My Christ’s Mass 2011 Pictorial

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more to come. . . updated 1/9/2012

“First Let Me Wish All Iowans A “Merry Christmas” And A Blessed “Christmas Season.” — Newt Gingrich Speaking At The Last Iowan GOP Debate — My Christmas 2011

90 foot Vatican Christmas Tree with Saint Peter's in the back ground

This was the first time I have ever heard these profoundly spoken words uttered by a politician. It’s usually called the holiday season so a few Jews, atheists, Kwanzaa followers and Muslims can be mollified, and one of the oppressive tenets of the evil religion of political correctness can be abided by.

Newt is a converted Roman Catholic (as was Einstein) and deserves my vote  for his conversion alone shows a superior intellect. Romney is a long time member of a wounded cult like church and should know by now that Catholicism is the church started by Christ and not some thieving maniac as was his church.

My Christmas 2011 pictorial is on its way

 

It’s Good Friday — Catholics Need To Pray For The Jews

Yes, the Edom-Herod-Jews hierarchy murdered our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ . . . Yes, the Edom-Herod-Jews hierarchy murdered the original Apostle James the son of Zebedee who was put to death by Herod Agrippa I shortly before the day of the Passover, in the year 44 or about 11 years after the death of Christ (From Acts 12: 1-2) . . . Yes, the Edom-Herod-Jews hierarchy murdered the original Apostle James the son of Alpheus, who was thrown down from the temple by the scribes and Pharisees and was then stoned, and his brains dashed out with a fuller’s club; but these atrocities and undoubtedly countless other persecutions by Jews against the early Christians is not why we pray for the Jews. A collective guilt on Jews has nothing to do with our prayers for the Jews on Good Friday, because there is no collective guilt on the Jews for the behavior of some Jews thousands of years ago. The Good Friday Pray for the Jews is part of the Roman Catholic, liturgy because the Church has a “God-given responsibility to proclaim Christ to all the world. Peter on Pentecost Sunday declared that the whole house of Israel should know for certain that Jesus is Lord and Messiah and that every one of his hearers should be baptized in Jesus’ name (Acts 2:38). Paul spent much of his ministry proclaiming the Gospel to Jews throughout the diaspora. Distressed by their incredulity, he was prepared to wish himself accursed for the sake of their conversion (Rom 9:3).”

The tradition of praying for various groups and purposes dates back to the Early Church (1 Timothy 2:1-5). Roman Catholics believe that on Good Friday in particular, they must acknowledge their common fallen nature, and that Jesus died for all (1 John 2:2). Catholics have long prayed for many classes of people, both inside and outside the church: for the Church as a whole, for the Pope, for the Hierarchy and the People (regular and lay), for the Emperor, for Catechumens, for Various Needs, for Heretics, for Schismatics, for the Jews, and for Pagans, wishing that all be called to conversion in Christ.

LET US PRAY:

Let us pray also for the faithless Jews: that Almighty God may remove the veil from their hearts 2 Corinthians 3:13-16; so that they too may acknowledge Jesus Christ our Lord. (‘Amen’ is not responded, nor is said ‘Let us pray’, or ‘Let us kneel’, or ‘Arise’, but immediately is said:) Almighty and eternal God, who dost not exclude from thy mercy even Jewish faithlessness: hear our prayers, which we offer for the blindness of that people; that acknowledging the light of thy Truth, which is Christ, they may be delivered from their darkness. Through the same our Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The congregants does not kneel during the prayer for the conversion of the Jews (even though moments of kneeling in silent prayer is prescribed for all of the other petitions in the Good Friday rite), because, it is said, the Church does not wish to imitate the Jews who mocked Christ before his crucifixion by kneeling before him and reviling him.

***1/8/11 Update*** Ah! Those Wonderful Christmas Season Foods & Meals

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Now I suspect that there are women out their that put as much time and love in the meals they create for their families as my wife does . . . however, I have only meet three; my mother; my mother-in-law; and my grandmother. Furthermore, I put my wife in a league all her own. My wife loves her profession, works hard and still insists on making spectacular meals all year long with a heightened level of time and love during the Christmas Holidays that includes Thanksgiving in my book . . . Without the birth of Christ there is no Thanksgiving, or for that matter an America that celebrates Thanksgiving day.

