Official Translation
Reading 1 – Isaiah 50.4-7
The Lord God has given me
a well-trained tongue,
that I may know how
to sustain with words him who is weary.
Morning after morning,
he has opened my ear to hear,
and I was not rebellious,
neither turned away backward.
I gave my back to the strikers,
and my cheeks to those who plucked my beard;
I did not hide my face from shame and spitting.
For the Lord God will help me;
therefore I have not been confounded:
therefore have I set my face like a flint,
and I know that I shall not be disappointed.
Responsorial – Psalm 22.8-9, 17-18, 19-20, 23-24 Resp. 2a
R. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
All those who see me mock me.
They insult me with their lips. They shake their heads, saying,
“He trusts in the Lord; let him deliver him.
Let him rescue him, since he delights in him.”
R. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
For dogs have surrounded me.
A company of evildoers have enclosed me.
They have pierced my hands and feet.
I can count all of my bones.
R. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
They divide my garments among them.
They cast lots for my clothing.
But you, be not far off, O Lord.
You are my help: hasten to help me.
R. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
I will declare your name to my brothers.
Among the assembly, I will praise you.
You who fear the Lord, praise him!
All you descendants of Jacob, glorify him!
Stand in awe of him, all you descendants of Israel!
R. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Reading 2 – Philippians 2.6-11
Christ Jesus,
though existing in the form of God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped.
Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave,
being made in the likeness of humans.
And being found in human form,
he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death,
yes, the death of the cross.
Therefore God also highly exalted him,
and gave to him the name which is above every name;
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
of those in heaven, those on earth, and those under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord
to the glory of God the Father.
Gospel – Mark 14.1-15.47
It was now two days before the feast of
the Passover and the unleavened bread,
and the chief priests and the scribes
were seeking a way that
they might seize him by deception,
and kill him.
They said,
“Not during the feast,
because there might be a riot of the people.”
While he was at Bethany,
in the house of Simon the leper,
as he sat at the table,
a woman came with
an alabaster jar of ointment
of very expensive pure nard.
She broke the jar, and poured it over his head.
But there were some who
were indignant among themselves, saying,
“Why has this ointment been wasted?
For this might have been sold
for more than three hundred denarii,
and given to the poor.”
They grumbled against her.
But Jesus said, “Leave her alone.
Why do you trouble her?
She has done a good work for me.
For you always have the poor with you,
and whenever you want to,
you can do them good;
but you will not always have me.
She has done what she could.
She has anointed my body
beforehand for the burying.
Amen I say to you,
wherever this Gospel may be preached
throughout the whole world,
what this woman has done
will also be spoken of
in memory of her.”
Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve,
went away to the chief priests,
that he might hand him over to them.
When they heard it, they were glad,
and promised to give him money.
He was seeking a way to
conveniently hand him over.
On the first day of unleavened bread,
when they sacrificed the Passover,
his disciples asked him,
“Where do you want us to go
and prepare that you may eat the Passover?”
He sent two of his disciples, and said to them,
“Go into the city, and there you will
meet a human carrying a pitcher of water.
Follow them, and wherever they enter in,
tell the master of the house,
‘The Teacher says,
“Where is the guest room,
where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?”’
He will himself show you a large upper room
furnished and ready. Get ready for us there.”
His disciples went out, and came into the city,
and found things as he had said to them,
and they prepared the Passover.
When it was evening he came with the twelve.
As they sat and were eating,
Jesus said, “Amen I say to you,
one of you will betray me—he who eats with me.”
They began to be anxious,
and to ask him one by one,
“Surely not I?” And another said, “Surely not I?”
He answered them, “It is one of the Twelve,
One who dips with me in the dish.
For the Son of Human goes,
even as it is written about him,
but woe to the human by whom
the Son of Human is betrayed!
It would be better for that human
if he had not been conceived.”
As they were eating, he took bread,
and when he had blessed,
he broke it, and gave to them, and said,
“Take; this is my body.”
He took a cup,
and when he had given thanks,
he gave it to them.
They all drank of it.
He said to them,
“This is my blood of the new covenant,
which is poured out for many.
Amen I say to you,
I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine,
until that day when I drink it new
in the Kingdom of God.”
When they had sung a hymn,
they went out to the Mount of Olives.
Jesus said to them,
“All of you will be scandalized
because of me tonight, for it is written,
‘I will strike the shepherd,
and the sheep will be scattered.’
However, after I am raised up,
I will go before you into Galilee.”
But Peter said to him,
“Although all will be scandalized, yet I will not.”
Jesus said to him, “Amen I say to you,
that you today, this very night,
before the rooster crows twice,
you will deny me three times.”
But he spoke all the more,
“Though I must die with you,
I will not deny you.”
They all said the same thing.
They came to a place which was named Gethsemane.
He said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I pray.”
He took with him Peter, James, and John,
and began to be greatly troubled and distressed.
He said to them,
“My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death.
Stay here, and watch.”
He went forward a little, and fell on the ground,
and prayed that, if it were possible,
the hour might pass away from him.
He said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible to you.
Please remove this cup from me.
However, not what I desire, but what you desire.”
He came and found them sleeping, and said to Peter,
“Simon, are you sleeping? Could you not watch one hour?
Watch and pray, that you may not enter into temptation.
The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
Again he went away, and prayed, saying the same words.
Again he returned, and found them sleeping,
for their eyes were very heavy,
and they did not know what to answer him.
He came the third time, and said to them,
“Do you still sleep and take your rest? It is enough.
The hour has come.
Behold, the Son of Man is betrayed
into the hands of sinners.
Arise, let us be going.
Behold, he who betrays me is at hand.”
Immediately, while he was still speaking,
Judas, one of the twelve, came,
and with him a crowd with swords and clubs,
from the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders.
Now he who betrayed him had given them a sign, saying,
“Whomever I will kiss, that is he.
Seize him, and lead him away safely.”
When he had come,
immediately he came to him, and said,
“Rabbi! Rabbi!” and kissed him.
They laid their hands on him, and seized him.
But a certain one of those who stood by drew his sword,
and struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear.
Jesus answered them,
“Have you come out, as against a robber,
with swords and clubs to seize me?
I was daily with you in the temple teaching,
and you did not arrest me.
But this is so that the Scriptures might be fulfilled.”
They all left him, and fled.
A certain young man followed him,
having a linen cloth thrown around himself,
over his nakedness.
They grabbed him,
but he left the linen cloth,
and fled from them naked.
They led Jesus away to the high priest.
All the chief priests, the elders, and the scribes
gathered together with him.
Peter had followed him from a distance,
until he came into the court of the high priest.
He was sitting with the officers,
and warming himself in the light of the fire.
Now the chief priests and the whole council
sought witnesses against Jesus to put him to death,
and found none.
For many gave false testimony against him,
and their testimony did not agree.
Some stood up, and gave false testimony against him, saying,
“We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple
that is made with hands,
and in three days I will build another
made without hands.’”
Even so, their testimony did not agree.
The high priest stood up in the middle, and asked Jesus,
“Have you no answer?
What is it which they testify against you?”
But he stayed quiet, and answered nothing.
Again the high priest asked him,
“Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?”
Jesus said, “I am.
You will see the Son of Human
sitting at the right hand of Power,
and coming with the clouds of the sky.”
The high priest tore his clothes, and said,
“What further need have we of witnesses?
You have heard the blasphemy! What do you think?”
They all condemned him to be worthy of death.
Some began to spit on him, and to cover his face,
and to beat him with fists,
and to tell him: “Prophesy!”
The officers struck him with the palms of their hands.
As Peter was in the courtyard below,
one of the maids of the high priest came,
and seeing Peter warming himself,
she looked at him, and said,
“You were also with the Nazarene, Jesus!”
But he denied it, saying,
“I neither know, nor understand what you are saying.”
He went out on the porch, and the rooster crowed.
The maid saw him, and began again to tell those who stood by,
“This is one of them.”
But he again denied it.
After a little while again those who stood by said to Peter,
“You truly are one of them, for you are a Galilean.”
But he began to curse, and to swear,
“I do not know this man of whom you speak!”
The rooster crowed the second time.
Peter remembered the word, how that Jesus said to him,
“Before the rooster crows twice,
you will deny me three times.”
He broke down and wept.
Immediately in the morning the chief priests,
with the elders and scribes, and the whole council,
held a consultation, and bound Jesus,
and carried him away, and delivered him up to Pilate.
Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”
He answered, “So you say.”
The chief priests accused him of many things.
Pilate again asked him, “Have you no answer?
See how many things they testify against you!”
But Jesus made no further answer, so that Pilate marveled.
Now at the feast he used to release to them one prisoner,
whom they asked of him.
There was one called Barabbas,
bound with those who had made insurrection,
men who in the insurrection had committed murder.
The crowd, crying aloud,
began to ask him to do as he always did for them.
Pilate answered them, saying,
“Do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?”
For he perceived that it was because of envy
that the chief priests had delivered him up.
But the chief priests stirred up the crowd,
that he should release Barabbas to them instead.
Pilate again asked them,
“What then should I do to him
whom you call the King of the Jews?”
They cried out again, “Crucify him!”
Pilate said to them, “Why, what evil has he done?”
But they cried out exceedingly, “Crucify him!”
Pilate, wishing to please the crowd,
released Barabbas to them,
and handed over Jesus, when he had flogged him, to be crucified.
The soldiers led him away within the court,
which is the Praetorium;
and they called together the whole cohort.
They clothed him with purple,
and weaving a crown of thorns,
they put it on him.
They began to salute him, “Hail, King of the Jews!”
They struck his head with a reed, and spat on him,
and bowing their knees, did homage to him.
When they had mocked him, they took the purple off of him,
and put his own garments on him.
They led him out to crucify him.
They compelled one passerby, coming from the country,
Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus,
to go with them, that he might bear his cross.
They brought him to the place called Golgotha,
which is translated “The place of a skull.”
They offered him wine mixed with myrrh to drink,
but he did not take it.
Crucifying him, they parted his garments among them,
casting lots on them, what each should take.
It was the third hour, and they crucified him.
The superscription of his accusation was written over him:
“THE KING OF THE JEWS.”
With him they crucified two robbers;
one on his right hand, and one on his left.
Those who passed by blasphemed him,
wagging their heads, and saying,
“Ha! You who would destroy the temple,
and build it in three days,
save yourself, and come down from the cross!”
Likewise, also the chief priests
mocking among themselves with the scribes said,
“He saved others. He cannot save himself.
Let the Christ, the King of Israel,
now come down from the cross,
that we may see and believe him.”
Those who were crucified with him insulted him.
When the sixth hour had come,
there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.
At the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying,
“Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is translated,
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Some of those who stood by,
when they heard it, said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.”
One ran, and filling a sponge full of vinegar, put it on a reed,
and gave it to him to drink, saying,
“Wait. Let us see whether Elijah comes to take him down.”
Jesus cried out with a loud voice, and gave up the spirit.
The veil of the temple was torn in two
from the top to the bottom.
When the centurion, who stood by opposite him,
saw that he cried out like this and breathed his last, he said,
“Truly this human was the Son of God!”
There were also women watching from afar,
among whom were Mary Magdalene,
and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome;
They, when he was in Galilee, followed him, and served him;
and there were many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem.
When evening had now come,
because it was the Preparation Day,
that is, the day before the Sabbath,
Joseph of Arimathaea, a prominent council member
who also himself was looking for the Kingdom of God, came.
He boldly went in to Pilate, and asked for Jesus’ body.
Pilate marveled if he were already dead;
and summoning the centurion,
he asked him whether he had already died.
When he found out from the centurion,
he granted the body to Joseph.
He bought a linen cloth, and taking him down,
wound him in the linen cloth,
and laid him in a tomb which had been cut out of a rock.
He rolled a stone against the door of the tomb.
Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of Joses, saw where he was laid.
Mass Readings
Passion Sunday, at the Procession with Palms
Official Translation
Gospel – Mark 11.1-10
When Jesus and his disciples
drew near to Jerusalem,
to Bethphage and Bethany,
at the Mount of Olives,
he sent two of his disciples,
and said to them,
“Go into the village that is opposite you.
Immediately as you enter into it,
you will find a young donkey tied,
on which no one has sat.
Untie him, and bring him.
If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say,
‘The Lord needs him;’
and immediately he will send him back here.”
They went away, and found a young donkey
tied at the door outside in the open street,
and they untied him.
Some of those who stood there asked them,
“What are you doing, untying the young donkey?”
They said to them just as Jesus had said,
and they let them go.
They brought the young donkey to Jesus,
and threw their garments on it,
and Jesus sat on it.
Many spread their garments on the way,
and others were cutting down branches from the trees,
and spreading them on the road.
Those who went in front,
and those who followed, cried out,
“Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes
in the name of the Lord!
Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!
Hosanna in the highest!”
Or John 12.12-16
On the next day a great crowd
had come to the feast.
When they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,
they took the branches from the palm trees,
and went out to meet him, and cried out,
“Hosanna!
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord,
the King of Israel!”
Jesus, having found a young donkey, sat on it.
As it is written, “Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion.
Behold, your King comes, sitting on a donkey’s colt.”
His disciples did not understand these things at first,
but when Jesus was glorified,
then they remembered that these things
were written about him,
and that they had done these things to him.
Gospel – Mark 11.1-10
When Jesus and his disciples
drew near to Jerusalem,
to Bethphage and Bethany,
at the Mount of Olives,
he sent two of his disciples,
and said to them,
“Go into the village that is opposite you.
Immediately as you enter into it,
you will find a young donkey tied,
on which no one has sat.
Untie him, and bring him.
If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say,
‘The Lord needs him;’
and immediately he will send him back here.”
They went away, and found a young donkey
tied at the door outside in the open street,
and they untied him.
Some of those who stood there asked them,
“What are you doing, untying the young donkey?”
They said to them just as Jesus had said,
and they let them go.
They brought the young donkey to Jesus,
and threw their garments on it,
and Jesus sat on it.
Many spread their garments on the way,
and others were cutting down branches from the trees,
and spreading them on the road.
Those who went in front,
and those who followed, cried out,
“Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes
in the name of the Lord!
Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!
Hosanna in the highest!”
Or John 12.12-16
On the next day a great crowd
had come to the feast.
When they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,
they took the branches from the palm trees,
and went out to meet him, and cried out,
“Hosanna!
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord,
the King of Israel!”
Jesus, having found a young donkey, sat on it.
As it is written, “Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion.
Behold, your King comes, sitting on a donkey’s colt.”
His disciples did not understand these things at first,
but when Jesus was glorified,
then they remembered that these things
were written about him,
and that they had done these things to him.
Saturday of the Fifth Week of Lent
Official Translation
Reading 1 - Ezekiel 37.21-28
Thus says the Lord God:
Behold, I will take the children of Israel
from among the nations,
where they have gone,
and will gather them on every side,
and bring them into their own land:
and I will make them one nation in the land,
on the mountains of Israel;
and one king shall be king to them all;
and they shall be no more two nations,
nor shall they be divided into two kingdoms
anymore at all;
nor shall they defile themselves
anymore with their idols,
nor with their detestable things,
nor with any of their transgressions;
but I will save them from
all their backsliding, in which they have sinned,
and will cleanse them:
so shall they be my people,
and I will be their God.
My servant David shall be king over them;
and they all shall have one shepherd:
they shall also walk in my ordinances,
and observe my statutes, and do them.
They shall dwell in the land
that I have given to Jacob my servant,
in which your fathers lived;
and they shall dwell therein,
they, and their children,
and their children’s children, forever:
and David my servant shall be their prince forever.
Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them;
it shall be an everlasting covenant with them;
and I will place them, and multiply them,
and will set my sanctuary among them forevermore.
My tent also shall be with them;
and I will be their God,
and they shall be my people.
The nations shall know that I am the Lord
who sanctifies Israel,
when my sanctuary shall be among them
forevermore.
Responsorial – Jeremiah 31.10, 11-12abcd, 13 Resp. 10d
R. The Lord will keep us, as a shepherd does his flock.
Hear the word of the Lord, you nations,
and declare it on the far off islands, and say,
“He who scattered Israel will gather him,
and keep him, as a shepherd does his flock.
R. The Lord will keep us, as a shepherd does his flock.
For the Lord will ransom Jacob,
and redeem him from the hand of him who was stronger.
They shall come and sing in the height of Zion,
and shall flow to the goodness of the Lord,
to the grain, and to the new wine, and to the oil,
and to the young of the flock and of the herd:
R. The Lord will keep us, as a shepherd does his flock.
Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance,
and the young men and the old together;
for I will turn their mourning into joy,
and will comfort them, and make them rejoice after their sorrows.
R. The Lord will keep us, as a shepherd does his flock.
Gospel – John 11.45-56
Many of the Jews who came to Mary
and had seen what Jesus did,
believed in him.
But some of them went away to the Pharisees,
and told them the things which Jesus had done.
The chief priests therefore and the Pharisees
gathered the Sanhedrin, and said,
“What are we going to do?
For this man does many signs.
If we leave him alone like this,
everyone will believe in him,
and the Romans will come and take away
both our land and our nation.”
But a certain one of them, Caiaphas,
being high priest that year, said to them,
“You know nothing at all,
nor do you consider that it is advantageous for us
that one man should die for the people,
and that the whole nation not perish.”
Now he did not say this of himself,
but being high priest that year,
he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation,
and not for the nation only,
but that he might also gather together
into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.
So from that day forward they took counsel
that they might put him to death.
Jesus therefore no longer walked openly among the Jews,
but departed from there
into the country near the wilderness,
to a city called Ephraim.
He stayed there with his disciples.
Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand.
Many went up from the country to Jerusalem
before the Passover, to purify themselves.
Then they sought for Jesus and spoke one with another,
as they stood in the temple,
“What do you think—that he is not coming to the feast?”
Reading 1 - Ezekiel 37.21-28
Thus says the Lord God:
Behold, I will take the children of Israel
from among the nations,
where they have gone,
and will gather them on every side,
and bring them into their own land:
and I will make them one nation in the land,
on the mountains of Israel;
and one king shall be king to them all;
and they shall be no more two nations,
nor shall they be divided into two kingdoms
anymore at all;
nor shall they defile themselves
anymore with their idols,
nor with their detestable things,
nor with any of their transgressions;
but I will save them from
all their backsliding, in which they have sinned,
and will cleanse them:
so shall they be my people,
and I will be their God.
My servant David shall be king over them;
and they all shall have one shepherd:
they shall also walk in my ordinances,
and observe my statutes, and do them.
They shall dwell in the land
that I have given to Jacob my servant,
in which your fathers lived;
and they shall dwell therein,
they, and their children,
and their children’s children, forever:
and David my servant shall be their prince forever.
Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them;
it shall be an everlasting covenant with them;
and I will place them, and multiply them,
and will set my sanctuary among them forevermore.
My tent also shall be with them;
and I will be their God,
and they shall be my people.
The nations shall know that I am the Lord
who sanctifies Israel,
when my sanctuary shall be among them
forevermore.
Responsorial – Jeremiah 31.10, 11-12abcd, 13 Resp. 10d
R. The Lord will keep us, as a shepherd does his flock.
Hear the word of the Lord, you nations,
and declare it on the far off islands, and say,
“He who scattered Israel will gather him,
and keep him, as a shepherd does his flock.
R. The Lord will keep us, as a shepherd does his flock.
For the Lord will ransom Jacob,
and redeem him from the hand of him who was stronger.
They shall come and sing in the height of Zion,
and shall flow to the goodness of the Lord,
to the grain, and to the new wine, and to the oil,
and to the young of the flock and of the herd:
R. The Lord will keep us, as a shepherd does his flock.
Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance,
and the young men and the old together;
for I will turn their mourning into joy,
and will comfort them, and make them rejoice after their sorrows.
R. The Lord will keep us, as a shepherd does his flock.
Gospel – John 11.45-56
Many of the Jews who came to Mary
and had seen what Jesus did,
believed in him.
But some of them went away to the Pharisees,
and told them the things which Jesus had done.
The chief priests therefore and the Pharisees
gathered the Sanhedrin, and said,
“What are we going to do?
For this man does many signs.
If we leave him alone like this,
everyone will believe in him,
and the Romans will come and take away
both our land and our nation.”
But a certain one of them, Caiaphas,
being high priest that year, said to them,
“You know nothing at all,
nor do you consider that it is advantageous for us
that one man should die for the people,
and that the whole nation not perish.”
Now he did not say this of himself,
but being high priest that year,
he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation,
and not for the nation only,
but that he might also gather together
into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.
So from that day forward they took counsel
that they might put him to death.
Jesus therefore no longer walked openly among the Jews,
but departed from there
into the country near the wilderness,
to a city called Ephraim.
He stayed there with his disciples.
Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand.
Many went up from the country to Jerusalem
before the Passover, to purify themselves.
Then they sought for Jesus and spoke one with another,
as they stood in the temple,
“What do you think—that he is not coming to the feast?”
Friday of the Fifth Week of Lent
Official Translation
Reading 1 – Jeremiah 20.10-13
I have heard the whispers of many,
terror on every side:
“Denounce! We will denounce him!”,
say all my familiar friends,
those who watch for my fall,
“Perhaps he will be deceived,
and we shall prevail against him,
and we shall take our revenge on him.”
But the Lord is with me as an awesome mighty one:
therefore my persecutors shall stumble,
and they shall not prevail;
they shall be utterly disappointed,
because they have not dealt wisely,
even with an everlasting dishonor
which shall never be forgotten.
Lord of hosts, who test the righteous,
who see the heart and the mind,
let me see your vengeance on them;
for to you have I entrusted my cause.
Sing to the Lord, praise the Lord;
for he has freed the soul of the needy
from the hand of evildoers.
Responsorial – Psalm 18.2-3a, 3bc-4, 5-6, 7 Resp. 7
R. In my distress I called on the Lord, and he heard my voice
I love you, Lord, my strength.
The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer.
R. In my distress I called on the Lord, and he heard my voice
My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge;
my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower.
I call on the Lord, who is worthy to be praised;
and I am saved from my enemies.
R. In my distress I called on the Lord, and he heard my voice
The cords of death surrounded me.
The floods of ungodliness made me afraid.
The cords of Sheol were around me.
The snares of death overcame me.
R. In my distress I called on the Lord, and he heard my voice
In my distress I called on the Lord,
and cried to my God.
He heard my voice out of his temple.
My cry before him came into his ears.
R. In my distress I called on the Lord, and he heard my voice
Gospel – John 10.31-42
The Jews took up stones to stone him.
Jesus answered them,
“I have shown you
many good works from my Father.
For which of those works do you stone me?”
The Jews answered him,
“We do not stone you for a good work,
but for blasphemy:
because you, being a man, make yourself God.”
Jesus answered them,
“Is it not written in your law,
‘I said, you are gods?”
If he called them gods,
to whom the word of God came
(and the Scripture cannot be set aside),
how do you say of him whom
the Father sanctified and sent into the world,
‘You blaspheme,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God?’
If I do not do the works of my Father,
do not believe me.
But if I do them, though you do not believe me,
believe the works;
that you may know and believe
that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.”
They sought again to seize him,
and he went out of their hand.
He went away again beyond the Jordan
into the place where John was baptizing at first,
and there he stayed.
Many came to him.
They said, “John indeed did no sign,
but everything that John said about this man is true.”
Many believed in him there.
Reading 1 – Jeremiah 20.10-13
I have heard the whispers of many,
terror on every side:
“Denounce! We will denounce him!”,
say all my familiar friends,
those who watch for my fall,
“Perhaps he will be deceived,
and we shall prevail against him,
and we shall take our revenge on him.”
But the Lord is with me as an awesome mighty one:
therefore my persecutors shall stumble,
and they shall not prevail;
they shall be utterly disappointed,
because they have not dealt wisely,
even with an everlasting dishonor
which shall never be forgotten.
Lord of hosts, who test the righteous,
who see the heart and the mind,
let me see your vengeance on them;
for to you have I entrusted my cause.
Sing to the Lord, praise the Lord;
for he has freed the soul of the needy
from the hand of evildoers.
Responsorial – Psalm 18.2-3a, 3bc-4, 5-6, 7 Resp. 7
R. In my distress I called on the Lord, and he heard my voice
I love you, Lord, my strength.
The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer.
R. In my distress I called on the Lord, and he heard my voice
My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge;
my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower.
I call on the Lord, who is worthy to be praised;
and I am saved from my enemies.
R. In my distress I called on the Lord, and he heard my voice
The cords of death surrounded me.
The floods of ungodliness made me afraid.
The cords of Sheol were around me.
The snares of death overcame me.
R. In my distress I called on the Lord, and he heard my voice
In my distress I called on the Lord,
and cried to my God.
He heard my voice out of his temple.
My cry before him came into his ears.
R. In my distress I called on the Lord, and he heard my voice
Gospel – John 10.31-42
The Jews took up stones to stone him.
Jesus answered them,
“I have shown you
many good works from my Father.
For which of those works do you stone me?”
The Jews answered him,
“We do not stone you for a good work,
but for blasphemy:
because you, being a man, make yourself God.”
Jesus answered them,
“Is it not written in your law,
‘I said, you are gods?”
If he called them gods,
to whom the word of God came
(and the Scripture cannot be set aside),
how do you say of him whom
the Father sanctified and sent into the world,
‘You blaspheme,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God?’
If I do not do the works of my Father,
do not believe me.
But if I do them, though you do not believe me,
believe the works;
that you may know and believe
that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.”
They sought again to seize him,
and he went out of their hand.
He went away again beyond the Jordan
into the place where John was baptizing at first,
and there he stayed.
Many came to him.
They said, “John indeed did no sign,
but everything that John said about this man is true.”
Many believed in him there.
Thursday of the Fifth Week of Lent
Official Translation
Reading 1 – Genesis 17.3-9
“Abram fell on his face,
and God spoke to him, saying:
“This is my covenant is with you:
You will be the father of a multitude of nations.
Nor will your name any more be Abram,
but your name will be Abraham;
for I have made you the father
of a multitude of nations.
I will make you exceedingly fruitful,
and I will make nations of you.
Kings will come forth from you.
I will establish my covenant
between me and you and your seed after you
throughout their generations
for an everlasting covenant,
to be a God to you and to your seed after you.
I will give to you, and to your seed after you,
the land where you are traveling,
all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession.
I will be their God.”
God said to Abraham,
“For your part, you will keep my covenant,
you and your seed after you throughout their generations.”
Responsorial – Psalm 105.4-5, 6-7, 8-9
R. The Lord has remembered his covenant forever.
Seek the Lord and his strength.
Seek his face forever more.
Remember his marvelous works that he has done;
his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth,
R. The Lord has remembered his covenant forever.
You seed of Abraham, his servant,
You children of Jacob, his chosen ones.
He is the Lord, our God.
His judgments are in all the earth.
R. The Lord has remembered his covenant forever.
He has remembered his covenant forever,
the word which he commanded to a thousand generations,
The covenant which he made with Abraham;
his oath to Isaac.
R. The Lord has remembered his covenant forever.
Gospel – John 8.51-59
Jesus said to the Jews:
“Amen, Amen, I say to you,
if a person keeps my word,
he will never see death.”
Then the Jews said to him,
“Now we know that you have a demon.
Abraham died, and the prophets;
and you say, ‘If a man keeps my word,
he will never taste of death.’
Are you greater than
our father, Abraham, who died?
The prophets died.
Who do you make yourself out to be?”
Jesus answered,
“If I glorify myself,
my glory is nothing.
It is my Father who glorifies me,
of whom you say that he is our God.
You have not known him,
but I know him.
If I said, ‘I do not know him,’
I would be like you, a liar.
But I know him, and keep his word.
Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day.
He saw it, and was glad.”
So the Jews said to him,
“You are not yet fifty years old,
and have you seen Abraham?”
Jesus said to them,
“Most certainly, I tell you,
before Abraham came into existence, I am.”
Therefore they took up stones
to throw at him,
but Jesus was hidden,
and went out of the temple.
Reading 1 – Genesis 17.3-9
“Abram fell on his face,
and God spoke to him, saying:
“This is my covenant is with you:
You will be the father of a multitude of nations.
