Teach me, Lord, to love all as you love us.

Right conduct toward one's neighbors

The Lord said to Moses, "Speak to the whole Israelite community and tell them: Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy. Revere your mother and father, and keep my sabbaths. I, the Lord, am your God.

"Do not turn aside to idols, nor make molten gods for yourselves. I, the Lord, am your God.

"When you sacrifice your peace offering to the Lord, if you wish it to be acceptable, it must be eaten on the very day of your sacrifice or on the following day. Whatever is left over until the third day shall be burned up in the fire. If any of it is eaten on the third day, the sacrifice will be unacceptable as refuse; whoever eats of it then shall pay the penalty for having profaned what is sacred to the Lord. Such a one shall be cut off from his people.

"When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not be so thorough that you reap the field to its very edge, nor shall you glean the stray ears of grain. Likewise, you shall not pick your vineyard bare, nor gather up the grapes that have fallen. These things you shall leave for the poor and the alien. I, the Lord, am your God.

"You shall not steal. You shall not lie or speak falsely to one another. You shall not swear falsely by my name, thus profaning the name of your God. I am the Lord.

"You shall not defraud or rob your neighbor. You shall not withhold overnight the wages of your day laborer. You shall not curse the deaf, or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but you shall fear your God. I am the Lord.

"You shall not act dishonestly in rendering judgment. Show neither partiality to the weak nor deference to the mighty, but judge your fellow men justly. You shall not go about spreading slander among your kinsmen; nor shall you stand by idly when your neighbor's life is at stake. I am the Lord.

"You shall not bear hatred for your brother in your heart. Though you may have to reprove your fellow man, do not incur sin because of him. Take no revenge and cherish no grudge against your fellow countrymen. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.

"Do not go to mediums or consult fortune-tellers, for you will be defiled by them. I, the Lord, am your God.

"Stand up in the presence of the aged, and show respect for the old: thus shall you fear your God. I am the Lord.

"When an alien resides with you in your land, do not molest him. You shall treat the alien who resides with you no differently than the natives born among you; have the same love for him as for yourself; for you too were once aliens in the land of Egypt. I, the Lord, am your God.

"Do not act dishonestly in using measures of length or weight or capacity. You shall have a true scale and true weights, an honest ephah and an honest hin. I, the Lord, am your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.

"Be careful, then, to observe all my statutes and decrees. I am the Lord."

From the book of Leviticus 19:1-18, 31-37

Office of READINGS, First reading on 210316, BL04D3

RESPONSORY
Galatians 5:14, 13; John 13:34

All God's commands are summed up in one:
love your neighbor as yourself.
– Love one another as I have loved you.

I give you a new commandment:
– Love one another as I have loved you.

Lord, let me love the poor as you love them.

"No act of devotion on the part of the faithful gives God more pleasure than that which is lavished on his poor. Where he finds charity with its loving concern, there he recognizes the reflection of his own fatherly care. "

From a sermon by Saint Leo the Great, pope

(Sermo 10 in Quadragesima, 3-5: PL 54, 299-301)

Office of Readings, Reading 2 on 210316, BL04

Lord, that I may embrace your gift of my salvation.

Father, precious in your sight is the death of the saints,
but precious above all
is the love with which Christ suffered to redeem us.

In this life we fill up in our own flesh
what it is still lacking in the sufferings of Christ;
accept this as our sacrifice of praise,
and we shall even now taste the joy of the new Jerusalem.

~Psalm Prayer after Psalm 116:10-19

From First Vespers of Sunday, BL03D1 210307

_______________________
Ant. 2 - I will offer a sacrifice of praise and call upon the name of the Lord.

Psalm 116:10-19
Thanksgiving in the Temple

I trusted, even when I said: 
"I am sorely afflicted,"
and when I said in my alarm: 
"No man can be trusted."

How can I repay the Lord 
for his goodness to me?
The cup of salvation I will raise; 
I will call on the Lord's name.

My vows to the Lord I will fulfil 
before all his people
O precious in the eyes of the Lord 
is the death of his faithful.

Your servant, Lord, your servant am I; 
you have loosened my bonds.
A thanksgiving sacrifice I make: 
I will call on the Lord's name.

My vows to the Lord I will fulfil 
before all his people,
in the courts of the house of the Lord, 
in your midst, O Jerusalem.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, 
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, 
and will be for ever. Amen.

--30--

Lord, help me to always be faithful to you.

You have seen for yourselves
how I bore you up on eagle wings
and brought you here to myself.

Therefore, if you hearken to my voice and keep my covenant,
you shall be my special possession,
dearer to me than all other people,
though all the earth is mine.
You shall be to me a kingdom of priests, 
a holy nation.  (Exodus 19:4-6)

~ Reading at Lauds BL02D2 210301