saying goodbye

¹All things have their time, and all things under heaven continue during their interval. ²A time to be born, and a time to die. A time to plant, and a time to pull up what was planted. ³A time to kill, and a time to heal. A time to tear down, and a time to build up. ⁴A time to weep, and a time to laugh. A time to mourn, and a time to dance. ⁵A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather. A time to embrace, and a time to be far from embraces. ⁶A time to gain, and a time to lose. A time to keep, and a time to cast away.

²⁴‘May the Lord bless you and keep you. ²⁵May the Lord reveal his face to you and take pity on you. ²⁶May the Lord turn his countenance toward you and grant peace to you.’

¹⁰Concerning the rest, brothers, be strengthened in the Lord, by the power of his virtue.

²³The steps of a man will be directed by the Lord, and he will choose his way.

¹¹For I know the thoughts that I think over you, says the Lord: thoughts of peace and not of affliction, so that I may give you patience and an end.

⁷For you will give him as a blessing forever and ever. You will make him rejoice with gladness in your presence.

¹A Canticle in steps. I have lifted up my eyes to the mountains; from thence help will come to me. ²My help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. ³May he not allow your foot to be moved, and may he not slumber, who guards you. ⁴Behold, he who guards Israel will neither sleep, nor slumber. ⁵The Lord is your keeper, the Lord is your protection, above your right hand. ⁶The sun will not burn you by day, nor the moon by night.

¹¹As to the rest, brothers, rejoice, be perfect, be encouraged, have the same mind, have peace. And so the God of peace and love will be with you.

¹³So may the God of hope fill you with every joy and with peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope and in the virtue of the Holy Spirit.

⁵⁶“Do not be willing,” he said, “to delay me, for the Lord has directed my way. Release me, so that I may journey to my lord.”

¹⁶We know the love of God in this way: because he laid down his life for us. And so, we must lay down our lives for our brothers.

¹Blessed is the man who has not followed the counsel of the impious, and has not remained in the way of sinners, and has not sat in the chair of pestilence. ²But his will is with the law of the Lord, and he will meditate on his law, day and night. ³And he will be like a tree that has been planted beside running waters, which will provide its fruit in its time, and its leaf will not fall away, and all things whatsoever that he does will prosper. ⁴Not so the impious, not so. For they are like the dust that the wind casts along the face of the earth. ⁵Therefore, the impious will not prevail again in judgment, nor sinners in the council of the just. ⁶For the Lord knows the way of the just. And the path of the impious will pass away.

¹⁷Then, sending from Miletus to Ephesus, he called those greater by birth in the church. ¹⁸And when they had come to him and were together, he said to them: “You know that from the first day when I entered into Asia, I have been with you, for the entire time, in this manner: ¹⁹serving the Lord, with all humility and despite the tears and trials which befell me from the treacheries of the Jews, ²⁰how I held back nothing that was of value, how well I have preached to you, and that I have taught you publicly and throughout the houses, ²¹testifying both to Jews and to Gentiles about repentance in God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. ²²And now, behold, being obliged in spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there,

³You are clean now, because of the word that I have spoken to you. ⁴Abide in me, and I in you. Just as the branch is not able to bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so also are you unable, unless you abide in me. ⁵I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me, and I in him, bears much fruit. For without me, you are able to do nothing.

¹⁰You should not choose to weep for the dead, nor should you mourn over them with tears. Lament for him who is departing, for he will return no more, nor will he see his native land again.