Ant. 1: The soldier baptizes the King, the slave his Master, John his Saviour; the waters of the Jordan were astounded, the dove bore witness, and the voice of the Father was heard: This is my Son.

Ant. 2: Christ showed his glory to the world and sanctified the springs of water. Fetch water from the springs of salvation; for Christ, our Lord, has sanctified nature.

Ant. 3: Glory be to you, oh God, our Redeemer: with your spirit and fire you have cleansed man from all blemish.

Is 61, 1-2

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek; he has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.

Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment to truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law.

Thus says God the Lord, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that has spread forth the earth, and that which comes out of it; he that gives breath to the people upon it, and spirit to them who walk therein:

"I the Lord have called you in righteousness, and will hold your hand, and will keep you, and give you for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles; to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and those who sit in darkness out of the prison house.

I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images. Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them."

Listen, oh isles, to me; and hearken, you people, from far! The Lord has called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother has he made mention of my name. And he has made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand has he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver has he hid me.

And he said to me: "You are my servant, oh Israel, in whom I will be glorified." Then I said: "I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain". Yet surely my judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God.

And now, says the Lord who has formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and my God shall be my strength.

And he said: "It is a light thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give you for a light to the Gentiles, that you may be my salvation to the end of the earth."

Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom man despises, to him whom the nation abhorrs, to a servant of rulers: "Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the Lord who is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose you."

Thus says the Lord: "In an acceptable time have I heard you, and in a day of salvation have I helped you: and I will preserve you, and give you for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages; that you may say to the prisoners, ‘Go forth’, to them that are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves’. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places.

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All wisdom is from the Lord God, and has been always with him, and is before all time.

Who has numbered the sand of the sea, and the drops of rain, and the days of the world? Who has measured the height of heaven, and the breadth of the earth, and the depth of the abyss?

Who has searched out the wisdom of God that goes before all things?

Wisdom has been created before all things, and the understanding of prudence from everlasting.

The word of God on high is the fountain of wisdom, and her ways are everlasting commandments.

To whom has the root of wisdom been revealed, and who has known her wise counsels?

To whom has the discipline of wisdom been revealed and made manifest? and who has understood the multiplicity of her steps?

There is one most high Creator Almighty, and a powerful king, and greatly to be feared, who sits upon his throne, and is the God of dominion.

He created her in the Holy Spirit, and saw her, and numbered her, and measured her.

And he poured her out upon all his works, and upon all flesh according to his gift, and has given her to them that love him.

The fear of the Lord is honour, and glory, and gladness, and a crown of joy.

The fear of the Lord shall delight the heart, and shall give joy, and gladness, and length of days.

With him that fears the Lord, it shall go well in the latter end, and in the day of his death he shall be blessed.

The love of God is honourable wisdom.

And they to whom she shall show herself love her by the sight, and by the knowledge of her great works.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and was created with the faithful in the womb, it walks with chosen women, and is known with the just and faithful.

The fear of the Lord is the religiousness of knowledge.

Religiousness shall keep and justify the heart, it shall give joy and gladness.

It shall go well with him that fears the Lord, and in the days of his end he shall be blessed.

To fear God is the fulness of wisdom, and fulness is from the fruits thereof.

She shall fill all her house with her increase, and the storehouses with her treasures.

The fear of the Lord is a crown of wisdom, filling up peace and the fruit of salvation:

And it has seen, and numbered her: but both are the gifts of God.

Wisdom shall distribute knowledge, and understanding of prudence: and exalts the glory of them that hold her.

The root of wisdom is to fear the Lord: and the branches thereof are long-lived.

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There is an inactive man that wants help, is very weak in ability, and full of poverty:

Yet the eye of God has looked upon him for good, and has lifted him up from his low estate, and has exalted his head: and many have wondered at him, and have glorified God.

Good things and evil, life and death, poverty and riches, are from God.

Wisdom and discipline, and the knowledge of the law are with God. Love and the ways of good things are with him.

Error and darkness are created with sinners: and they that glory in evil things, grow old in evil.

The gift of God abides with the just, and his advancement shall have success for ever.

There is one that is enriched by living sparingly, and this is the portion of his reward.

In that he says: I have found me rest, and now I will eat of my goods alone:

And he knows not what time shall pass, and that death approaches, and that he must leave all to others, and shall die.

Be steadfast in your covenant, and be conversant therein, and grow old in the work of your commandments.

