THE SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT.

A reading from the Book of Genesis: chapter 17, beginning at the 1st verse.

1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, ‘I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. 2 And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous.’ 3 Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him, 4 ‘As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. 5 No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. 6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. 7 I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. 15 God said to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. 16 I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.’

Hear the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Psalm 22:24-32

24 O praise the Lord, all you that fear him: hold him in honour, O seed of Jacob,

and let the seed of Israel stand in awe of him. 25 For he has not despised nor abhorred the poor man in his misery:

nor did he hide his face from him, but heard him when he cried.

26 From you springs my praise in the great congregation: I will pay my vows in the sight of all that fear you;

27 The meek shall eat of the sacrifice and be satisfied:

and those who seek the Lord shall praise him— may their hearts rejoice for ever!

28 Let all the ends of the earth remember and turn to the Lord:

and let all the families of the nations worship before him.

29 For the kingdom is the Lord’s:

and he shall be ruler over the nations.

30 How can those who sleep in the earth do him homage: or those that descend to the dust bow down before him? 31 But he has saved my life for himself:

and my posterity shall serve him.

32 This shall be told of my Lord to a future generation: and his righteousness declared to a people yet unborn,

that he has done it.

A reading from the Letter to the Romans, chapter 4, beginning at the 13th verse.

13 For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith. 14 If it is the

adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void.

15 For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation. 16 For

this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, 17 as it is

written, ‘I have made you the father of many nations’)—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. 18 Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become ‘the father of many nations’, according to what was said, ‘So numerous shall your descendants be.’ 19 He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was already as good as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. 20 No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21 being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.

22 Therefore his faith ‘was reckoned to him as righteousness.’ 23 Now the words, ‘it was reckoned to him’, were written not for his sake alone, 24 but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead,

25 who was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our

justification.

Hear the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.