Many more photos of the 2010 Christmas Season meals to come . . .

Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas! . . . It’s Only The Second Day Of Twelve — Or Is It 16???

The Twelve Days of Christmas are the days from Christmas until the beginning of Epiphany (January 6th; the 12 days count from December 25Th until January 6Th). On the updated calendar — since Epiphany is celebrated on a Sunday — these days may be more or less. We have 16 days on the tree this year because the Christmas season extends until the feast of the Baptism of Christ and we have decided to include them all.

The origin of the Twelve Days is complicated, and is related to differences in calendars, church traditions, and ways to observe this holy day in various cultures. In the Western church, Epiphany is traditionally celebrated as the time the three Wise Men or Magi arrived to present gifts to the young Jesus. In some cultures Epiphany is observed as Three Kings Day, or simply the Day of the Kings. Even though December 25Th is celebrated as Christmas in these cultures, Epiphany is often the day for giving gifts. In some places it is traditional to give Christmas gifts for each of the Twelve Days of Christmas.

GO HERE AND CLICK ON THE NUMBERS FOR ALL THE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS IN THE CATHOLIC CULTURE

Christian, Remember Your Dignity — Let The Sinner Be Glad As he Receives The Offer Of Forgiveness. Let The Pagan Take Courage As He Is Summoned To Life . . .

A sermon of Pope St Leo the Great
Christian, remember your dignity

Dearly beloved, today our Saviour is born; let us rejoice. Sadness should have no place on the birthday of life. The fear of death has been swallowed up; life brings us joy with the promise of eternal happiness.

No one is shut out from this joy; all share the same reason for rejoicing. Our Lord, victor over sin and death, finding no man free from sin, came to free us all. Let the saint rejoice as he sees the palm of victory at hand. Let the sinner be glad as he receives the offer of forgiveness. Let the pagan take courage as he is summoned to life.

In the fullness of time, chosen in the unfathomable depths of God’s wisdom, the Son of God took for himself our common humanity in order to reconcile it with its creator. He came to overthrow the devil, the origin of death, in that very nature by which he had overthrown mankind.

And so at the birth of our Lord the angels sing in joy: Glory to God in the highest, and they proclaim peace to men of good will as they see the heavenly Jerusalem being built from all the nations of the world. When the angels on high are so exultant at this marvellous work of God’s goodness, what joy should it not bring to the lowly hearts of men?

Beloved, let us give thanks to God the Father, through his Son, in the Holy Spirit, because in his great love for us he took pity on us, and when we were dead in our sins he brought us to life with Christ, so that in him we might be a new creation. Let us throw off our old nature and all its ways and, as we have come to birth in Christ, let us renounce the works of the flesh.

Christian, remember your dignity, and now that you share in God’s own nature, do not return by sin to your former base condition. Bear in mind who is your head and of whose body you are a member. Do not forget that you have been rescued from the power of darkness and brought into the light of God’s kingdom.

Through the sacrament of baptism you have become a temple of the Holy Spirit. Do not drive away so great a guest by evil conduct and become again a slave to the devil, for your liberty was bought by the blood of Christ.

GO HERE FOR MORE

December 23rd & 24Th Advent Scripture Readings. What God Promises He Delivers & The Gospel Of Jesus Christ Will Be Preached To All Mankind.

December 23 (Isaiah 51:1-11)

In the reading for December 23, the Prophet Isaiah assures us that what the Lord has promised, He will deliver. He chose Abraham for his justice, and from him, He raised a great nation. From that nation, a Child is born, Who will bring salvation to all mankind.

Give ear to me, you that follow that which is just, and you that seek the Lord: look unto the rock whence you are hewn, and to the hole of the pit from which you are dug out. Look unto Abraham your father, and to Sara that bore you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and multiplied him. The Lord therefore will comfort Sion, and will comfort all the ruins thereof: and he will make her desert as a place of pleasure, and her wilderness as the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of praise.

Hearken unto me, O my people, and give ear to me, O my tribes: for a law shall go forth from me, and my judgment shall rest to be a light of the nations. My just one is near at hand, my saviour is gone forth, and my arms shall judge the people: the islands shall look for me, and shall patiently wait for my arm.

