The Book of Common Prayer Table of
contents
The Sunday called Sexagesima
Or the Second Sunday before Lent
The Collect
O Lord God, who
seest that we put not our trust in any thing that we do: Mercifully
grant that by thy power we may be defended against all adversity;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Epistle
2 Corinthians 11.19-31
Ye suffer fools
gladly, seeing ye yourselves are wise. For ye suffer if a man bring
you into bondage, if a man devour you, if a man take of you, if a
man exalt himself, if a man smite you on the face. I speak as
concerning reproach, as though we had been weak: howbeit,
whereinsoever any is bold, (I speak foolishly,) I am bold also. Are
they Hebrews? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they the
seed of Abraham? so am I. Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as
a fool,) I am more: in labours more abundant; in stripes above
measure; in prisons more frequent; in deaths oft. Of the Jews five
times received I forty stripes save one; thrice was I beaten with
rods; once was I stoned; thrice I suffered shipwreck; a night and a
day I have been in the deep; in journeyings often; in perils of
waters; in perils of robbers; in perils by mine own countrymen; in
perils by the heathen; in perils in the city; in perils in the
wilderness; in perils in the sea; in perils among false brethren;
in weariness and painfulness; in watchings often; in hunger and
thirst; in fastings often; in cold and nakedness; besides those
things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care
of all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is
offended, and I burn not? If I must needs glory, I will glory of
the things which concern mine infirmities. The God and Father of
our Lord Jesus Christ, which is blessed for evermore, knoweth that
I lie not.
The Gospel
St. Luke 8.4-15
When much people
were gathered together, and were come to him out of every city, he
spake by a parable: A sower went out to sow his seed; and as he
sowed, some fell by the way-side, and it was trodden down, and the
fowls of the air devoured it. And some fell upon a rock, and as
soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked
moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up with
it, and choked it. And other fell on good ground, and sprang up,
and bare fruit an hundred-fold. And when he had said these things,
he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. And his
disciples asked him, saying, What might this parable be? And he
said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of
God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and
hearing they might not understand. Now the parable is this: The
seed is the word of God. Those by the way-side are they that hear;
then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their
hearts, lest they should believe, and be saved. They on the rock
are they which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and
these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of
temptation fall away. And that which fell among thorns are they
which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares,
and riches, and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to
perfection. But that on the good ground are they which in an honest
and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth
fruit with patience.
Text from The Book of Common Prayer, the
rights in which are vested in the Crown,
is reproduced by permission of the Crown's Patentee, Cambridge
University Press.