October 7, 2003.

Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary.

A reading from the book of the prophet Baruch.

Fear not, my people.

Remember Israel, you were sold to the nations, not for your destruction.

It was because you angered God that you were handed over to your foes.

For you provoked your maker, with sacrifices to demons, to no gods. You forsook the eternal God who

nourished you, and you grieved Jerusalem who fostered you. She indeed saw coming upon you,

the anger of God, and she said, here, you neighbors of Zion, God has brought great mourning

upon me, for I have seen the captivity that the eternal God has brought upon my sons and daughters.

With joy I fostered them, but with mourning and lament I let them go.

Let no one gloat over me, a widow, bereft of many.

For the sins of my children I am left desolate, because they turned from the

law of God. Fear not, my children, call out to God. He who brought this upon you will remember

you. As your hearts have been disposed to stray from God, turn now ten times the more to seek him.

For he who has brought disaster upon you will, in saving you, bring you back enduring joy.

The Word of the Lord.

The Responsorial Psalm. The word of the Lord. The responsorial psalm. The response is, the Lord listens to the poor.

See, you lowly ones, and be glad. You who see God, may your hearts revive. For the Lord hears the poor, and his own who are in bonds he spurns not.

Let the heavens and the earth praise him, the seas, and whatever moves in them.

The Lord listens to the poor. For God will save Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah.

They shall dwell in the land and own it, and the descendants of his servants shall inherit it,

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