Preparing for
The Day of Pentecost

Year B

Prayer

Psalm 33:12-22

Our help and our shield

 

Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord,

the people whom he has chosen as his heritage.

The Lord looks down from heaven;

he sees all humankind.

From where he sits enthroned he watches

all the inhabitants of the earth—

he who fashions the hearts of them all,

and observes all their deeds.

A king is not saved by his great army;

a warrior is not delivered by his great strength.

The war horse is a vain hope for victory,

and by its great might it cannot save.

Truly the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him,

on those who hope in his steadfast love,

to deliver their soul from death,

and to keep them alive in famine.

Our soul waits for the Lord;

he is our help and shield.

Our heart is glad in him,

because we trust in his holy name.

Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us,

even as we hope in you.

 

Job 37:1-13

The powerful breath of God

 

“At this also my heart trembles,

and leaps out of its place.

Listen, listen to the thunder of his voice

and the rumbling that comes from his mouth.

Under the whole heaven he lets it loose,

and his lightning to the corners of the earth.

After it his voice roars;

he thunders with his majestic voice

and he does not restrain the lightnings when his voice is heard.

God thunders wondrously with his voice;

he does great things that we cannot comprehend.

For to the snow he says, ‘Fall on the earth’;

and the shower of rain, his heavy shower of rain,

serves as a sign on everyone’s hand,

so that all whom he has made may know it.

Then the animals go into their lairs

and remain in their dens.

From its chamber comes the whirlwind,

and cold from the scattering winds.

By the breath of God ice is given,

and the broad waters are frozen fast.

He loads the thick cloud with moisture;

the clouds scatter his lightning.

They turn round and round by his guidance,

to accomplish all that he commands them

on the face of the habitable world.

Whether for correction, or for his land,

or for love, he causes it to happen.”

 

1 Corinthians 15:50-57

The dead will be raised

 

What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled:

 

“Death has been swallowed up in victory.”

“Where, O death, is your victory?

Where, O death, is your sting?”

 

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.