QUINQUAGESIMA SUNDAY

INTROIT.  Ps 31:1-6  IN thee, O Lord, have I put my trust; / let me never be put to confusion; deliver me in thy righteousness.  2 Bow down thine ear to me; / make haste to deliver me. 3 And be thou my strong rock and house of defence, / that thou mayest save me. Ant.  For thou art my strong rock and my castle: / be thou also my guide, and lead me for thy Name’s sake. 5 Draw me out of the net that they have hidden for me; / for thou art my strength. 6 Into thy hands I commend my spirit; / for thou hast redeemed me, O Lord, thou God of truth. Glory be.

 

COLLECT.  O LORD, who hast taught us that all our doings without charity are nothing worth: Send thy Holy Spirit, and pour into our hearts that most excellent gift of charity, the very bond of peace and of all virtues, without which whosoever lives is counted dead before thee: Grant this for thine only Son Jesus Christ’s sake.  Amen

 

First Lesson:  Jeremiah 31:7-9

[7] For thus says the LORD: “Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob, and raise shouts for the chief of the nations; proclaim, give praise, and say, `The LORD has saved his people, the remnant of Israel.’
[8] Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth, among them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her who is in travail, together; a great company, they shall return here.
[9] With weeping they shall come, and with consolations I will lead them back, I will make them walk by brooks of water, in a straight path in which they shall not stumble;
for I am a father to Israel, and E’phraim is my first-born.

 

Psalm 126  A Song of Ascents.

[1] When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream.
[2] Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then they said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them.”
[3] The LORD has done great things for us; we are glad.
[4] Restore our fortunes, O LORD, like the watercourses in the Negeb!
[5] May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy!
[6] He that goes forth weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.

 

THE EPISTLE.  1 Cor. 13.

1 THOUGH I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.  And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.  And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.  Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.  Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.  For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.  But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.  When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.  For now we see through a glass darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.  And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three: but the greatest of these is charity.

GRADUAL.  Ps 31:22-26 O HOW plentiful is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee, / and that thou hast prepared for them that put their trust in thee, even before the sons of men! 23 Thou hidest them in the secret place of thine own presence from the plottings of men: / thou shalt keep them secretly in thy tabernacle from the strife of tongues. 24 Thanks be to the Lord; / for he hath showed me his marvellous loving-kindness in a strong city. 25 But as for me, I said in my haste, / ‘I am cast out of the sight of thine eyes.’ 26 Nevertheless, thou heardest the voice of my prayer, / when I cried unto thee.

 

THE GOSPEL.  S. Luke 18. 31

THEN Jesus took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man shall be accomplished.  For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on: and they shall scourge him, and put him to death; and the third day he shall rise again.  And they understood none of these things: and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken.  And it came to pass, that as he was come nigh unto Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the way-side begging: and hearing the multitude pass by, he asked what it meant.  And they told him, that Jesus of Nazareth passeth by.  And he cried, saying, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me.  And they which went before rebuked him, that he should hold his peace: but he cried so much the more, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.  And Jesus stood, and commanded him to be brought unto him: and when he was come near, he asked him, saying, What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee?  And he said, Lord, that I may receive my sight.  And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight; thy faith hath saved thee.  And immediately he received his sight, and followed him, glorifying God: and all the people, when they saw it, gave praise unto God.