Morning Prayer

A Reading from the Wisdom of Ben Sira.

1 My child, do not cheat the poor of their living,    and do not keep needy eyes waiting. 2 Do not grieve the hungry,    or anger one in need. 3 Do not add to the troubles of the desperate,    or delay giving to the needy. 4 Do not reject a suppliant in distress,    or turn your face away from the poor. 5 Do not avert your eye from the needy,    and give no one reason to curse you; 6 for if in bitterness of soul some should curse you, their Creator will hear their prayer. 7 Endear yourself to the congregation;    bow your head low to the great. 8 Give a hearing to the poor,    and return their greeting politely. 9 Rescue the oppressed from the oppressor;    and do not be hesitant in giving a verdict. 10 Be a father to orphans, and be like a husband to their mother; you will then be like a son of the Most High, and he will love you more than does your mother.

A Reading from the First Letter to the Corinthians.

1 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, and they were struck down in the wilderness. 6 Now these things occurred as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil as they did. 7 Do not become idolaters as some of them did; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play.” 8 We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. 9 We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents. 10 And do not complain as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. 11 These things happened to them to serve as an example, and they were written down to instruct us, on whom the ends of the ages have come. 12 So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall. 13 No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.