Abide not in the works of sinners. But trust in God, and stay in your place,

For it is easy in the eyes of God on a sudden to make the poor man rich.

The blessing of God makes haste to reward the just, and in a swift hour his blessing bears fruit.

Say not: What need I, and what good shall I have by this?

Say not: I am sufficient for myself: and what shall I be made worse by this?

In the day of good things be not unmindful of evils: and in the day of evils be not unmindful of good things:

For it is easy before God in the day of death to reward every one according to his ways.

The affliction of an hour makes one forget great delights, and in the end of a man is the disclosing of his works.

Praise not any man before death, for a man is known by his children.

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Readings of the 1^st Week – Wednesday

Wisdom shall praise her own self, and shall be honoured in God, and shall glory in the midst of her people,

And shall open her mouth in the churches of the most High, and shall glorify herself in the sight of his power,

And in the midst of her own people she shall be exalted, and shall be admired in the holy assembly.

And in the multitude of the elect she shall have praise, and among the blessed she shall be blessed, saying:

I came out of the mouth of the most High, the firstborn before all creatures:

I made that in the heavens there should rise light that never fails, and as a cloud I covered all the earth:

I dwelt in the highest places, and my throne is in a pillar of a cloud.

I alone have compassed the circuit of heaven, and have penetrated into the bottom of the deep, and have walked in the waves of the sea,

And have stood in all the earth: and in every people,

And in every nation I have had the chief rule:

And by my power I have trodden under my feet the hearts of all the high and low: and in all these I sought rest, and I shall abide in the inheritance of the Lord.

Then the creator of all things commanded, and said to me: and he that made me, rested in my tabernacle,

And he said to me: Let your dwelling be in Jacob, and your inheritance in Israel, and take root in my elect.

From the beginning, and before the world, was I created, and unto the world to come I shall not cease to be, and in the holy dwelling place I have ministered before him.

And so was I established in Sion, and in the holy city likewise I rested, and my power was in Jerusalem.

And I took root in an honourable people, and in the portion of my God his inheritance, and my abode is in the full assembly of saints.

I was exalted like a cedar in Libanus, and as a cypress tree on mount Sion.

I was exalted like a palm tree in Cades, and as a rose plant in Jericho:

As a fair olive tree in the plains, and as a plane tree by the water in the streets, was I exalted.

I gave a sweet smell like cinnamon, and aromatical balm: I yielded a sweet odour like the best myrrh:

And I perfumed my dwelling as storax, and galbanum, and onyx, and aloes, and as the frankincense not cut, and my odour is as the purest balm.

I have stretched out my branches as the turpentine tree, and my branches are of honour and grace.

As the vine I have brought forth a pleasant odour: and my flowers are the fruit of honour and riches.

I am the mother of fair love, and of fear, and of knowledge, and of holy hope.

In me is all grace of the way and of the truth, in me is all hope of life and of virtue.

Come over to me, all you that desire me, and be filled with my fruits.

For my spirit is sweet above honey, and my inheritance above honey and the honeycomb.

My memory is unto everlasting generations.

They that eat me, shall yet hunger: and they that drink me, shall yet thirst.

He that hearkens to me, shall not be confounded: and they that work by me, shall not sin.

They that explain me shall have life everlasting.

All these things are the book of life, and the covenant of the most High, and the knowledge of truth.

Moses commanded a law in the precepts of justices, and an inheritance to the house of Jacob, and the promises to Israel.

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I will now remember the works of the Lord, and I will declare the things I have seen. By the words of the Lord are his works.

The sun giving light has looked upon all things, and full of the glory of the Lord is his work.

Has not the Lord made the saints to declare all his wonderful works, which the Lord Almighty has firmly settled to be established for his glory?

He has searched out the deep, and the heart of men: and considered their crafty devices.

For the Lord knowes all knowledge, and has beheld the signs of the world, he declares the things that are past, and the things that are to come, and reveals the traces of hidden things.

No thought escapes him, and no word can hide itself from him.

He has beautified the glorious works of his wisdom: and he is from eternity to eternity, and to him nothing may be added,

Nor can he be diminished, and he has no need of any counsellor.

O how desirable are all his works, and what we can know is but as a spark!

All these things live, and remain for ever, and for every use all things obey him.

All things are double, one against another, and he has made nothing defective.

He has established the good things of every one. And who shall be filled with beholding his glory?

The firmament on high is his beauty, the beauty of heaven with its glorious shew.

The sun when he appeares shewing forth at his rising, an admirable instrument, the work of the most High.

