June 12, 2006,

solemnity of the most sacred heart of Jesus.

A reading from the Book of Deuteronomy.

Moses said to the people,

You are a people sacred to the Lord your God.

He has chosen you from all the nations on the face of the earth

to be a people peculiarly his own. It was not because you were the face of the earth, to be a people peculiarly his own.

It was not because you are the largest of all nations that the Lord set his heart on you and chose you,

for you are really the smallest of all nations.

It was because the Lord loved you, and because of his fidelity to the oath he had sworn your fathers, that he brought you

out with his strong hand from the place of slavery, and ransomed you from the hand of Pharaoh,

King of Egypt. Understand then, that the Lord your God is God indeed, the faithful God who keeps

his merciful covenant down to the thousandth generation

toward those who love him and keep his commandments.

But who repays with destruction a person who hates him.

He does not dally with such a one, but makes them personally pay for it.

You shall therefore carefully observe the commandments, the statutes, and the decrees that I enjoin on you today.

The Word of the Lord.

Thank you. The Lord's kindness is everlasting to those who fear him. The Lord's kindness is everlasting to those who fear him.

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all my being bless his holy name.

Bless the Lord, O my soul,

and forget not all his benefits.

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