Thursday of the Thirty-Third Week in Ordinary Time (I)

Official Translation

Reading 1 – 1 Maccabees 2.15-29

He who was sent by King Antiochus came to the city of Modin,
to compel those who had fled there
to sacrifice and burn incense and depart from the law of God.
Many of the people of Israel consented and joined them,
but Mattathias and his sons stood firm.
He who was sent by Antiochus, answering, said to Mattathias,
“You are a ruler, an honorable and great man in this city,
and adorned with sons and kin.”
Therefore be the first to obey the king's commandment,
as all nations have done,
and even the men of Judah and those who remain in Jerusalem,
and you and your sons shall be numbered among the king's Friends,
and enriched with gold, silver, and many presents.

Then Mattathias answered and said with a loud voice:
“Though all the nations obey King Antiochus and every man
depart from the service of the law of his fathers
and consent to these commandments,
I, my sons, and my kin will obey the law of our fathers.
Will it benefit us to forsake the law and right-living?
We will not hearken to the words of King Antiochus,
to sidestep our worship to the right or to the left.”

Now as he finished speaking these words,
a certain Jew came forward in the sight of all
to sacrifice to the idols upon the altar in the city of Modin,
according to the king's commandment.
Mattathias saw this and was grieved.
His restraint trembled, and his wrath was kindled,
according to the judgment of the law.
Running to him, he slayed him at the altar.
At the same time he slayed he who was sent by King Antiochus,
who had compelled them to sacrifice,
and he pulled down the altar.
He showed zeal for the law,
as Phinehas did concerning Zamri the son of Salu.
Then Mattathias cried out in the city with a loud voice, saying:
“Everyone who has zeal for the law and maintains the covenant,
let them follow me.”
So he and his sons fled into the mountains,
leaving all that they had in the city.
Then many who sought judgment and justice went into the wilderness.

Responsorial – Psalm 50.1b-2, 5-6, 14-15 Resp. Psalm 50.23b

R. To the one who orders their life aright, I will show the salvation of God.

The mighty God, the LORD, has spoken and summoned the earth
from the rising of the sun to the going down thereof.
Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,
God has shined.

R. To the one who orders their life aright, I will show the salvation of God.

“Gather my saints together with me,
those who made a covenant with me by sacrifice.”
The heavens shall declare his righteousness,
for God himself is judge.

R. To the one who orders their life aright, I will show the salvation of God.

Offer to God the eucharistic sacrifice [the sacrifice of thanksgiving]
and pay your vows to the Most High.
“Call upon me in the day of trouble
I will deliver you and you will glorify me.”

R. To the one who orders their life aright, I will show the salvation of God.

Gospel – Luke 19.41-44

As Jesus approached Jerusalem,
he beheld the city and wept over it saying,
“If you had known this day and what was for your peace!
But now they are hid from your eyes.
For the days shall come upon you,
when those who you hate shall entrench against you
and surround you and besiege you at every side,
and flatten you and your children within you
and they shall not leave a stone upon a stone within you –
for this reason: you did not know the time of your visitation.