17. March 2024
Genesis 22:1-2,9a-10,13-15,18
Feast Day
St Patrick’s Day
Reading
1 And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said to him: Abraham, Abraham. And he answered: Here I am.
2 He said to him: Take thy only begotten son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and go into the land of vision: and there thou shalt offer him for an holocaust upon one of the mountains which I will shew thee.
9a And they came to the place which God had shewn him,
10 where he built an altar, and laid the wood in order upon it: and when he had bound Isaac his son, he laid him on the altar upon the pile of wood.
11 And behold an angel of the Lord from heaven called to him, saying: Abraham, Abraham. And he answered: Here I am.
12 And he said to him: Lay not thy hand upon the boy, neither do thou any thing to him: now I know that thou fearest God, and hast not spared thy only begotten son for my sake.
13 Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw behind his back a ram amongst the briers sticking fast by the horns, which he took and offered for a holocaust instead of his son.
15 And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven, saying:
16 By my own self have I sworn, saith the Lord: because thou hast done this thing, and hast not spared thy only begotten son for my sake:
17 I will bless thee, and I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand that is by the sea shore; thy seed shall possess the gates of their enemies.
18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice.