Friday after Ash Wednesday

Official Translation

Reading 1 - Isaiah 58.1-9a

Thus says the Lord GOD:
“Cry aloud and do not hold back,
lift up your voice like a trumpet,
and declare to my people their disobedience,
and to the house of Jacob their sins.
They seek me daily,
and desire to know my ways:
as a nation that did righteousness,
and did not forsake the ordinance of their God.
They ask of me righteous judgments;
they delight to draw near to God.
‘Why have we fasted,’ they say,
‘and you do not see it?
Why have we afflicted our soul,
and you take no notice of it?’

“Behold, in the day of your fast
you carry out your own pursuits,
and work all your laborers.
Behold, you fast for strife and contention,
and to strike with the fist of wickedness:
O that you would fast this day
so as to make your voice to be heard on high.
Is such the fast that I have chosen?
Is this a day for a man to afflict his soul?
Is it to bow down his head as a reed,
and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?
Will you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord?

This is the fast that I have chosen:
to release the bonds of wickedness,
to undo the bands of the yoke,
and to let the oppressed go free,
and break every yoke,
to distribute your bread to the hungry,
and bring the poor who are cast out
into your house.
When you see the naked, cover them;
and do not hide yourself from your own flesh?
Then your light shall break out as the dawn,
and your healing shall spring out speedily;
and your righteousness shall go before you;
the Lord’s glory shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’

Responsorial – Psalm 51.3-4, 5-6ab, 18-19 Resp. 19b

R. A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Have mercy on me, God, according to your loving kindness.
According to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity.
Cleanse me from my sin.

R. A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

For I know my transgressions.
My sin is constantly before me.
Against you, and you alone, have I sinned,
and done what is evil in your sight;

R. A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

For you do not delight in sacrifice.
I would give a burnt offering, but you have no pleasure in it.
My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit.
A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

R. A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

Gospel – Matthew 9.14-15

Then John’s disciples came to Jesus, saying,
“Why do we and the Pharisees fast often,
but your disciples do not fast?”
Jesus said to them,
“Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn,
as long as the bridegroom is with them?
But the days will come
when the bridegroom will be taken away from them,
and then they will fast.