Lift up your eyes to heaven, and look down to the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish like smoke, and the earth shall be worn away like a garment, and the inhabitants thereof shall perish in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my justice shall not fail.

Hearken to me, you that know what is just, my people who have my law in your heart: fear ye not the reproach of men, and be not afraid of their blasphemies. For the worm shall eat them up as a garment: and the moth shall consume them as wool: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my justice from generation to generation.

Arise, arise, put on strength, O thou arm of the Lord, arise as in the days of old, in the ancient generations. Hast not thou struck the proud one, and wounded the dragon? Hast not thou dried up the sea, the water of the mighty deep, who madest the depth of the sea a way, that the delivered might pass over?

And now they that are redeemed by the Lord, shall return, and shall come into Sion singing praises, and joy everlasting shall be upon their heads, they shall obtain joy and gladness, sorrow and mourning shall flee away.

•Source: Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition of the Bible (in the public domain)

December 24 (Isaiah 51:17-52:2, 7-10)

The long wait is almost over; our redemption is at hand. Tomorrow, Christ becomes a Man, but not just any man; He is the God-Made-Man Who cleanses us from our sins. Israel is restored, in the Church of the New Testament; and the Gospel is preached to all nations.

Arise, arise, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath; thou hast drunk even to the bottom of the cup of dead sleep, and thou hast drunk even to the dregs. There is none that can uphold her among all the children that she hath brought forth: and there is none that taketh her by the hand among all the children that she hath brought up.

There are two things that have happened to thee: who shall be sorry for thee? desolation, and destruction, and the famine, and the sword, who shall comfort thee? Thy children are cast forth, they have slept at the head of all the ways, as the wild ox that is snared: full of the indignation of the Lord, of the rebuke of thy God.

Therefore hear this, thou poor little one, and thou that art drunk but no with wine. Thus saith thy Sovereign the Lord and thy God, who will fight for his people: Behold I have taken out of thy hand the cup of dead sleep, the dregs of the cup of my indignation, thou shalt not drink it again any more. And I will put it in the hand of them that have oppressed thee, and have said to thy soul: Bow down, that we may go over: and thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and as a way to them that went over.

Arise, arise, put on thy strength, O Sion, put on the garments of thy glory, O Jerusalem, the city of the Holy One: for henceforth the uncircumcised, and unclean shall no more pass through thee.

Shake thyself from the dust, arise, sit up, O Jerusalem: loose the bonds from off thy neck, O captive daughter of Sion.

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, and that preacheth peace: of him that sheweth forth good, that preacheth salvation, that saith to Sion: Thy God shall reign! The voice of thy watchmen: they have lifted up their voice, they shah praise together: for they shall see eye to eye when the Lord shall convert Sion.

Rejoice, and give praise together, O ye deserts of Jerusalem: for the Lord hath comforted his people: he hath redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord hath prepared his holy arm in the sight of all the Gentiles: and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.

•Source: Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition of the Bible (in the public domain)

Scroll down for the Advent Scriptures that are appropriate for December 17Th to the 24Th.

December 21 & 22 Advent Scripture Readings: God Identifies Himself & Describes Himself In Christ Like Ways — Christ’s Salvation Reunites “All” Of Mankind Back To God

December 21 (Isaiah 48:12-21; 49:9b-13)

The Lord identifies Himself as the Creator of all, and He describes Himself in ways that Christ will be described.

Hearken to me, O Jacob, and thou Israel whom I call: I am he, I am the first, and I am the last. My hand also hath founded the earth, and my right hand hath measured the heavens: I shall call them, and they shall stand together.

Assemble yourselves together, all you, and hear: who among them hath declared these things? the Lord hath loved him, he will do his pleasure in Babylon, and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans.

I, even I have spoken and called him: I have brought him, and his way is made prosperous. Come ye near unto me, and hear this: I have not spoken in secret from the beginning: from the time before it was done, I was there, and now the Lord God hath sent me, and his spirit.

Thus saith the Lord thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am the Lord thy God that teach thee profitable things, that govern thee in the way that thou walkest.

