Episode 457 - We can return from our exiles

<p><a href="https://bible.usccb.org/bible/ezra/9?5">Ezr 9:5-9</a></p> <p>At the time of the evening sacrifice, I, Ezra, rose in my wretchedness,<br> and with cloak and mantle torn I fell on my knees,<br> stretching out my hands to the LORD, my God.</p> <p>I said: “My God, I am too ashamed and confounded to raise my face to you,<br> O my God, for our wicked deeds are heaped up above our heads<br> and our guilt reaches up to heaven.<br> From the time of our fathers even to this day<br> great has been our guilt,<br> and for our wicked deeds we have been delivered up,<br> we and our kings and our priests,<br> to the will of the kings of foreign lands,<br> to the sword, to captivity, to pillage, and to disgrace,<br> as is the case today.</p> <p>“And now, but a short time ago, mercy came to us from the LORD, our God,<br> who left us a remnant and gave us a stake in his holy place;<br> thus our God has brightened our eyes<br> and given us relief in our servitude.<br> For slaves we are, but in our servitude our God has not abandoned us;<br> rather, he has turned the good will<br> of the kings of Persia toward us.<br> Thus he has given us new life<br> to raise again the house of our God and restore its ruins,<br> and has granted us a fence in Judah and Jerusalem.”</p> <h3>Responsorial Psalm</h3> <p><a href="https://bible.usccb.org/bible/tobit/13?2">Tobit 13:2, 3-4a, 4befghn, 7-8</a></p> <p>R.&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;(1b) <strong>Blessed be God, who lives for ever.</strong><br> He scourges and then has mercy;<br> &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;he casts down to the depths of the nether world,<br> &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;and he brings up from the great abyss.<br> No one can escape his hand.<br> R.&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;<strong>Blessed be God, who lives for ever.</strong><br> Praise him, you children of Israel, before the Gentiles,<br> &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;for though he has scattered you among them,<br> &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;he has shown you his greatness even there.<br> R.&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;<strong>Blessed be God, who lives for ever.</strong><br> So now co