Saint Christopher Magallanes and Companions, Martyrs

5Sweet words will multiply a man’s friends.

A gracious tongue will multiply courtesies.

6Let those that are at peace with you be many,

but your advisers one of a thousand.

7If you want to gain a friend, get him in a time of testing,

and don’t be in a hurry to trust him.

8For there is a friend just for an occasion.

He won’t continue in the day of your affliction.

9And there is a friend who turns into an enemy.

He will discover strife to your reproach.

10And there is a friend who is a companion at the table,

but he won’t continue in the day of your affliction.

11In your prosperity he will be as yourself,

and will be bold over your servants.

12If you are brought low, he will be against you,

and will hide himself from your face.

13Separate yourself from your enemies,

and beware of your friends.

14A faithful friend is a strong defense.

He who has found him has found a treasure.

15There is nothing that can be taken in exchange for a faithful friend.

His excellency is beyond price.

16A faithful friend is a life-saving medicine.

Those who fear the Lord will find him.

17He who fears the Lord directs his friendship properly;

for as he is, so is his neighbor also.

12Blessed are you, LORD.

Teach me your statutes.

…

16I will delight myself in your statutes.

I will not forget your word.

GIMEL

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18Open my eyes,

that I may see wondrous things out of your law.

…

27Let me understand the teaching of your precepts!

Then I will meditate on your wondrous works.

…

34Give me understanding, and I will keep your law.

Yes, I will obey it with my whole heart.

35Direct me in the path of your commandments,

for I delight in them.

1He arose from there and came into the borders of Judea and beyond the Jordan. Multitudes came together to him again. As he usually did, he was again teaching them. 2Pharisees came to him testing him, and asked him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” 3He answered, “What did Moses command you?” 4They said, “Moses allowed a certificate of divorce to be written, and to divorce her.” 5But Jesus said to them, “For your hardness of heart, he wrote you this commandment. 6But from the beginning of the creation, God made them male and female. 7For this cause a man will leave his father and mother, and will join to his wife, 8and the two will become one flesh, so that they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.” 10In the house, his disciples asked him again about the same matter. 11He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her. 12If a woman herself divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”