O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments: thy peace had been as a river, and thy justice as the waves of the sea, and thy seed had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels like the gravel thereof: his name should not have perished, nor have been destroyed from before my face.

Come forth out of Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans, declare it with the voice of joy: make this to be heard, and speak it out even to the ends of the earth. Say: The Lord hath redeemed his servant Jacob. They thirsted not in the desert, when he led them out: he brought forth water out of the rock for them, and he clove the rock, and the waters gushed out.

They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in every plain. They shall not hunger, nor thirst, neither shall the heat nor the sun strike them: for he that is merciful to them, shall be their shepherd, and at the fountains of waters he shall give them drink. And I will make all my mountains a way, and my paths shall be exalted.

Behold these shall come from afar, and behold these from the north and from the sea, and these from the south country.

Give praise, O ye heavens, and rejoice, O earth, ye mountains, give praise with jubilation: because the Lord hath comforted his people, and will have mercy on his poor ones.

•Source: Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition of the Bible (in the public domain)

December 22 (Isaiah 49:14-50:1)

Christ, through the plan of salvation, will reunite all mankind to God. In this reading for December 22, we see that our sins have separated us from Him, but the Lord does not forget those whom He has both created and chosen.

And Sion said: The Lord hath forsaken me, and the Lord hath forgotten me. Can a woman forget her infant, so as not to have pity on the son of her womb? and if she should forget, yet will not I forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee in my hands: thy walls are always before my eyes. Thy builders are come: they that destroy thee and make thee waste shall go out of thee.

Lift up thy eyes round about, and see all these are gathered together, they are come to thee: I live, saith the Lord, thou shalt be clothed with all these se with an ornament, and as a bride thou shalt put them about thee. For thy deserts, and thy desolate places, and the land of thy destruction shall now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, end they that swallowed thee up shall be chased far away. The children of thy barrenness shall still say in thy ears: The place is too strait for me, make me room to dwell in. And thou shalt-say in thy heart: Who hath begotten these? I was barren and brought not forth, led away, and captive: and who hath brought up these? I was destitute and alone: and these, where were they?

Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will lift up my hand to the Gentiles, and will set up my standard to the people. And they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and carry thy daughters upon their shoulders. And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and queens thy nurses: they shall worship thee with their face toward the earth, and they shall lick up the dust of thy feet. And thou shalt know that I am the Lord, for they shall not be confounded that wait for him. Shall the prey be taken from the strong? or can that which was taken by the mighty be delivered? For thus saith the Lord: Yea verily, even the captivity shall be taken away from the strong: and that which was taken by the mighty, shall be delivered. But I will judge those that have judged thee, and thy children I will save.

And I will feed thy enemies with their own flesh: and they shall be made drunk with their own blood, as with new wine: and all flesh shall know, that I am the Lord that save thee, and thy Redeemer the Mighty One of Jacob.

Thus saith the Lord: What is this bill of the divorce of your mother, with which I have put her away? or who is my creditor, to whom I sold you: behold you are sold for your iniquities, and for your wicked deeds have I put your mother away.

•Source: Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition of the Bible (in the public domain)
Suggested Reading

The 19th & 20th Day Of December Advent Scripture Readings — Babylon Was Used To Punish Disbelief And Will Also Be Punished For Disbelief; More Prophecies Concerning The Coming Of Christ

GO HERE for the seventeenth and eighteenth day of December Advent scripture readings.

December 19 (Isaiah 47:1,b3-15)

The prophecies of Isaiah continue to point to the coming of Christ. In the reading for December 19, we discover the fate of Babylon, which represents those who have rejected the Lord. God used Babylon to punish the Israelites (the Babylonian captivity), but the Babylonians never came to worship Him. Now, as Christ comes and Israel is restored in the New Testament Church, Babylon will be punished for her unbelief.

Isaiah 47:1, 3b-15
Come down, sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the ground: there is no throne for the daughter of the Chaldeans, for thou shalt no more be called delicate and tender. I will take vengeance, and no man shall resist me. Our redeemer, the Lord of hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel.

Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called the lady of kingdoms.

I was angry with my people, I have polluted my inheritance, and have given them into thy bend: thou hast shewn no mercy to them: upon the ancient thou hast laid thy yoke exceeding heavy. And thou hast said: I shall be a lady for ever: thou hast not laid these things to thy heart, neither hast thou remembered thy latter end.

And now hear these things, thou that art delicate, and dwellest confidently, that sayest in thy heart: I am, and there is none else besides me: I shall not sit as a widow, and I shall not know barrenness. These two things shall come upon thee suddenly in one day, barrenness and widowhood. All things are come upon thee, because of the multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great hardness of thy enchanters. And thou best trusted in thy wickedness, and hast said: There is none that seeth me.

Thy wisdom, and thy knowledge, this hath deceived thee. And thou best said in thy heart: I am, and besides me there is no other. Evil shall come upon thee, and then shalt not know the rising thereof: and calamity shall fall violently upon thee, which thou canst not keep off: misery shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know.

Stand now with thy enchanters, and with the multitude of thy sorceries, in which thou hast laboured from thy youth, if so be it may profit thee any thing, or if thou mayst become stronger. Thou hast failed in the multitude or thy counsels: let now the astrologers stand and save thee, they that gazed at the stars, and counted the months, that from them they might tell the things that shall come to thee.

Behold they are as stubble, fire hath burnt them, they shall not deliver them- selves from the power of the dames: there are no coals wherewith they may be warmed, nor fire, that they may sit thereat. Such are all the things become to thee, in which thou best laboured: thy merchants from thy youth, every one hath erred in his own way, there is none that can save thee.

•Source: Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition of the Bible (in the public domain)

December 20 (Isaiah 48:1-11)

In this passage from the Book of Isaiah for December 20, the Lord tells the people of Israel that His prophecies, announced in the past and already fulfilled, were to keep Israel from falling into the worship of idols. Now, the Lord will announce new prophecies—those concerning Christ—and the fact that they have not been heard before will be evidence of the power of God, once they are fulfilled.

Hear ye these things, O house of Jacob, you that are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Juda, you who swear by the name of the Lord, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in justice. For they are called of the holy city, and are established upon the God of Israel: the Lord of hosts is his name.

The former things of old I have declared, and they went forth out of my mouth, and I have made them to be heard: I did them suddenly and they came to pass. For I knew that thou art stubborn, and thy neck is as an iron sinew, and thy forehead as brass. I foretold thee of old, before they came to pass I told thee, lest thou shouldst say: My idols have done these things, and my graven and molten things have commanded them. See now all the things which thou hast heard: but have you declared them?

I have shewn thee new things from that time, and things are kept which thou knowest not: They are created now, and not of old: and before the day, when thou heardest them not, lest thou shouldst say: Behold I knew them. Thou hast neither heard, nor known, neither was thy ear opened of old. For I know that transgressing thou wilt transgress, and I have called thee a transgressor from the womb.

For my name’s sake I will remove my wrath far off: and for my praise I will bridle thee, lest thou shouldst perish. Behold I have refined thee, but not as silver, I have chosen thee in the furnace of poverty. For my own sake, for my own sake will I do it, that I may not be blasphemed: and I will not give my glory to another.

•Source: Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition of the Bible (in the public domain)

Advent Scripture Readings — December 17 To December 24 — Preparing The Way For The Lord — December 17 & 18 . . . Cyrus Protects The Israelites & The Israelites Constantly Turning From God In Favor Of Pagan Idolatry

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Its easy to get caught up in the convivial merriment of the Christmas season . . . the buying of gifts for those of whom are cherished; all the spectacular lights and decorations; special Christmas parties at work, friends and loved ones homes; the music and of course all the wonderful food. The good folks go out of their way to bake homemade cookies, fudge, and prepare meals with love as the main ingredient. I am exceedingly grateful for the one-of-a-kind Christmas Holidays of my youth that were provided for by people that genuinely cared for the season and cared for me. I am also grateful for having a wife that had similar special Christmas memories, and wanted to carry on the traditions year after year and make each Christmas a bit more special. I actually feel sorry for men that have wives that don’t have the love or skills to provide a Christmas Holiday Season for the ones they supposedly care about. Such empty, meaninglessly non-celebratory self centered lives are to be pitied.

