First Reading: Isaiah 49:1-13
1Listen you coastlands, to me,
And pay heed, you peoples from afar!
The Creator of All called me from the womb,
from my mother’s belly God made my name known.
2God made my mouth like a sharpened sword,
and in the shadow of God’s own hand, hid me;
God made me like a polished arrow,
in God’s own quiver, hid me.
3And God said to me, “You are my slave,
Israel, in you I am glorified.”
4But I, I said, “In vain have I labored,
I have spent my strength for nothingness and vanity;
surely my judgment is with the Faithful One,
and my wages with my God.”
5And now says the Author of Life,
who formed me in the womb to be God’s slave,
to return Jacob back to God,
and that Israel might be gathered to God;
I am honored in the sight of the Holy One of Old,
and my God is my strength.
6God says,
“It is too light a thing that you should be my slave
to raise up the tribes of Jacob [the line of Rebekah],
and to restore the survivors of Israel [born of Rachel and Leah, and Bilhah and Zilpah].
I will give you as a light to the nations,
for it will be that my salvation reaches to the end of the earth.”
7Thus says the Faithful One,
the Redeemer of Israel, God’s holy one,
to one despised, abhorred by the nations,
the slave of rulers,
“Queens and kings shall see and arise,
princes and princesses, and they too shall prostrate themselves,
on account of the Fire of Sinai, who is faithful,
the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”
8Thus says the Mighty God:
In a favorable time I have answered you,
on a day of salvation I have helped you;
I have kept you and given you
as a covenant to the people,
to establish the land,
to apportion the desolate portions;
9saying to the prisoners, “Go free!”
to those who are in darkness, “Let yourselves be seen.”
Along the paths they shall pasture,
and on all the bare heights shall be their pasture.
10They shall not hunger nor shall they thirst,
neither shall heat nor sun strike them down,
for the one who mother-loves them shall lead them,
and by springs of water shall guide them.
11And I will turn all my mountains into a pathway,
and my highways shall be raised up.
12Look! These shall come from far away,
and see! These from the north and from the sea to the west,
and these from the southland of Syene.
13Sing for joy, you heavens, and exult, O earth;
let mountains break forth into singing!
For the Tender Loving One has comforted God’s people,
and will mother-love God’s suffering ones.
Psalm: Psalm 18:2-11, 16-19
2The Rock Who Gave Us Birth is my rock,
and my fortress, and my deliverer,
my God, my rock in whom I take refuge,
my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
3I call upon the Holy One, may she be praised,
and from my enemies I shall be saved.
4The snares of death encompassed me;
the rivers of wickedness assailed me.
5The snares of Sheol encircled me;
the snares of death confronted me.
6In my distress I called upon She Who Hears;
to my God I cried for help.
From her temple she heard my voice,
and my cry came before her, to her ears.
7Then the earth shuddered and quaked;
the foundations also of the mountains trembled
and were shaken because of her anger.
8Smoke went up from her nostrils,
and consuming fire from her mouth;
burning coals blazed forth from her.
9She spread out the heavens, and descended;
thick darkness was under her feet.
10She mounted up on a cherub, and flew;
she soared upon the wings of the wind.
11She made darkness her veil around her,
her canopy dark waters and thick clouds.
16She reached down from on high, she took me;
she drew me out of the multitude of water.
17She delivered me from my strong enemy,
and from those who hate me;
for they were too mighty for me.
18They confronted me in the day of my calamity;
yet the Sheltering God was my support.
19She brought me out into a broad place;
she delivered me, because she delights in me.
Second Reading: Hebrews 11:1-2, 23-24, 28-39
1Now faith is the essence of things hoped for, the conviction of that which is not seen. 2By faith, indeed, were our ancestors approved.
23By faith Moses was hidden after his birth by his mother and father for three months, because they saw that the child was beautiful; and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment. 24By faith Moses, after he had grown up, refused to be called a son of Pharaoh’s daughter.
28By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, in order that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn daughters and sons of Israel.
29By faith they passed through the Red Sea as though on dry land, but when the Egyptians chose to try, they were drowned. 30By faith the walls of Jericho fell when encircled for seven days. 31By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who did not believe, because she had received the spies in peace.
32And what more should I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, female and male, 33who through faith conquered realms, administered justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, 34quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, felled foreign armies. 35Women through resurrection received their dead. Other women and men were tortured, refusing to receive a release, in order to obtain a better resurrection. 36Yet other women and men received a trial of mocking and whipping, and even chains and imprisonment. 37They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they were slaughtered by sword; they went about in animal-skins, in sheepskin and goatskin, impoverished, oppressed, tormented. 38The world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.
39And all these, commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised.
Gospel: Matthew 28:1-10
1After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. 2And look! There was a great earthquake, for a messenger of God, descending from heaven, came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. 3Its appearance was like lightning, and its clothing white as snow. 4For fear of the messenger the guards shook and were as though dead. 5But the messenger responded to the women and said, “Fear not; I know that you all are looking for Jesus who was crucified. 6He is not here; for he has been raised, just as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. 7Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and see, he is on to Galilee ahead of you; there you all will see him.’ This is my message for you.” 8So the women left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to tell his disciples the news. 9Then all of a sudden Jesus met them and said, “Shalom!” And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and bowed down worshipping him. 10Then Jesus said to them, “Fear not; go and tell my sisters and brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”
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