St. Bernardine of Siena
Just as you seek a virtuous, fair, and good spouse, it is fitting that you should be the same.
-St. Bernardine of Siena
Today's readings are:
Genesis 24-26
Mark 4:26-34
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Abraham had now reached a ripe old age, and the LORD had blessed him in every way.
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1 Abraham said to the senior servant of his household, who had charge of all his possessions: "Put your hand under my thigh,
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and I will make you swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not procure a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I live,
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but that you will go to my own land and to my kindred to get a wife for my son Isaac."
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The servant asked him: "What if the woman is unwilling to follow me to this land? Should I then take your son back to the land from which you migrated?"
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"Never take my son back there for any reason," Abraham told him.
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"The LORD, the God of heaven, who took me from my father's house and the land of my kin, and who confirmed by oath the promise he then made to me, 'I will give this land to your descendants'--he will send his messenger before you, and you will obtain a wife for my son there.
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If the woman is unwilling to follow you, you will be released from this oath. But never take my son back there!"
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So the servant put his hand under the thigh of his master Abraham and swore to him in this undertaking.
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2 The servant then took ten of his master's camels, and bearing all kinds of gifts from his master, he made his way to the city of Nahor in Aram Naharaim.
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Near evening, at the time when women go out to draw water, he made the camels kneel by the well outside the city.
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3 Then he prayed: "LORD, God of my master Abraham, let it turn out favorably for me today and thus deal graciously with my master Abraham.
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While I stand here at the spring and the daughters of the townsmen are coming out to draw water,
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if I say to a girl, 'Please lower your jug, that I may drink,' and she answers, 'Take a drink, and let me give water to your camels, too,' let her be the one whom you have decided upon for your servant Isaac. In this way I shall know that you have dealt graciously with my master."
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He had scarcely finished these words when Rebekah (who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Abraham's brother Nahor) came out with a jug on her shoulder.
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The girl was very beautiful, a virgin, untouched by man. She went down to the spring and filled her jug. As she came up,
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the servant ran toward her and said, "Please give me a sip of water from your jug."
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"Take a drink, sir," she replied, and quickly lowering the jug onto her hand, she gave him a drink.
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When she had let him drink his fill, she said, "I will draw water for your camels, too, until they have drunk their fill."
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With that, she quickly emptied her jug into the drinking trough and ran back to the well to draw more water, until she had drawn enough for all the camels.
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The man watched her the whole time, silently waiting to learn whether or not the LORD had made his errand successful.
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When the camels had finished drinking, the man took out a gold ring weighing half a shekel, which he fastened on her nose, and two gold bracelets weighing ten shekels, which he put on her wrists.
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Then he asked her: "Whose daughter are you? Tell me, please. And is there room in your father's house for us to spend the night?"
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She answered: "I am the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor.
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There is plenty of straw and fodder at our place," she added, "and room to spend the night."
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The man then bowed down in worship to the LORD,
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saying: "Blessed be the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has not let his constant kindness toward my master fail. As for myself also, the LORD has led me straight to the house of my master's brother."
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Then the girl ran off and told her mother's household about it.
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Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban.
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As soon as he saw the ring and the bracelets on his sister Rebekah and heard her words about what the man had said to her, Laban rushed outside to the man at the spring. When he reached him, he was still standing by the camels at the spring.
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So he said to him: "Come, blessed of the LORD! Why are you staying outside when I have made the house ready for you, as well as a place for the camels?"
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The man then went inside; and while the camels were being unloaded and provided with straw and fodder, water was brought to bathe his feet and the feet of the men who were with him.
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But when the table was set for him, he said, "I will not eat until I have told my tale." "Do so," they replied.
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"I am Abraham's servant," he began.
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"The LORD has blessed my master so abundantly that he has become a wealthy man; he has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male and female slaves, and camels and asses.
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My master's wife Sarah bore a son to my master in her old age, and he has given him everything he owns.
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My master put me under oath, saying: 'You shall not procure a wife for my son among the daughters of the Canaanites in whose land I live;
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instead, you shall go to my father's house, to my own relatives, to get a wife for my son.'
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When I asked my master, 'What if the woman will not follow me?,'
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he replied: 'The LORD, in whose presence I have always walked, will send his messenger with you and make your errand successful, and so you will get a wife for my son from my own kindred of my father's house.
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Then you shall be released from my ban. If you visit my kindred and they refuse you, then, too, you shall be released from my ban.'
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"When I came to the spring today, I prayed: 'LORD, God of my master Abraham, may it be your will to make successful the errand I am engaged on!
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While I stand here at the spring, if I say to a young woman who comes out to draw water, Please give me a little water from your jug,
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and she answers, Not only may you have a drink, but I will give water to your camels, too--let her be the woman whom the LORD has decided upon for my master's son.'
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"I had scarcely finished saying this prayer to myself when Rebekah came out with a jug on her shoulder. After she went down to the spring and drew water, I said to her, 'Please let me have a drink.'
