Cuthbert, Bishop, 687

The Collect:

Rite I:
Merciful God, who didst call Cuthbert from following the flock to be a shepherd of thy people: Mercifully grant that we also may go without fear to dangerous and remote places, to seek the indifferent and the lost; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Rite II:
Merciful God, who called Cuthbert from following the flock to be a shepherd of your people: Mercifully grant that we also may go without fear to dangerous and remote places, to seek the indifferent and the lost; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

First Lesson: Job 38:1, 12-21

¹ Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind:

¹² ‘Have you commanded the morning since your days began,
    and caused the dawn to know its place,
¹³ so that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth,
    and the wicked be shaken out of it?
¹⁴ It is changed like clay under the seal,
    and it is dyed like a garment.
¹⁵ Light is withheld from the wicked,
    and their uplifted arm is broken.

¹⁶ ‘Have you entered into the springs of the sea,
    or walked in the recesses of the deep?
¹⁷ Have the gates of death been revealed to you,
    or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?
¹⁸ Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth?
    Declare, if you know all this.

¹⁹ ‘Where is the way to the dwelling of light,
    and where is the place of darkness,
²⁰ that you may take it to its territory
    and that you may discern the paths to its home?
²¹ Surely you know, for you were born then,
    and the number of your days is great!

Psalm: Psalm 23

¹ The Lord is my shepherd; *
       I shall not be in want.
² He makes me lie down in green pastures *
       and leads me beside still waters.
³ He revives my soul *
       and guides me along right pathways for his Name’s sake.
⁴ Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
   I shall fear no evil; *
       for you are with me;
       your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
⁵ You spread a table before me in the presence of those
                              who trouble me; *
       you have anointed my head with oil,
       and my cup is running over.
⁶ Surely your goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days
                              of my life, *
       and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

Second Lesson: 2 Corinthians 6:1–10

¹As we work together with him, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. ²For he says,

‘At an acceptable time I have listened to you,
    and on a day of salvation I have helped you.’

See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation! ³We are putting no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, ⁴but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, ⁵beatings, imprisonments, riots, labours, sleepless nights, hunger; ⁶by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, ⁷truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; ⁸in honour and dishonour, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; ⁹as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see—we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; ¹⁰as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.

Gospel: Luke 5:12-16 

¹² Once, when he was in one of the cities, there was a man covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he bowed with his face to the ground and begged him, ‘Lord, if you choose, you can make me clean.’ ¹³ Then Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, ‘I do choose. Be made clean.’ Immediately the leprosy left him. ¹⁴ And he ordered him to tell no one. ‘Go’, he said, ‘and show yourself to the priest, and, as Moses commanded, make an offering for your cleansing, for a testimony to them.’ ¹⁵ But now more than ever the word about Jesus spread abroad; many crowds would gather to hear him and to be cured of their diseases. ¹⁶ But he would withdraw to deserted places and pray.

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