August 11, 2005.

Memorial of St. Clair, Virgin.

A reading from the Book of Deuteronomy.

Moses said to the people,

And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you,

but to fear the Lord your God, and follow his ways exactly,

to love and serve the Lord, your God, with all your

heart and all your soul. To keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord which I enjoin on you

today for your own good. Think, the heavens, even the highest heavens, belong to the Lord

your God, as well as the earth and everything on it.

Yet in his love for your fathers, the Lord was so attached to them as to choose you their descendants, in preference to all other peoples, as indeed he has now done.

Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and be no longer stiff-necked.

For the Lord your God is the God of Gods,

the Lord of Lords, the great God, mighty and awesome,

who has no favorites, accepts no bribes,

who executes justice for the orphan and the widow,

and befriends the alien, feeding and clothing him.

So you too must befriend the alien,

for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt. The Lord your God shall you fear, and him shall you serve. Hold fast to him,

and swear by his name. He is your glory, he your God, who has done for you those great and terrible things which

your own eyes have seen.

Your ancestors went down to Egypt 70 strong, and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous

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