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She quickly lowered the jug she was carrying and said, 'Take a drink, and let me bring water for your camels, too.' So I drank, and she watered the camels also.
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When I asked her, 'Whose daughter are you?' she answered, 'The daughter of Bethuel, son of Nahor, borne to Nahor by Milcah.' So I put the ring on her nose and the bracelets on her wrists.
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Then I bowed down in worship to the LORD, blessing the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me on the right road to obtain the daughter of my master's kinsman for his son.
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If, therefore, you have in mind to show true loyalty to my master, let me know; but if not, let me know that, too. I can then proceed accordingly."
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Laban and his household said in reply: "This thing comes from the LORD; we can say nothing to you either for or against it.
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Here is Rebekah, ready for you; take her with you, that she may become the wife of your master's son, as the LORD has said."
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When Abraham's servant heard their answer, he bowed to the ground before the LORD.
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Then he brought out objects of silver and gold and articles of clothing and presented them to Rebekah; he also gave costly presents to her brother and mother.
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After he and the men with him had eaten and drunk, they spent the night there. When they were up the next morning, he said, "Give me leave to return to my master."
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Her brother and mother replied, "Let the girl stay with us a short while, say ten days; after that she may go."
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But he said to them, "Do not detain me, now that the LORD has made my errand successful; let me go back to my master."
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They answered, "Let us call the girl and see what she herself has to say about it."
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So they called Rebekah and asked her, "Do you wish to go with this man?" She answered, "I do."
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At this they allowed their sister Rebekah and her nurse to take leave, along with Abraham's servant and his men.
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Invoking a blessing on Rebekah, they said: "Sister, may you grow into thousands of myriads; And may your descendants gain possession of the gates of their enemies!"
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Then Rebekah and her maids started out; they mounted their camels and followed the man. So the servant took Rebekah and went on his way.
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Meanwhile Isaac had gone from Beer-lahai-roi and was living in the region of the Negeb.
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4 One day toward evening he went out. . . in the field, and as he looked around, he noticed that camels were approaching.
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Rebekah, too, was looking about, and when she saw him, she alighted from her camel
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and asked the servant, "Who is the man out there, walking through the fields toward us?" "That is my master," replied the servant. Then she covered herself with her veil.
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The servant recounted to Isaac all the things he had done.
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Then Isaac took Rebekah into his tent; he married her, and thus she became his wife. In his love for her Isaac found solace after the death of his mother Sarah.
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1 Abraham married another wife, whose name was Keturah.
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She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah.
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Jokshan became the father of Sheba and Dedan. The descendants of Dedan were the Asshurim, the Letushim, and the Leummim.
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The descendants of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All of these were descendants of Keturah.
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Abraham deeded everything that he owned to his son Isaac.
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2 To his sons by concubinage, however, he made grants while he was still living, as he sent them away eastward, to the land of Kedem, away from his son Isaac.
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The whole span of Abraham's life was one hundred and seventy-five years.
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Then he breathed his last, dying at a ripe old age, grown old after a full life; and he was taken to his kinsmen.
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His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron, son of Zohar the Hittite, which faces Mamre,
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the field that Abraham had bought from the Hittites; there he was buried next to his wife Sarah.
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After the death of Abraham, God blessed his son Isaac, who made his home near Beer-lahai-roi.
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These are the descendants of Abraham's son Ishmael, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah's slave, bore to Abraham.
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These are the names of Ishmael's sons, listed in the order of their birth: Nebaioth (Ishmael's firstborn), Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam,
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Mishma, Dumah, Massa,
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Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah.
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These are the sons of Ishmael, their names by their villages and encampments; twelve chieftains of as many tribal groups.
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The span of Ishmael's life was one hundred and thirty-seven years. After he had breathed his last and died, he was taken to his kinsmen.
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3 The Ishmaelites ranged from Havilah-by-Shur, which is on the border of Egypt, all the way to Asshur; and each of them pitched camp in opposition to his various kinsmen.
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This is the family history of Isaac, son of Abraham; Abraham had begotten Isaac.
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Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan-aram and the sister of Laban the Aramean.
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Isaac entreated the LORD on behalf of his wife, since she was sterile. The LORD heard his entreaty, and Rebekah became pregnant.
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But the children in her womb jostled each other so much that she exclaimed, "If this is to be so, what good will it do me!" She went to consult the LORD,
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and he answered her: "Two nations are in your womb, two peoples are quarreling while still within you; But one shall surpass the other, and the older shall serve the younger."
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When the time of her delivery came, there were twins in her womb.
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4 The first to emerge was reddish, and his whole body was like a hairy mantle; so they named him Esau.
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5 His brother came out next, gripping Esau's heel; so they named him Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when they were born.
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As the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man who lived in the open; whereas Jacob was a simple man, who kept to his tents.
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Isaac preferred Esau, because he was fond of game; but Rebekah preferred Jacob.
