Proper 4
week of the Sunday closest to June 1

Collect:
O God, your never-failing providence sets in order all things both in heaven and earth: Put away from us, we entreat you, all hurtful things, and give us those things which are profitable for us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

First Lesson: Deuteronomy 11:18-21,26-28
Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land that the LORD swore to give your forefathers, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.

See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse-- the blessing if you obey the commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you today; the curse if you disobey the commands of the LORD your God and turn from the way that I command you today by following other gods, which you have not known.

Second Lesson: Romans 3:21-25a,28
But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement,I through faith in his blood.

28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.

Psalm: 31

1. In you, O LORD, have I taken refuge;
   let me never be put to shame; *
   deliver me in your righteousness.
2. Incline your ear to me; *
   make haste to deliver me.
3. Be my strong rock, a castle to keep me safe,
   for you are my crag and my stronghold; *
   for the sake of your Name, lead me and guide me.
4. Take me out of the net that they have secretly set for me, *
   for you are my tower of strength.
5. Into your hands I commend my spirit, *
   for you have redeemed me,
   O LORD, O God of truth.
6. I hate those who cling to worthless idols, *
   and I put my trust in the LORD.
7. I will rejoice and be glad because of your mercy; *
   for you have seen my affliction;
   you know my distress.
8. You have not shut me up in the power of the enemy; *
   you have set my feet in an open place.
9. Have mercy on me, O LORD, for I am in trouble; *
   my eye is consumed with sorrow,
   and also my throat and my belly.
10. For my life is wasted with grief,
    and my years with sighing; *
    my strength fails me because of affliction,
    and my bones are consumed.
11. I have become a reproach to all my enemies and
    even to my neighbors,
    a dismay to those of my acquaintance; *
    when they see me in the street they avoid me.
12. I am forgotten like a dead man, out of mind; *
    I am as useless as a broken pot.
13. For I have heard the whispering of the crowd;
    fear is all around; *
    they put their heads together against me;
    they plot to take my life.
14. But as for me, I have trusted in you, O LORD. *
    I have said, "You are my God.
15. My times are in your hand; *
    rescue me from the hand of my enemies,
    and from those who persecute me.
16. Make your face to shine upon your servant, *
    and in your loving-kindness save me."
17. LORD, let me not be ashamed for having called upon you; *
    rather, let the wicked be put to shame;
    let them be silent in the grave.
18. Let the lying lips be silenced which speak against
    the righteous, *
    haughtily, disdainfully, and with contempt.
19. How great is your goodness, O LORD!
    which you have laid up for those who fear you; *
    which you have done in the sight of all
    for those who put their trust in you.
20. You hide them in the covert of your presence from those
    who slander them; *
    you keep them in your shelter from the strife of tongues.
21. Blessed be the LORD! *
    for he has shown me the wonders of his love in a
    besieged city.
22. Yet I said in my alarm,
    "I have been cut off from the sight of your eyes." *
    Nevertheless, you heard the sound of my entreaty
    when I cried out to you.
23. Love the LORD, all you who worship him; *
    the LORD protects the faithful,
    but repays to the full those who act haughtily.
24. Be strong and let your heart take courage, *
    all you who wait for the LORD.

Gospel: Matthew 7:21-27
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'

"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."

Collect & Psalm from the Book of Common Prayer
Other excerpts from the New International Bible

Sts. Vidicon & Isidore