Nor will your name any more be Abram,
but your name will be Abraham;
for I have made you the father
of a multitude of nations.
I will make you exceedingly fruitful,
and I will make nations of you.
Kings will come forth from you.
I will establish my covenant
between me and you and your seed after you
throughout their generations
for an everlasting covenant,
to be a God to you and to your seed after you.
I will give to you, and to your seed after you,
the land where you are traveling,
all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession.
I will be their God.”
God said to Abraham,
“For your part, you will keep my covenant,
you and your seed after you throughout their generations.”
Responsorial – Psalm 105.4-5, 6-7, 8-9
R. The Lord has remembered his covenant forever.
Seek the Lord and his strength.
Seek his face forever more.
Remember his marvelous works that he has done;
his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth,
R. The Lord has remembered his covenant forever.
You seed of Abraham, his servant,
You children of Jacob, his chosen ones.
He is the Lord, our God.
His judgments are in all the earth.
R. The Lord has remembered his covenant forever.
He has remembered his covenant forever,
the word which he commanded to a thousand generations,
The covenant which he made with Abraham;
his oath to Isaac.
R. The Lord has remembered his covenant forever.
Gospel – John 8.51-59
Jesus said to the Jews:
“Amen, Amen, I say to you,
if a person keeps my word,
he will never see death.”
Then the Jews said to him,
“Now we know that you have a demon.
Abraham died, and the prophets;
and you say, ‘If a man keeps my word,
he will never taste of death.’
Are you greater than
our father, Abraham, who died?
The prophets died.
Who do you make yourself out to be?”
Jesus answered,
“If I glorify myself,
my glory is nothing.
It is my Father who glorifies me,
of whom you say that he is our God.
You have not known him,
but I know him.
If I said, ‘I do not know him,’
I would be like you, a liar.
But I know him, and keep his word.
Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day.
He saw it, and was glad.”
So the Jews said to him,
“You are not yet fifty years old,
and have you seen Abraham?”
Jesus said to them,
“Most certainly, I tell you,
before Abraham came into existence, I am.”
Therefore they took up stones
to throw at him,
but Jesus was hidden,
and went out of the temple.
Wednesday of the Fifth Week of Lent
Official Translation
Reading 1 – Daniel 3.14-20, 91-92, 95
King Nebuchadnezzar said:
“Is it on purpose,
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
that you do not serve my god,
nor worship the golden image
which I have set up?
Now if you are ready
whenever you hear the sound of the
horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe,
and all kinds of music
to fall down and worship the image
which I have made, very well,
but if you do not worship,
you shall be cast the same hour
into the middle of a burning fiery furnace;
and who is the god that shall
deliver you out of my hands?
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
answered the king, “Nebuchadnezzar,
we have no need to answer you in this matter.
If our God whom we serve
is able to deliver us
from the burning fiery furnace;
may he will deliver us out of your hand, O king.
But if not, let it be known to you, O king,
that we will not serve your gods,
nor worship the golden image
which you have set up.
Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury,
and the form of his face was changed
against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
He spoke and commanded
that they should heat the furnace
seven times more than it was usually heated.
He commanded certain mighty men
who were in his army
to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace.
Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished,
and rose up in haste:
he spoke and said to his counselors,
“Did we not cast three bound men
into the middle of the fire?”
They answered the king,
“True, O king.”
He answered,
“Look, I see four men loose,
walking in the middle of the fire,
and they are unharmed;
and the fourth looks like a son of God.”
Nebuchadnezzar spoke and said,
“Blessed be the God
of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
who has sent his angel,
and delivered his servants who trusted in him.
They disobeyed the king’s word,
and yielded their bodies,
that they might not serve nor worship any god,
except their own God.”
Responsorial – Daniel 3.52, 53, 54, 55, 56 Resp. 52b
R. Glory and praise above all forever
Blessed art thou, O Lord the God of our fathers:
worthy to be praised and glorified and exalted above all forever.
And blessed is the holy name of your glory,
praiseworthy and exalted above all in all ages.
R. Glory and praise above all forever
Blessed are you in the holy temple of your glory,
and exceedingly praiseworthy and exceedingly glorious forever.
R. Glory and praise above all forever
Blessed are you on the throne of your kingdom,
and exceedingly praiseworthy and exalted above all forever.
R. Glory and praise above all forever
Blessed are you who beholds the depths,
and is seated above the cherubim
praiseworthy and exalted above all forever.
R. Glory and praise above all forever
Blessed are you in the firmament of heaven,
and worthy of praise and glorious forever.
R. Glory and praise above all forever
Gospel – John 8.31-42
Jesus said to those Jews who had believed him,
“If you remain in my word,
then you are truly my disciples.
You will know the truth,
and the truth will make you free.”
They answered him,
“We are Abraham’s seed,
and have never been in bondage to anyone.
What do you mean, ‘You will be made free’?”
Jesus answered them,
“Amen, amen I say to you,
everyone who commits sin
is the slave of sin.
A slave does not live in the house forever.
A son remains forever.
If therefore the Son makes you free,
you will be free indeed.
I know that you are Abraham’s seed,
yet you seek to kill me,
because my word finds no place in you.
I say the things which I have seen with my Father;
and you also do the things
which you have seen with your father.”
They answered him, “Our father is Abraham.”
Jesus said to them,
“If you were Abraham’s children,
you would do the works of Abraham.
But now you seek to kill me,
a man who has told you the truth,
which I heard from God.
Abraham did not do this.
You do the works of your father.”
They said to him,
“We were not begotten by perversity.
We have one Father, God.”
So Jesus said to them,
“If God were your father,
you would love me,
for I came out and have come from God.
For I have not come on my own, but he sent me.”
Reading 1 – Daniel 3.14-20, 91-92, 95
King Nebuchadnezzar said:
“Is it on purpose,
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
that you do not serve my god,
nor worship the golden image
which I have set up?
Now if you are ready
whenever you hear the sound of the
horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe,
and all kinds of music
to fall down and worship the image
which I have made, very well,
but if you do not worship,
you shall be cast the same hour
into the middle of a burning fiery furnace;
and who is the god that shall
deliver you out of my hands?
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
answered the king, “Nebuchadnezzar,
we have no need to answer you in this matter.
If our God whom we serve
is able to deliver us
from the burning fiery furnace;
may he will deliver us out of your hand, O king.
But if not, let it be known to you, O king,
that we will not serve your gods,
nor worship the golden image
which you have set up.
Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury,
and the form of his face was changed
against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
He spoke and commanded
that they should heat the furnace
seven times more than it was usually heated.
He commanded certain mighty men
who were in his army
to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace.
Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished,
and rose up in haste:
he spoke and said to his counselors,
“Did we not cast three bound men
into the middle of the fire?”
They answered the king,
“True, O king.”
He answered,
“Look, I see four men loose,
walking in the middle of the fire,
and they are unharmed;
and the fourth looks like a son of God.”
Nebuchadnezzar spoke and said,
“Blessed be the God
of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
who has sent his angel,
and delivered his servants who trusted in him.
They disobeyed the king’s word,
and yielded their bodies,
that they might not serve nor worship any god,
except their own God.”