Yes it is easy to get entirely too caught up in the secular, temporal dynamics of Christmas, and that is why The Roman Catholic Church (Christ’s one and only true church) from December 17 to December 24 dedicates a daily scripture reading through the Office of the Readings to key parts of the Book of Isaiah. During Advent, the Church turns to the Old Testament book of the Prophet Isaiah. There are many themes in Isaiah’s prophecy, but some of the most important are:

•The need for repentance
•Spiritual conversion
•The extension of salvation from Israel to all nations

My Advent Christmas Tree display has a trinket and a specific Isaiah Scripture inside every small box. Open the door to the December 17th box and find a trinket that represents a simple, harmless part of the secular, temporal Christmas and a reading of Isaiah 45: 1-13:

Thus saith the Lord to my anointed Cyrus, whose right hand I have taken hold of, to subdue nations before his face, and to turn the backs of kings, and to open the doors before him, and the gates shall not be shut.

I will go before thee, and will humble the great ones of the earth: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and will burst the bars of iron. And I will give thee hidden treasures, and the concealed riches of secret places: that thou mayest know that I am the Lord who call thee by thy name, the God of Israel.

For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have made a likeness of thee, and thou hast not known me. I am the Lord, and there is none else: there is no God, besides me: I girded thee, and thou hast not known me: That they may know who are from the rising of the sun, and they who are from the west, that there is none besides me. I am the Lord, and there is none else: I form the light, and create darkness, I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord that do all these things.

Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the just: let the earth be opened, and bud forth a saviour: and let justice spring up together: I the Lord have created him.

Woe to him that gainsayeth his maker, a sherd of the earthen pots: shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it: What art thou making, and thy work is without hands? Woe to him that saith to his father: Why begettest thou? and to the woman: Why dost thou bring forth?

Thus saith the Lord the Holy One of Israel, his maker: Ask me of things to come, concerning my children, and concerning the work of my hands give ye charge to me. I made the earth: and I created man upon it: my hand stretched forth the heavens, and I have commanded all their host. I have raised him up to justice, and I will direct all his ways: he shall build my city, and let go my captives, not for ransom, nor for presents, saith the Lord the God of hosts.

•Source: Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition of the Bible (in the public domain)

The above was one of the greatest prophecies from the Book of Isaiah: Cyrus the Great, king of the Persians, whom God used as a protector of the Jews, even though Cyrus did not profess faith in Him. The works ascribed to Cyrus are those that are later performed by Christ.

More to come . . .

December 18 Advent Scripture Reading:

Isaiah 46:1-13

The Israelites were constantly tempted to abandon faith in God and to turn to idols instead. In this passage from the Book of Isaiah, the Lord reveals the futility of idols. He created us; He alone is our God; and He alone can save us. His plan of salvation will soon begin, with the birth of His Son, Jesus Christ.

Bel is broken, Nebo is destroyed: their idols are put upon beasts and cattle, your burdens of heavy weight even unto weariness. They are consumed, and are broken together: they could not save him that carried them, and they themselves shall go into captivity.

Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who are carried by my bowels, are borne up by my womb. Even to your old age I am the same, and to your grey hairs I will carry you: I have made you, and I will bear: I will carry and will save. To whom have you likened me, and made me equal, and compared me, and made me like? You that contribute gold out of the bag, and weigh out silver in the scales: and hire a goldsmith to make a god: and they fall down and worship. They bear him on their shoulders and carry him, and set him in his piece, and he shall stand, and shall not stir out of his place. Yea, when they shall cry also unto him, he shall not hear: he shall not save them from tribulation.

Remember this, and be ashamed: return, ye transgressors, to the heart. Remember the former age, for I am God, and there is no God beside, neither is there the like to me: Who shew from the beginning the things that shall be at last, and from ancient times the things that as yet are not done, saying: My counsel shall stand, and all my will shall be done: Who call a bird from the east, and from a far country the man of my own will, and I have spoken, and will bring it to pass: I have created, and I will do it.

Hear me, O ye hardhearted, who are far from justice. I have brought my justice near, it shall not be afar off: and my salvation shall not tarry. I will give salvation in Sion, and my glory in Israel.

•Source: Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition of the Bible (in the public domain)