Readings for St. Brigid, Abbess of Kildare

Readings for the Feast of St. Brigid
Abbess of Kildare
AD 523
Feast Day: February 1

According to the use of the Episcopal Church.

Collect
Everliving God, we rejoice today in the fellowship of your blessed servant Brigid, and give you thanks for her life of devoted service. Inspire us with life and light, and give us perseverance to serve you all our days; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Corinthians 1:26-31
Psalm 138 or Psalm 1
Matthew 6:25-33

FIRST READING
1 Corinthians 1:26-31
Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, in order that, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."

Psalm 138

Confitebor tibi

1: I will give thanks to you, O LORD, with my whole heart; *
before the gods I will sing your praise.
2: I will bow down toward your holy temple
and praise your Name, *
because of your love and faithfulness;
3: For you have glorified your Name *
and your word above all things.
4: When I called, you answered me; *
you increased my strength within me.
5: All the kings of the earth will praise you, O LORD, *
when they have heard the words of your mouth.
6: They will sing of the ways of the LORD, *
that great is the glory of the LORD.
7: Though the LORD be high, he cares for the lowly; *
he perceives the haughty from afar.
8: Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you keep me safe; *
you stretch forth your hand against the fury of my enemies;
your right hand shall save me.
9: The LORD will make good his purpose for me; *
O LORD, your love endures for ever;
do not abandon the works of your hands.

Or:

Psalm 1
Beatus vir qui non abiit

1: Happy are they who have not walked in the counsel of the wicked, *
nor lingered in the way of sinners,
nor sat in the seats of the scornful!
2: Their delight is in the law of the LORD, *
and they meditate on his law day and night.
3: They are like trees planted by streams of water,
bearing fruit in due season, with leaves that do not wither; *
everything they do shall prosper.
4: It is not so with the wicked; *
they are like chaff which the wind blows away.
5: Therefore the wicked shall not stand upright when judgment comes, *
nor the sinner in the council of the righteous.
6: For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, *
but the way of the wicked is doomed.

GOSPEL
Matthew 6:25-33
Jesus said, "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you-- you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, `What will we eat?' or `What will we drink?' or `What will we wear?' For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."