Daily Readings - 15/08/2026

^44:1 God, we have heard with our own ears, our ancestors have told us of the deeds you performed in their days, in days long ago,

^44:2 by your hand. To put them in the land you dispossessed the nations, you harried the peoples to make room for them;

^44:3 it was not by their swords they won the land, it was not by their arms they gained the victory: it was your right hand, your arm and the light of your face – because you loved them.

^44:4 You it was, my King, my God, who won those victories for Jacob;

^44:5 through you we trampled down our enemies, through your name we subdued our aggressors.

^44:6 My trust was not in my bow, my sword did not gain me victory:

^44:7 we conquered our enemies through you, you, who defeated all who hated us –

^44:8 our boast was always of God, we praised your name without ceasing. (Pause)

^44:9 Yet now you abandon and scorn us, you no longer march with our armies,

^44:10 you allow the enemy to push us back, and let those who hate us raid us when it suits them.

^44:11 You let us go to the slaughterhouse like sheep, you scatter us among the nations;

^44:12 you sell your people for next to nothing, and make no profit from the bargain.

^44:13 Thanks to you, our neighbours insult us, all those around us make us their butt and laughing-stock;

^44:14 you make us a byword to pagans, a thing to make them toss their heathen heads.

^44:15 All day long I brood on this disgrace, my face covered in shame,

^44:16 under a shower of insult and blasphemy, a display of hatred and revenge.

^44:17 All this happened to us though we had not forgotten you, though we had not been disloyal to your covenant;

^44:18 though our hearts had not turned away, though our steps had not left your path:

^44:19 yet you crushed us in the place where the jackals live, and threw the shadow of death over us.

^44:20 Had we forgotten the name of our own God and stretched out our hands to a foreign one,

^44:21 would not God have found this out, he who knows the secrets of the heart?

^44:22 No, it is for your sake we are being massacred daily, and counted as sheep for the slaughter.

^44:23 Wake up, Lord! Why are you asleep? Awake! Do not abandon us for good.

^44:24 Why do you hide your face, and forget we are wretched and exploited?

^44:25 For we are bowed in the dust, our bodies crushed to the ground.

^44:26 Rise! Come to our help! Redeem us for the sake of your love.

^15:20 But Christ has in fact been raised from the dead, the first-fruits of all who have fallen asleep.

^15:21 Death came through one man and in the same way the resurrection of the dead has come through one man.

^15:22 Just as all men die in Adam, so all men will be brought to life in Christ;

^15:23 but all of them in their proper order: Christ as the first-fruits and then, after the coming of Christ, those who belong to him.

^15:24 After that will come the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, having done away with every sovereignty, authority and power.

^15:25 For he must be king until he has put all his enemies under his feet[*a]

^15:26 and the last of the enemies to be destroyed is death, for everything is to be put under his feet.

^15:27 – Though when it is said that everything is subjected, this clearly cannot include the One who subjected everything to him.

^1:39 Mary set out at that time and went as quickly as she could to a town in the hill country of Judah.

^1:40 She went into Zechariah’s house and greeted Elizabeth.

^1:41 Now as soon as Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.

^1:42 She gave a loud cry and said, ‘Of all women you are the most blessed, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.

^1:43 Why should I be honoured with a visit from the mother of my Lord?

^1:44 For the moment your greeting reached my ears, the child in my womb leapt for joy.

^1:45 Yes, blessed is she who believed that the promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled.’

^1:46 And Mary[*i] said: ‘My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord

^1:47 and my spirit exults in God my saviour;

^1:48 because he has looked upon his lowly handmaid. Yes, from this day forward all generations will call me blessed,

^1:49 for the Almighty has done great things for me. Holy is his name,

^1:50 and his mercy reaches from age to age for those who fear him.

^1:51 He has shown the power of his arm, he has routed the proud of heart.

^1:52 He has pulled down princes from their thrones and exalted the lowly.

^1:53 The hungry he has filled with good things, the rich sent empty away.

^1:54 He has come to the help of Israel his servant, mindful of his mercy

^1:55 -according to the promise he made to our ancestors-of his mercy to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’

^1:56 Mary stayed with Elizabeth about three months and then went back home.