Responsorial – Daniel 3.52, 53, 54, 55, 56 Resp. 52b
R. Glory and praise above all forever
Blessed art thou, O Lord the God of our fathers:
worthy to be praised and glorified and exalted above all forever.
And blessed is the holy name of your glory,
praiseworthy and exalted above all in all ages.
R. Glory and praise above all forever
Blessed are you in the holy temple of your glory,
and exceedingly praiseworthy and exceedingly glorious forever.
R. Glory and praise above all forever
Blessed are you on the throne of your kingdom,
and exceedingly praiseworthy and exalted above all forever.
R. Glory and praise above all forever
Blessed are you who beholds the depths,
and is seated above the cherubim
praiseworthy and exalted above all forever.
R. Glory and praise above all forever
Blessed are you in the firmament of heaven,
and worthy of praise and glorious forever.
R. Glory and praise above all forever
Gospel – John 8.31-42
Jesus said to those Jews who had believed him,
“If you remain in my word,
then you are truly my disciples.
You will know the truth,
and the truth will make you free.”
They answered him,
“We are Abraham’s seed,
and have never been in bondage to anyone.
What do you mean, ‘You will be made free’?”
Jesus answered them,
“Amen, amen I say to you,
everyone who commits sin
is the slave of sin.
A slave does not live in the house forever.
A son remains forever.
If therefore the Son makes you free,
you will be free indeed.
I know that you are Abraham’s seed,
yet you seek to kill me,
because my word finds no place in you.
I say the things which I have seen with my Father;
and you also do the things
which you have seen with your father.”
They answered him, “Our father is Abraham.”
Jesus said to them,
“If you were Abraham’s children,
you would do the works of Abraham.
But now you seek to kill me,
a man who has told you the truth,
which I heard from God.
Abraham did not do this.
You do the works of your father.”
They said to him,
“We were not begotten by perversity.
We have one Father, God.”
So Jesus said to them,
“If God were your father,
you would love me,
for I came out and have come from God.
For I have not come on my own, but he sent me.”
Tuesday of the Fifth Week of Lent
Official Translation
Reading 1 – Numbers 21.4-9
They traveled from Mount Hor
by the way to the Red Sea,
to go around the land of Edom.
The soul of the people was very discouraged
because of the journey.
The people spoke against God
and against Moses,
“Why have you brought us up
out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?
For there is no bread,
and there is no water,
and our soul loathes this worthless food.”
The Lord sent fiery serpents among the people,
and they bit the people.
Many people of Israel died.
The people came to Moses, and said,
“We have sinned,
because we have spoken against the Lord,
and against you.
Pray to the Lord,
that he take away the serpents from us.”
Moses prayed for the people.
The Lord said to Moses,
“Make a fiery serpent,
and set it on a pole.
It shall happen that everyone who is bitten,
when he sees it, shall live.”
Moses made a serpent of bronze,
and set it on the pole.
If a serpent had bitten anyone,
when they looked at the serpent of bronze, they lived.
Responsorial – Psalm 102.2-3, 16-18, 19-21 Resp. 2
R. Hear my prayer, the Lord! Let my cry come to you.
Hear my prayer, the Lord!
Let my cry come to you.
Do not hide your face from me
in the day of my distress.
Turn your ear to me.
Answer me quickly in the day when I call.
R. Hear my prayer, the Lord! Let my cry come to you.
The nations will fear the Lord’s name,
and all the kings of the earth your glory.
For the Lord has built up Zion.
He has appeared in his glory.
He has responded to the prayer of the destitute,
and has not despised their prayer.
R. Hear my prayer, the Lord! Let my cry come to you.
This will be written for the generation to come;
a people yet to be created will praise the Lord.
For he has looked down from the height of his sanctuary.
From heaven, the Lord saw the earth;
to hear the groans of the prisoner;
to free those who are condemned to death;
R. Hear my prayer, the Lord! Let my cry come to you.
Gospel – John 8.21-30
Jesus said to the Pharisees:
“I am going away, and you will seek me,
and you will die in your sins.
Where I go, you cannot come.”
So the Jews said,
“Will he kill himself, that he says,
‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?”
He said to them,
“You are from beneath. I am from above.
You are of this world. I am not of this world.
So I said to you that you will die in your sins;
for unless you believe that I am,
you will die in your sins.”
So they said to him, “Who are you?”
Jesus said to them,
“Just what I have been saying to you
from the beginning.
I have many things to say
and to judge concerning you.
But he who sent me is true;
and the things which I heard from him,
these I say to the world.”
They did not understand
that he spoke to them about the Father.
So Jesus said to them,
“When you have lifted up the Son of Man,
then you will know that I am,
and I do nothing on my own,
but as my Father taught me, so I speak.
He who sent me is with me.
He has not left me alone,
for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.”
Reading 1 – Numbers 21.4-9
They traveled from Mount Hor
by the way to the Red Sea,
to go around the land of Edom.
The soul of the people was very discouraged
because of the journey.
The people spoke against God
and against Moses,
“Why have you brought us up
out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?
For there is no bread,
and there is no water,
and our soul loathes this worthless food.”
The Lord sent fiery serpents among the people,
and they bit the people.
Many people of Israel died.
The people came to Moses, and said,
“We have sinned,
because we have spoken against the Lord,
and against you.
Pray to the Lord,
that he take away the serpents from us.”
Moses prayed for the people.
The Lord said to Moses,
“Make a fiery serpent,
and set it on a pole.
It shall happen that everyone who is bitten,
when he sees it, shall live.”
Moses made a serpent of bronze,
and set it on the pole.
If a serpent had bitten anyone,
when they looked at the serpent of bronze, they lived.
Responsorial – Psalm 102.2-3, 16-18, 19-21 Resp. 2
R. Hear my prayer, the Lord! Let my cry come to you.
Hear my prayer, the Lord!
Let my cry come to you.
Do not hide your face from me
in the day of my distress.
Turn your ear to me.
Answer me quickly in the day when I call.
R. Hear my prayer, the Lord! Let my cry come to you.
The nations will fear the Lord’s name,
and all the kings of the earth your glory.
For the Lord has built up Zion.
He has appeared in his glory.
He has responded to the prayer of the destitute,
and has not despised their prayer.
R. Hear my prayer, the Lord! Let my cry come to you.
This will be written for the generation to come;
a people yet to be created will praise the Lord.
For he has looked down from the height of his sanctuary.
From heaven, the Lord saw the earth;
to hear the groans of the prisoner;
to free those who are condemned to death;
R. Hear my prayer, the Lord! Let my cry come to you.
Gospel – John 8.21-30
Jesus said to the Pharisees:
“I am going away, and you will seek me,
and you will die in your sins.
Where I go, you cannot come.”
So the Jews said,
“Will he kill himself, that he says,
‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?”
He said to them,
“You are from beneath. I am from above.
You are of this world. I am not of this world.
So I said to you that you will die in your sins;
for unless you believe that I am,
you will die in your sins.”
So they said to him, “Who are you?”
Jesus said to them,
“Just what I have been saying to you
from the beginning.
I have many things to say
and to judge concerning you.
But he who sent me is true;
and the things which I heard from him,
these I say to the world.”
They did not understand
that he spoke to them about the Father.
