March 2, 2014

Reading

Isaiah    49: 14-15

49:14 And Zion said: “The Lord has abandoned me, and the Lord has forgotten me.”

49:15 Can a woman forget her infant, so as not to take pity on the child of her womb? But even if she would forget, still I shall never forget you.

Second Reading

Second Letter to the Corinthians   4: 1-5

4:1 Therefore, since we have this ministry, and in as much as we have obtained mercy for ourselves, we are not inadequate.

4:2 For we renounce dishonorable and hidden acts, not walking by craftiness, nor by adulterating the Word of God. Instead, by the manifestation of truth, we commend ourselves to the conscience of each man before God.

4:3 But if our Gospel is in some way hidden, it is hidden to those who are perishing.

4:4 As for them, the god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, would not shine in them.

4:5 For we are not preaching about ourselves, but about Jesus Christ our Lord. We are merely your servants through Jesus.

Gospel

Matthew   6: 24-34

The Holy Gospel According to Matthew    6: 24-34

6:24	No one is able to serve two masters. For either he will have hatred for the one, and love the other, or he will persevere with the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.
6:25	And so I say to you, do not be anxious about your life, as to what you will eat, nor about your body, as to what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
6:26	Consider the birds of the air, how they neither sow, nor reap, nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of much greater value than they are?
6:27	And which of you, by thinking, is able to add one cubit to his stature?
6:28	And as for clothing, why are you anxious? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither work nor weave.
6:29	But I say to you, that not even Solomon, in all his glory, was arrayed like one of these.
6:30	So if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and cast into the oven tomorrow, how much more will he care for you, O little in faith?
6:31	Therefore, do not choose to be anxious, saying: ‘What shall we eat, and what shall we drink, and with what shall we be clothed?’
6:32	For the Gentiles seek all these things. Yet your Father knows that you need all these things.
6:33	Therefore, seek first the kingdom of God and his justice, and all these things shall be added to you as well.
6:34	Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow; for the future day will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its evil.”