FIRST READING: Nehemiah 2: 1 - 8
1
And it came to pass in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of
Artaxerxes the king: that wine was before him, and I took up the
wine, and gave it to the king: and I was as one languishing away
before his face.
2
And the king said to me: Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou dost
not appear to be sick? this is not without cause, but some evil, I
know not what, is in thy heart. And I was seized with an exceeding
great fear:
3
And I said to the king: O king, live for ever: why should not my
countenance be sorrowful, seeing the city of the place of the
sepulchres of my fathers is desolate, and the gates thereof are burnt
with fire?
4
Then the king said to me: For what dost thou make request? And I
prayed to the God of heaven,
5
And I said to the king: If it seem good to the king, and if thy
servant hath found favour in thy sight, that thou wouldst send me
into Judea to the city of the sepulchre of my father, and I will
build it.
6
And the king said to me, and the queen that sat by him: For how long
shall thy journey be, and when wilt thou return? And it pleased the
king, and he sent me: and I fixed him a time.
7
And I said to the king: If it seem good to the king, let him give me
letters to the governors of the country beyond the river, that they
convey me over, till I come into Judea:
8
And a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king's forest, to give me
timber that I may cover the gates of the tower of the house, and the
walls of the city, and the house that I shall enter into. And the
king gave me according to the good hand of my God with me.
1
Upon the rivers of Babylon, there we sat and wept: when we remembered
Sion:
2
On the willows in the midst thereof we hung up our instruments.
3
For there they that led us into captivity required of us the words of
songs. And they that carried us away, said: Sing ye to us a hymn of
the songs of Sion.
4
How shall we sing the song of the Lord in a strange land?
5
If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand be forgotten.
6
Let my tongue cleave to my jaws, if I do not remember thee: If I make
not Jerusalem the beginning of my joy.
1 At that hour the
disciples came to Jesus, saying: Who thinkest thou is the greater in
the kingdom of heaven?
2 And Jesus calling
unto him a little child, set him in the midst of them,
3 And said: Amen I
say to you, unless you be converted, and become as little children,
you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
4 Whosoever therefore
shall humble himself as this little child, he is the greater in the
kingdom of heaven.
5 And he that shall
receive one such little child in my name, receiveth me.
10 See that you
despise not one of these little ones: for I say to you, that their
angels in heaven always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.
