Celtic Daily Reading (March 16)

[Celtic Daily]

16 March

Feast Day: St.Aristobulus of Britain, St. Boniface Curitan of Ross,
St.Patrick of Auvergne, St. Abban of Kill-Abban, St. Abban of
Magheranoidhe, St. Finnian Lobhar

Theme:With God nothing is impossible

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Declaration of faith

To whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternal life,
and we have believed and have come to know
that You are the Holy One of God.

Praise to You, Lord Jesus Christ,
King of endless glory.

Psalm 53:
To the choirmaster: according to Mahalath. A Maskil of David. The fool
says in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, doing abominable
iniquity; there is none that does good. (2) God looks down from heaven
upon the sons of men to see if there are any that are wise, that seek
after God. (3) They have all fallen away; they are all alike depraved;
there is none that does good, no, not one. (4) Have those who work
evil no understanding, who eat up my people as they eat bread, and do
not call upon God? (5) There they are, in great terror, in terror such
as has not been! For God will scatter the bones of the ungodly; they
will be put to shame, for God has rejected them. (6) O that
deliverance for Israel would come from Zion! When God restores the
fortunes of his people, Jacob will rejoice and Israel be glad.

Old Testament: 2 Samuel 22:1-25
And David spoke to the LORD the words of this song on the day when the
LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand
of Saul. (2) He said, "The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my
deliverer, (3) my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and
the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge, my savior; thou
savest me from violence. (4) I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be
praised, and I am saved from my enemies. (5) "For the waves of death
encompassed me, the torrents of perdition assailed me; (6) the cords
of Sheol entangled me, the snares of death confronted me. (7) "In my
distress I called upon the LORD; to my God I called. From his temple he
heard my voice, and my cry came to his ears. (8) "Then the earth
reeled and rocked; the foundations of the heavens trembled and quaked,
because he was angry. (9) Smoke went up from his nostrils, and
devouring fire from his mouth; glowing coals flamed forth from him.
(10) He bowed the heavens, and came down; thick darkness was under his
feet. (11) He rode on a cherub, and flew; he was seen upon the wings
of the wind. (12) He made darkness around him his canopy, thick
clouds, a gathering of water. (13) Out of the brightness before him
coals of fire flamed forth. (14) The LORD thundered from heaven, and
the Most High uttered his voice. (15) And he sent out arrows, and
scattered them; lightning, and routed them. (16) Then the channels of
the sea were seen, the foundations of the world were laid bare, at the
rebuke of the LORD, at the blast of the breath of his nostrils. (17)
"He reached from on high, he took me, he drew me out of many waters.
(18) He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me; for
they were too mighty for me. (19) They came upon me in the day of my
calamity; but the LORD was my stay. (20) He brought me forth into a
broad place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me. (21) "The
LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the
cleanness of my hands he recompensed me. (22) For I have kept the ways
of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God. (23) For all
his ordinances were before me, and from his statutes I did not turn
aside. (24) I was blameless before him, and I kept myself from guilt.
(25) Therefore the LORD has recompensed me according to my
righteousness, according to my cleanness in his sight.

Meditation:
One day the captain spoke to me, 'What do you say, Christian? Your God
is supposed to be great and all-powerful, why can't you pray for us? We
are starving to death. It's hard to believe we will ever see another
person alive.'
I then said plainly to them all, 'Turn in faith and with all your hearts
to the Lord my God, for whom nothing is impossible. He will send you
food on your way until you have all that you can eat, for he has
abundance of it everywhere.' And with God's help it happened. Suddenly a
herd of pigs appeared on the road right before our eyes. . . -The
Confession of Patrick.
New Testament: Luke 9:10-20
On their return the apostles told him what they had done. And he took
them and withdrew apart to a city called Beth-sa'ida. (11) When the
crowds learned it, they followed him; and he welcomed them and spoke to
them of the kingdom of God, and cured those who had need of healing.
(12) Now the day began to wear away; and the twelve came and said to
him, "Send the crowd away, to go into the villages and country round
about, to lodge and get provisions; for we are here in a lonely place."
(13) But he said to them, "You give them something to eat." They
said, "We have no more than five loaves and two fish--unless we are to
go and buy food for all these people." (14) For there were about five
thousand men. And he said to his disciples, "Make them sit down in
companies, about fifty each." (15) And they did so, and made them all
sit down. (16) And taking the five loaves and the two fish he looked
up to heaven, and blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples
to set before the crowd. (17) And all ate and were satisfied. And they
took up what was left over, twelve baskets of broken pieces. (18) Now
it happened that as he was praying alone the disciples were with him;
and he asked them, "Who do the people say that I am?" (19) And they
answered, "John the Baptist; but others say, Eli'jah; and others, that
one of the old prophets has risen." (20) And he said to them, "But who
do you say that I am?" And Peter answered, "The Christ of God."

Closing Prayer:

I arise today in the might of Heaven,
brightness of sun, whiteness of snow, splendour of fire, speed of lightning,
swiftness of wind, depth of sea,
stability of earth, firmness of rock.
God's legions to save me, to protect me
from snares of the demons, from evil enticements, from failings of
nature, from one man or many
that seek to destroy me
nearby or afar. - St Patrick's Breastplate


Sent out at approximately midnight G.M.T.

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