The Holy Trinity, Year C

¹ Doesn’t wisdom cry out? Doesn’t understanding raise her voice? ² On the top of high places by the way, where the paths meet, she stands. ³ Beside the gates, at the entry of the city, at the entry doors, she cries aloud: ⁴ “I call to you men! I send my voice to the sons of mankind.

²² “The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his work, before his deeds of old. ²³ I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, before the earth existed. ²⁴ When there were no depths, I was born, when there were no springs abounding with water. ²⁵ Before the mountains were settled in place, before the hills, I was born; ²⁶ while as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the beginning of the dust of the world. ²⁷ When he established the heavens, I was there. When he set a circle on the surface of the deep, ²⁸ when he established the clouds above, when the springs of the deep became strong, ²⁹ when he gave to the sea its boundary, that the waters should not violate his commandment, when he marked out the foundations of the earth, ³⁰ then I was the craftsman by his side. I was a delight day by day, always rejoicing before him, ³¹ rejoicing in his whole world. My delight was with the sons of men.

¹ O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens! ² From the lips of babes and infants you have established strength, because of your adversaries, that you might silence the enemy and the avenger. ³ When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have ordained; ⁴ what is man, that you think of him? What is the son of man, that you care for him? ⁵ For you have made him a little lower than the angels, and crowned him with glory and honor. ⁶ You make him ruler over the works of your hands. You have put all things under his feet: ⁷ All sheep and cattle, yes, and the animals of the field, ⁸ the birds of the sky, the fish of the sea, and whatever passes through the paths of the seas. ⁹ O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

¹ Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ; ² through whom we also have our access by faith into this grace in which we stand. We rejoice in hope of the glory of God. ³ Not only this, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴ and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope: ⁵ and hope doesn’t disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.