June 25th, 2025, Wednesday of the 12th week in ordinary time.

A reading from the book of Genesis.

The word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision.

Fear not, Abram, I am your shield.

I will make your reward very great. But Abram said,

O Lord God, what good will your gifts be if I keep on being childless, and have as my heir,

the steward of my house, Eliezer.

Abram continued,

See, you have given me no offspring,

and so one of my servants will be my heir.

Then the word of the Lord came to him.

No, that one shall not be your heir. Your own issue shall be your heir.

He took him outside and said, Look up at the sky, and count the stars if you can. Just so, he added, shall your descendants be? Abram put his faith in the Lord, who credited it to him as an act of righteousness. He then said to him, I am the Lord who brought you from Err of the

Chaldeans to give you this land as a possession.

O Lord God, he asked, how am I to know that I shall possess it?

He answered him, bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old she-goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtle dove,

and a young pigeon. Abram brought him all these, split them in two, and placed each half

opposite the other, but the birds he did not cut up.

Birds of prey swooped down on the carcasses, but Abrams stayed with them.

As the sun was about to set, a trance fell upon Abram,

and a deep, terrifying darkness enveloped him.

When the sun had set and it was dark,

...