Daily Office - Mar 7

Perpetua, Felicity and their Companions, Martyrs at Carthage, 203

Psalm 56
Have mercy on me, O God, for they trample over me; all day long they assault and oppress me.
My adversaries trample over me all the day long;
many are they that make proud war against me.
In the day of my fear I put my trust in you, in God whose word I praise.
In God I trust, and will not fear, for what can flesh do to me?
All day long they wound me with words; their every thought is to do me evil.
They stir up trouble; they lie in wait; marking my steps, they seek my life.
Shall they escape for all their wickedness?
In anger, O God, cast the peoples down.
You have counted up my groaning;
put my tears into your bottle;
are they not written in your book?

Then shall my enemies turn back on the day when I call upon you;
this I know, for God is on my side.
In God whose word I praise, in the Lord whose word I praise, in God I trust and will not fear: what can flesh do to me?
To you, O God, will I fulfil my vows;
to you will I present my offerings of thanks,
For you will deliver my soul from death and my feet from falling,
that I may walk before God in the light of the living.

Psalm 57
Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for my soul takes refuge in you;
In the shadow of your wings will I take refuge until the storm of destruction has passed by.
I will call upon the Most High God, the God who fulfils his purpose for me.
He will send from heaven and save me and rebuke those that would trample upon me;
God will send forth his love and his faithfulness.
I lie in the midst of lions, people whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.
Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, and your glory over all the earth.
They have laid a net for my feet; my soul is pressed down;
they have dug a pit before me and will fall into it themselves.
My heart is ready, O God, my heart is ready;
I will sing and give you praise.
Awake, my soul; awake, harp and lyre,that I may awaken the dawn.
I will give you thanks, O Lord, among the peoples;
I will sing praise to you among the nations.
For your loving-kindness is as high as the heavens, and your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.
Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, and your glory over all the earth.

Jeremiah 14
The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought:
Judah mourns  and her gates languish;
they lie in gloom on the ground, and the cry of Jerusalem goes up.
Her nobles send their servants for water;
   they come to the cisterns, they find no water, they return with their vessels empty.
They are ashamed and dismayed and cover their heads, because the ground is cracked.
   Because there has been no rain on the land the farmers are dismayed;
   they cover their heads.
Even the doe in the field forsakes her newborn fawn because there is no grass.
The wild asses stand on the bare heights, they pant for air like jackals;
their eyes fail because there is no herbage.

Although our iniquities testify against us, act, O Lord, for your name’s sake;
our apostasies indeed are many, and we have sinned against you.
O hope of Israel, its saviour in time of trouble,
why should you be like a stranger in the land, like a traveller turning aside for the night?
Why should you be like someone confused, like a mighty warrior who cannot give help?
Yet you, O Lord, are in the midst of us, and we are called by your name;
do not forsake us!

Thus says the Lord concerning this people:
Truly they have loved to wander, they have not restrained their feet;
therefore the Lord does not accept them,
now he will remember their iniquity and punish their sins.

The Lord said to me:
Do not pray for the welfare of this people.
Although they fast, I do not hear their cry,
and although they offer burnt-offering and grain-offering, I do not accept them;
but by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence I consume them.

Then I said:
‘Ah, Lord God! Here are the prophets saying to them, “You shall not see the sword, nor shall you have famine, but I will give you true peace in this place.” ’

And the Lord said to me:
The prophets are prophesying lies in my name; I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a lying vision, worthless divination, and the deceit of their own minds. Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name though I did not send them, and who say, ‘Sword and famine shall not come on this land’: By sword and famine those prophets shall be consumed. And the people to whom they prophesy shall be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem, victims of famine and sword. There shall be no one to bury them—themselves, their wives, their sons, and their daughters. For I will pour out their wickedness upon them.

You shall say to them this word:
Let my eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease,
for the virgin daughter—my people—is struck down with a crushing blow,
   with a very grievous wound.
If I go out into the field, look—those killed by the sword!
And if I enter the city, look—those sick with famine!
For both prophet and priest ply their trade throughout the land, and have no knowledge.

Have you completely rejected Judah?
   Does your heart loathe Zion?
Why have you struck us down so that there is no healing for us?
We look for peace, but find no good;
   for a time of healing, but there is terror instead.
We acknowledge our wickedness, O Lord,
   the iniquity of our ancestors,
   for we have sinned against you.
Do not spurn us, for your name’s sake;
   do not dishonour your glorious throne;
   remember and do not break your covenant with us.
Can any idols of the nations bring rain?
   Or can the heavens give showers?
Is it not you, O Lord our God?
   We set our hope on you, for it is you who do all this.

John 8.31-47
Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him,
‘If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.’

They answered him,
‘We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, “You will be made free”?’

Jesus answered them,
‘Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there for ever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are descendants of Abraham; yet you look for an opportunity to kill me, because there is no place in you for my word. I declare what I have seen in the Father’s presence; as for you, you should do what you have heard from the Father.’

They answered him,
‘Abraham is our father.’

Jesus said to them,
‘If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing what Abraham did, but now you are trying to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are indeed doing what your father does.’

They said to him,
‘We are not illegitimate children; we have one father, God himself.’

Jesus said to them,
‘If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now I am here. I did not come on my own, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot accept my word. You are from your father the devil, and you choose to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. Which of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is from God hears the words of God. The reason you do not hear them is that you are not from God.’

The Collect
Holy God,
who gave great courage to Perpetua, Felicity and their companions:
grant that we may be worthy to climb the ladder of sacrifice
and be received into the garden of peace;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.