At noon he burns the earth, and who can abide his burning heat? As one keeping a furnace in the works of heat:

The sun three times as much, burnes the mountains, breathing out fiery vapours, and shining with his beams, he blinds the eyes.

Great is the Lord that made him, and at his words he has hastened his course.

And the moon in all in her season, is for a declaration of times and a sign of the world.

From the moon is the sign of the festival day, a light that decreases in her perfection.

The month is called after her name, increasing wonderfully in her perfection.

Being an instrument of the armies on high, shining gloriously in the firmament of heaven.

The glory of the stars is the beauty of heaven; the Lord enlightenes the world on high.

By the words of the holy one they stand in judgment, and shall never fall in their watches.

Look upon the rainbow, and bless him that made it: it is very beautiful in its brightness.

It encompasses the heaven about with the circle of its glory, the hands of the most High have displayed it.

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By his commandment he makes the snow to fall apace, and sends forth swiftly the lightnings of his judgment.

Through this are the treasures opened, and the clouds fly out like birds.

By his greatness he has fixed the clouds, and the hailstones are broken.

At his sight shall the mountains be shaken, and at his will the south wind shall blow.

The noise of his thunder shall strike the earth, so doth the northern storm, and the whirlwind:

And as the birds lighting upon the earth, he scatters snow, and the falling thereof, is as the coming down of locusts.

The eye admires at the beauty of the whiteness thereof, and the heart is astonished at the shower thereof.

He shall pour frost as salt upon the earth: and when it freezes, it shall become like the tops of thistles.

The cold north wind blows, and the water is congealed into crystal; upon every gathering together of waters it shall rest, and shall clothe the waters as a breastplate.

And it shall devour the mountains, and burn the wilderness, and consume all that is green as with fire.

A present remedy of all is the speedy coming of a cloud, and a dew that meets it, by the heat that comes, shall overpower it.

At his word the wind is still, and with his thought he appeases the deep, and the Lord has planted islands therein.

Let them that sail on the sea, tell the dangers thereof: and when we hear with our ears, we shall admire.

There are great and wonderful works: a variety of beasts, and of all living things, and the monstrous creatures of whales.

Through him is established the end of their journey, and by his word all things are regulated.

We shall say much, and yet shall want words: but the sum of our words is, He is all.

What shall we be able to do to glorify him? For the Almighty himself is above all his works.

The Lord is terrible, and exceeding great, and his power is admirable.

Glorify the Lord as much as ever you can, for he will yet far exceed, and his magnificence is wonderful.

Blessing the Lord, exalt him as much as you can; for he is above all praise.

When you exalt him put forth all your strength, and be not weary: for you can never go far enough.

Who shall see him, and declare him? Who shall magnify him as he is from the beginning?

There are many things hidden from us that are greater than these: for we have seen but a few of his works.

But the Lord has made all things, and to the godly he has given wisdom.

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Let us now praise men of renown and our fathers in their generation.

The Lord has wrought great glory through his magnificence from the beginning.

Henoch pleased God, and was translated into paradise, that he may give repentance to the nations.

Noe was found perfect, just, and in the time of wrath he was made a reconciliation.

Therefore was there a remnant left to the earth, when the flood came.

The covenants of the world were made with him, that all flesh should no more be destroyed with the flood.

Abraham was the great father of a multitude of nations, and there was not found the like to him in glory, who kept the law of the most High, and was in covenant with him.

In his flesh he established the covenant, and in temptation he was found faithful.

Therefore by an oath he gave him glory in his posterity, that he should increase as the dust of the earth,

And that he would exalt his seed as the stars, and they should inherit from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth.

And he did in like manner with Isaac for the sake of Abraham his father.

The Lord gave him the blessing of all nations, and confirmed his covenant upon the head of Jacob.

He acknowledged him in his blessings, and gave him an inheritance, and divided him his portion in twelve tribes.

And he preserved for him men of mercy, that found grace in the eyes of all flesh.

Moses was beloved of God, and men: whose memory is in benediction.

He made him like the saints in glory, and magnified him in the fear of his enemies, and with his words he made prodigies to cease.

He glorified him in the sight of kings, and gave him commandments in the sight of his people, and showed him his glory.

He sanctified him in his faith, and meekness, and chose him out of all flesh.

For he heard him, and his voice, and brought him into a cloud.

And he gave him commandments before his face, and a law of life and instruction, that he might teach Jacob his covenant, and Israel his judgments.

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