries of joy! For the Lord comforts his people; of his poor, he has compassion.

Jerusalem said: “The Lord has forsaken me, my Lord has forgotten me. Can a woman forget her infant, no longer have tenderness for the son of her womb? Even if she forgot it, I won't forget you. 

The Word of the Lord.

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