Celtic Daily Reading (March 12)

[Celtic Daily]

12 March
Feast Day: St.
Mura McFeredach, St. Paul Aurelian

Theme: Temptation

+ 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 109:1-15
(1) To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. Be not silent, O God of my
praise!
(2) For wicked and deceitful mouths are opened against me, speaking
against me with lying tongues.
(3) They beset me with words of hate, and attack me without cause.
(4) In return for my love they accuse me, even as I make prayer for them.
(5) So they reward me evil for good, and hatred for my love.
(6) Appoint a wicked man against him; let an accuser bring him to trial.
(7) When he is tried, let him come forth guilty; let his prayer be
counted as sin!
(8) May his days be few; may another seize his goods!
(9) May his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow!
(10) May his children wander about and beg; may they be driven out of
the ruins they inhabit!
(11) May the creditor seize all that he has; may strangers plunder the
fruits of his toil!
(12) Let there be none to extend kindness to him, nor any to pity his
fatherless children!
(13) May his posterity be cut off; may his name be blotted out in the
second generation!
(14) May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD, and
let not the sin of his mother be blotted out!
(15) Let them be before the LORD continually; and may his memory be cut
off from the earth!

Old Testament: 2 Samuel 11
In the spring of the year, the time when kings go forth to
battle, David sent Jo'ab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and
they ravaged the Ammonites, and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at
Jerusalem. (2) It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from
his couch and was walking upon the roof of the king's house, that he saw
from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. (3)
And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, "Is not this
Bathshe'ba, the daughter of Eli'am, the wife of Uri'ah the Hittite?"
(4) So David sent messengers, and took her; and she came to him, and he
lay with her. (Now she was purifying herself from her uncleanness.) Then
she returned to her house. (5) And the woman conceived; and she sent
and told David, "I am with child." (6) So David sent word to Jo'ab,
"Send me Uri'ah the Hittite." And Jo'ab sent Uri'ah to David. (7) When
Uri'ah came to him, David asked how Jo'ab was doing, and how the people
fared, and how the war prospered. (8) Then David said to Uri'ah, "Go
down to your house, and wash your feet." And Uri'ah went out of the
king's house, and there followed him a present from the king. (9) But
Uri'ah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of
his lord, and did not go down to his house. (10) When they told David,
"Uri'ah did not go down to his house," David said to Uri'ah, "Have you
not come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?" (11)
Uri'ah said to David, "The ark and Israel and Judah dwell in booths; and
my lord Jo'ab and the servants of my lord are camping in the open field;
shall I then go to my house, to eat and to drink, and to lie with my
wife? As you live, and as your soul lives, I will not do this thing."
(12) Then David said to Uri'ah, "Remain here today also, and tomorrow I
will let you depart." So Uri'ah remained in Jerusalem that day, and the
next. (13) And David invited him, and he ate in his presence and
drank, so that he made him drunk; and in the evening he went out to lie
on his couch with the servants of his lord, but he did not go down to
his house. (14) In the morning David wrote a letter to Jo'ab, and sent
it by the hand of Uri'ah. (15) In the letter he wrote, "Set Uri'ah in
the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, that
he may be struck down, and die." (16) And as Jo'ab was besieging the
city, he assigned Uri'ah to the place where he knew there were valiant
men. (17) And the men of the city came out and fought with Jo'ab; and
some of the servants of David among the people fell. Uri'ah the Hittite
was slain also. (18) Then Jo'ab sent and told David all the news about
the fighting; (19) and he instructed the messenger, "When you have
finished telling all the news about the fighting to the king, (20)
then, if the king's anger rises, and if he says to you, 'Why did you go
so near the city to fight? Did you not know that they would shoot from
the wall? (21) Who killed Abim'elech the son of Jerub'besheth? Did not
a woman cast an upper millstone upon him from the wall, so that he died
at Thebez? Why did you go so near the wall?' then you shall say, 'Your
servant Uri'ah the Hittite is dead also.'" (22) So the messenger went,
and came and told David all that Jo'ab had sent him to tell. (23) The
messenger said to David, "The men gained an advantage over us, and came
out against us in the field; but we drove them back to the entrance of
the gate. (24) Then the archers shot at your servants from the wall;
some of the king's servants are dead; and your servant Uri'ah the
Hittite is dead also." (25) David said to the messenger, "Thus shall
you say to Jo'ab, 'Do not let this matter trouble you, for the sword
devours now one and now another; strengthen your attack upon the city,
and overthrow it.' And encourage him." (26) When the wife of Uri'ah
heard that Uri'ah her husband was dead, she made lamentation for her
husband. (27) And when the mourning was over, David sent and brought
her to his house, and she became his wife, and bore him a son. But the
thing that David had done displeased the LORD.

Meditation:If you fall into temptation in the place where you live, do
not desert that place when the temptation comes; for if you do, you will
find that, wherever you go, the temptation you are running away from
will be there ahead of you - Sayings of the Desert Fathers
New Testament:Hebrews 2
Therefore we must pay the closer attention to what we have heard,
lest we drift away from it. (2) For if the message declared by angels
was valid and every transgression or disobedience received a just
retribution, (3) how shall we escape if we neglect such a great
salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to
us by those who heard him, (4) while God also bore witness by signs
and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit
distributed according to his own will. (5) For it was not to angels
that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. (6) It
has been testified somewhere, "What is man that thou art mindful of him,
or the son of man, that thou carest for him? (7) Thou didst make him
for a little while lower than the angels, thou hast crowned him with
glory and honor, (8) putting everything in subjection under his feet."
Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside
his control. As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to
him. (9) But we see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than
the angels, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of
death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for every one.
(10) For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist,
in bringing many sons to glory, should make the pioneer of their
salvation perfect through suffering. (11) For he who sanctifies and
those who are sanctified have all one origin. That is why he is not
ashamed to call them brethren, (12) saying, "I will proclaim thy name
to my brethren, in the midst of the congregation I will praise thee."
(13) And again, "I will put my trust in him." And again, "Here am I,
and the children God has given me." (14) Since therefore the children
share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same
nature, that through death he might destroy him who has the power of
death, that is, the devil, (15) and deliver all those who through fear
of death were subject to lifelong bondage. (16) For surely it is not
with angels that he is concerned but with the descendants of Abraham.
(17) Therefore he had to be made like his brethren in every respect, so
that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service
of God, to make expiation for the sins of the people. (18) For because
he himself has suffered and been tempted, he is able to help those who
are tempted.

Closing Prayer:
God's will would I do, my own will bridle.
God's due would I give, my own due yield.
God's path would I follow, my own path refuse.
Christ's death would I ponder, my own death remember.
Christ's agony would I meditate, my love to God make warmer.
Christ's cross would I carry, my own cross forget.
Repentence of sin would I make, early repentance choose.
The love of Christ would I feel, my own love know. - Carmina Gadelica.
[based on Ray Simpson Celtic Daily Light]


Sent out at approximately midnight G.M.T.

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