So Jesus said to them,
“When you have lifted up the Son of Man,
then you will know that I am,
and I do nothing on my own,
but as my Father taught me, so I speak.
He who sent me is with me.
He has not left me alone,
for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.”
Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord
Official Translation
Reading 1 – Isaiah 7.10-14, 8:10
The Lord spoke again to Ahaz, saying,
“Ask a sign of the Lord your God;
whether from the deep or the height above.”
But Ahaz said,
“I will not ask; I will not tempt the Lord.”
Isaiah said, “Listen now, house of David.
Is it not enough for you to try the patience of humans,
that you will try the patience of my God also?
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign:
Behold, the virgin will conceive, and bear a son,
and shall name him Emmanuel,
which means “God is with us!”
Responsorial – Psalm 40.7-8a, 8b-9, 10, 11 R. 8a+9a
Sacrifice and offering you did not desire.
You have opened my ears.
You have not required burnt offering and sin offering.
Then I said, “Behold, I have come.
R. Behold, I have come; I delight to do your will, my God.
It is written about me in the scroll:
“I delight to do your will, my God.
Yes, your law is within my heart.”
R. Behold, I have come; I delight to do your will, my God.
I have proclaimed glad news of righteousness in the great assembly.
Behold, you know I will not seal my lips, O Lord.
R. Behold, I have come; I delight to do your will, my God.
I have not hidden your righteousness within my heart.
I have declared your faithfulness and your salvation.
I have not concealed your loving kindness and your truth
from the great assembly.
R. Behold, I have come; I delight to do your will, my God.
Reading 2 – Hebrews 10.4-10
Brothers and sisters:
It is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats
would take away sins.
Therefore when Christ came into the world, he said,
“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but you prepared a body for me;
You had no pleasure in holocausts and sin offerings.
Then I said, as it is written in the scroll of the book,
“Behold, I have come to do your will, O God.”
He said before, “Sacrifices and offerings
holocausts and sin offerings
you neither desired nor had pleasure in.”
These are offered according to the law.
Then he said, “Behold, I have come to do your will.”
He takes away the first,
that he may establish the second,
by this will we have been sanctified
through the offering of
the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Gospel – Luke 1:26-38
The angel Gabriel was sent from God
to a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,
to a virgin pledged to be married
to a man whose name was Joseph,
of the house of David.
The virgin’s name was Mary.
Having come, the angel said to her,
“Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.”
But she was greatly troubled at the saying,
and considered what kind of greeting this might be.
The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary,
for you have found favor with God.
Behold, you will conceive in your womb,
and give birth to a son,
and will name him ‘Jesus.’
He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High.
The Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David,
and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever.
There will be no end to his Kingdom.”
Mary said to the angel, “How can this be,
since I do not have relations with a man?”
The angel answered her,
“The Holy Spirit will come on you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
Therefore also the one who is born from you
will be called holy, the Son of God.
Behold, Elizabeth, your relative,
also has conceived a son in her old age;
and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.
For God is not incapable of anything.”
Mary said, “Behold, the handmaid of the Lord;
be it to me according to your word.”
Then the angel departed from her.
Reading 1 – Isaiah 7.10-14, 8:10
The Lord spoke again to Ahaz, saying,
“Ask a sign of the Lord your God;
whether from the deep or the height above.”
But Ahaz said,
“I will not ask; I will not tempt the Lord.”
Isaiah said, “Listen now, house of David.
Is it not enough for you to try the patience of humans,
that you will try the patience of my God also?
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign:
Behold, the virgin will conceive, and bear a son,
and shall name him Emmanuel,
which means “God is with us!”
Responsorial – Psalm 40.7-8a, 8b-9, 10, 11 R. 8a+9a
Sacrifice and offering you did not desire.
You have opened my ears.
You have not required burnt offering and sin offering.
Then I said, “Behold, I have come.
R. Behold, I have come; I delight to do your will, my God.
It is written about me in the scroll:
“I delight to do your will, my God.
Yes, your law is within my heart.”
R. Behold, I have come; I delight to do your will, my God.
I have proclaimed glad news of righteousness in the great assembly.
Behold, you know I will not seal my lips, O Lord.
R. Behold, I have come; I delight to do your will, my God.
I have not hidden your righteousness within my heart.
I have declared your faithfulness and your salvation.
I have not concealed your loving kindness and your truth
from the great assembly.
R. Behold, I have come; I delight to do your will, my God.
Reading 2 – Hebrews 10.4-10
Brothers and sisters:
It is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats
would take away sins.
Therefore when Christ came into the world, he said,
“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but you prepared a body for me;
You had no pleasure in holocausts and sin offerings.
Then I said, as it is written in the scroll of the book,
“Behold, I have come to do your will, O God.”
He said before, “Sacrifices and offerings
holocausts and sin offerings
you neither desired nor had pleasure in.”
These are offered according to the law.
Then he said, “Behold, I have come to do your will.”
He takes away the first,
that he may establish the second,
by this will we have been sanctified
through the offering of
the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Gospel – Luke 1:26-38
The angel Gabriel was sent from God
to a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,
to a virgin pledged to be married
to a man whose name was Joseph,
of the house of David.
The virgin’s name was Mary.
Having come, the angel said to her,
“Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.”
But she was greatly troubled at the saying,
and considered what kind of greeting this might be.
The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary,
for you have found favor with God.
Behold, you will conceive in your womb,
and give birth to a son,
and will name him ‘Jesus.’
He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High.
The Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David,
and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever.
There will be no end to his Kingdom.”
Mary said to the angel, “How can this be,
since I do not have relations with a man?”
The angel answered her,
“The Holy Spirit will come on you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
Therefore also the one who is born from you
will be called holy, the Son of God.
Behold, Elizabeth, your relative,
also has conceived a son in her old age;
and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.
For God is not incapable of anything.”
Mary said, “Behold, the handmaid of the Lord;
be it to me according to your word.”
Then the angel departed from her.
Fifth Sunday of Lent (B)
Official Translation
Reading 1 – Jeremiah 31.31-34
Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord,
that I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel and the house of Judah:
not according to the covenant
that I made with their fathers
on the day that I took them by the hand
to bring them out of the land of Egypt.
This covenant of mine they broke,
although I was a husband to them,
says the Lord.
But this is the covenant that I will make
with the house of Israel after those days,
says the Lord:
I will put my law within them,
and on their heart I will write it;
and I will be their God,
and they shall be my people:
and they shall no longer teach,
every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying,
“Know the Lord”;
for they shall all know me,
from the least to the greatest,
says the Lord:
for I will forgive their iniquity,
and their sin will I remember no more.
Responsorial – Psalm 51.3-4, 12-13, 14-15 Resp. 12a
R. Create in me a clean heart, O God.
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. Create in me a clean heart, O God.
Create in me a clean heart, O God.
Renew a right spirit within me.
Do not cast me out from your presence,
and do not take your Holy Spirit from me.
R. Create in me a clean heart, O God.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation.
Uphold me with a willing spirit.
Then I will teach transgressors your ways.
Sinners shall be converted to you.