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Once, when Jacob was cooking a stew, Esau came in from the open, famished.
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6 He said to Jacob, "Let me gulp down some of that red stuff; I'm starving." (That is why he was called Edom.)
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7 But Jacob replied, "First give me your birthright in exchange for it."
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"Look," said Esau, "I'm on the point of dying. What good will any birthright do me?"
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But Jacob insisted, "Swear to me first!" So he sold Jacob his birthright under oath.
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Jacob then gave him some bread and the lentil stew; and Esau ate, drank, got up, and went his way. Esau cared little for his birthright.
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There was a famine in the land (distinct from the earlier one that had occurred in the days of Abraham), and Isaac went down to Abimelech, king of the Philistines in Gerar.
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The LORD appeared to him and said: "Do not go down to Egypt, but continue to camp wherever in this land I tell you.
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Stay in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your descendants I will give all these lands, in fulfillment of the oath that I swore to your father Abraham.
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I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and give them all these lands, and in your descendants all the nations of the earth shall find blessing--
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this because Abraham obeyed me, keeping my mandate (my commandments, my ordinances, and my instructions)."
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1 So Isaac settled in Gerar.
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When the men of the place asked questions about his wife, he answered, "She is my sister." He was afraid, if he called her his wife, the men of the place would kill him on account of Rebekah, since she was very beautiful.
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But when he had been there for a long time, Abimelech, king of the Philistines, happened to look out of a window and was surprised to see Isaac fondling his wife Rebekah.
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He called for Isaac and said: "She must certainly be your wife! How could you have said, 'She is my sister'?" Isaac replied, "I thought I might lose my life on her account."
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"How could you do this to us!" exclaimed Abimelech. "It would have taken very little for one of the men to lie with your wife, and you would have thus brought guilt upon us!"
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Abimelech therefore gave this warning to all his men: "Anyone who molests this man or his wife shall forthwith be put to death."
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2 Isaac sowed a crop in that region and reaped a hundredfold the same year. Since the LORD blessed him,
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he became richer and richer all the time, until he was very wealthy indeed.
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He acquired such flocks and herds, and so many work animals, that the Philistines became envious of him.
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(The Philistines had stopped up and filled with dirt all the wells that his father's servants had dug back in the days of his father Abraham.)
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So Abimelech said to Isaac, "Go away from us; you have become far too numerous for us."
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Isaac left there and made the Wadi Gerar his regular campsite.
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(Isaac reopened the wells which his father's servants had dug back in the days of his father Abraham and which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham's death; he gave them the same names that his father had given them.)
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But when Isaac's servants dug in the wadi and reached spring water in their well,
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3 the shepherds of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's servants, saying, "The water belongs to us!" So the well was called Esek, because they had challenged him there.
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4 Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that one too; so it was called Sitnah.
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When he had moved on from there, he dug still another well; but over this one they did not quarrel. It was called Rehoboth, because he said, "The LORD has now given us ample room, and we shall flourish in the land."
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From there Isaac went up to Beer-sheba.
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The same night the LORD appeared to him and said: "I am the God of your father Abraham. You have no need to fear, since I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham."
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So he built an altar there and invoked the LORD by name. After he had pitched his tent there, his servants began to dig a well nearby.
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Abimelech had meanwhile come to him from Gerar, accompanied by Ahuzzath, his councilor, and Phicol, the general of his army.
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Isaac asked them, "Why have you come to me, seeing that you hate me and have driven me away from you?"
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They answered: "We are convinced that the LORD is with you, so we propose that there be a sworn agreement between our two sides--between you and us. Let us make a pact with you:
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you shall not act unkindly toward us, just as we have not molested you, but have always acted kindly toward you and have let you depart in peace. Henceforth, 'The LORD'S blessing be upon you!'"
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Isaac then made a feast for them, and they ate and drank.
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Early the next morning they exchanged oaths. Then Isaac bade them farewell, and they departed from him in peace.
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That same day Isaac's servants came and brought him news about the well they had been digging; they told him, "We have reached water!"
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5 He called it Shibah; hence the name of the city, Beer-sheba, to this day.
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6 When Esau was forty years old, he married Judith, daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath, daughter of Elon the Hivite.
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But they became a source of embitterment to Isaac and Rebekah.
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He said,"This is how it is with the kingdom of God; 6 it is as if a man were to scatter seed on the land
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and would sleep and rise night and day and the seed would sprout and grow, he knows not how.
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Of its own accord the land yields fruit, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.
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And when the grain is ripe, he wields the sickle at once, for the harvest has come."
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He said, "To what shall we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable can we use for it?
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It is like a mustard seed that, when it is sown in the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on the earth.
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7 But once it is sown, it springs up and becomes the largest of plants and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the sky can dwell in its shade."
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With many such parables he spoke the word to them as they were able to understand it.
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Without parables he did not speak to them, but to his own disciples he explained everything in private.
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