R. Create in me a clean heart, O God.
Reading 2 – Hebrews 5.7-9
Christ Jesus, in the days of his flesh,
having offered up prayers and petitions
with strong crying and tears
to him who was able to save him from death,
and having been heard for his godly fear,
though he was a Son,
yet learned obedience
by the things which he suffered.
Having been made perfect,
he became to all of those who obey him
the author of eternal salvation.
Gospel – John 12.20-33
Now there were, among those that went up
to worship at the feast, some Greeks.
These, therefore, came to Philip,
who was from Bethsaida of Galilee,
and asked him, saying,
“Sir, we want to see Jesus.”
Philip came and told Andrew,
and in turn, Andrew came with Philip,
and they told Jesus.
Jesus answered them, saying,
“The hour has come
for the Son of Man to be glorified.
Amen, amen, I tell you,
unless a grain of wheat
falls into the earth and dies,
it remains by itself alone.
But if it dies, it bears much fruit.
He who loves his life will lose it.
He who hates his life in this world
will keep it to eternal life.
If anyone serves me, let him follow me.
Where I am, there will my servant also be.
If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.
Now my soul is troubled, but what shall I say?
‘Father, save me from this hour?’
But for this cause I came to this hour.
Father, glorify your name!”
Then there came a voice out of the sky, saying,
“I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.”
The crowd therefore,
who stood by and heard it,
said that it had thundered.
Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.”
Jesus answered,
“This voice has not come for my sake, but for yours.
Now is the judgment of this world.
Now the prince of this world will be cast out.
And I, if I am lifted up from the earth,
will draw all people to myself.”
He said this to signify
by what kind of death he would die.
Reading 1 – Jeremiah 31.31-34
Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord,
that I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel and the house of Judah:
not according to the covenant
that I made with their fathers
on the day that I took them by the hand
to bring them out of the land of Egypt.
This covenant of mine they broke,
although I was a husband to them,
says the Lord.
But this is the covenant that I will make
with the house of Israel after those days,
says the Lord:
I will put my law within them,
and on their heart I will write it;
and I will be their God,
and they shall be my people:
and they shall no longer teach,
every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying,
“Know the Lord”;
for they shall all know me,
from the least to the greatest,
says the Lord:
for I will forgive their iniquity,
and their sin will I remember no more.
Responsorial – Psalm 51.3-4, 12-13, 14-15 Resp. 12a
R. Create in me a clean heart, O God.
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. Create in me a clean heart, O God.
Create in me a clean heart, O God.
Renew a right spirit within me.
Do not cast me out from your presence,
and do not take your Holy Spirit from me.
R. Create in me a clean heart, O God.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation.
Uphold me with a willing spirit.
Then I will teach transgressors your ways.
Sinners shall be converted to you.
R. Create in me a clean heart, O God.
Reading 2 – Hebrews 5.7-9
Christ Jesus, in the days of his flesh,
having offered up prayers and petitions
with strong crying and tears
to him who was able to save him from death,
and having been heard for his godly fear,
though he was a Son,
yet learned obedience
by the things which he suffered.
Having been made perfect,
he became to all of those who obey him
the author of eternal salvation.
Gospel – John 12.20-33
Now there were, among those that went up
to worship at the feast, some Greeks.
These, therefore, came to Philip,
who was from Bethsaida of Galilee,
and asked him, saying,
“Sir, we want to see Jesus.”
Philip came and told Andrew,
and in turn, Andrew came with Philip,
and they told Jesus.
Jesus answered them, saying,
“The hour has come
for the Son of Man to be glorified.
Amen, amen, I tell you,
unless a grain of wheat
falls into the earth and dies,
it remains by itself alone.
But if it dies, it bears much fruit.
He who loves his life will lose it.
He who hates his life in this world
will keep it to eternal life.
If anyone serves me, let him follow me.
Where I am, there will my servant also be.
If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.
Now my soul is troubled, but what shall I say?
‘Father, save me from this hour?’
But for this cause I came to this hour.
Father, glorify your name!”
Then there came a voice out of the sky, saying,
“I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.”
The crowd therefore,
who stood by and heard it,
said that it had thundered.
Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.”
Jesus answered,
“This voice has not come for my sake, but for yours.
Now is the judgment of this world.
Now the prince of this world will be cast out.
And I, if I am lifted up from the earth,
will draw all people to myself.”
He said this to signify
by what kind of death he would die.
Saturday of the Fourth Week of Lent
Official Translation
Reading 1 – Jeremiah 11.18-20
I knew the plot, for the Lord gave me knowledge of it,
It was then that you showed me their doings.
But I was like a gentle lamb led to slaughter;
and I had not known
that they had devised devices against me, saying,
“Let us destroy the tree with its fruit,
and let us cut him off from the land of the living,
that his name may be no more remembered.”
But, O Lord of Hosts, who judges righteously,
who tests the heart and the mind,
I shall see your vengeance on them;
for to you have I entrusted my cause.
Responsorial – Psalm 7.2-3, 9bc-10, 11-12 R. 2a
R. O Lord, my God, I take refuge in you.
O Lord, my God, I take refuge in you.
Save me from all those who pursue me, and deliver me,
lest they tear apart my soul like a lion,
ripping it in pieces, while there is no one to save me.
R. O Lord, my God, I take refuge in you.
Judge me, Lord, according to my righteousness,
and according to my integrity that is in me.
Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end,
but establish the righteous.
Minds and hearts are searched by the righteous God!
R. O Lord, my God, I take refuge in you.
My shield is with God,
who saves the upright in heart.
God is a just judge,
a God who has indignation every day.
R. O Lord, my God, I take refuge in you.
Gospel – John 7.40-53
Much of the crowd,
when they heard these words, said,
“This is truly the Prophet.”
Others said, “This is the Christ.”
But some said, “The Christ
does not come out of Galilee, does he?
Do not the Scriptures say that
the Christ comes of the seed of David,
and from Bethlehem,
the village where David was?”
So there arose a division in the crowd because of him.
Some of them would have arrested him,
but no one laid hands on him.
The officers therefore went
to the chief priests and Pharisees,
and they said to them, “Why did you not bring him?”
The officers answered,
“No one ever spoke like this human!”
The Pharisees therefore answered them,
“You are not also led astray, are you?
Have any of the rulers believed in him,
or the Pharisees?
But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.”
Nicodemus (who came to him by night and was one of them)
said to them,
“Does our law judge a human,
unless it first hears from him personally
and knows what he does?”
They answered him,
“Are you also from Galilee?
Search, and see that no prophet
rises up out of Galilee.”
Each one went to their own house.
Reading 1 – Jeremiah 11.18-20
I knew the plot, for the Lord gave me knowledge of it,
It was then that you showed me their doings.
But I was like a gentle lamb led to slaughter;
and I had not known
that they had devised devices against me, saying,
“Let us destroy the tree with its fruit,
and let us cut him off from the land of the living,
that his name may be no more remembered.”
But, O Lord of Hosts, who judges righteously,
who tests the heart and the mind,
I shall see your vengeance on them;
for to you have I entrusted my cause.
Responsorial – Psalm 7.2-3, 9bc-10, 11-12 R. 2a
R. O Lord, my God, I take refuge in you.
O Lord, my God, I take refuge in you.
Save me from all those who pursue me, and deliver me,
lest they tear apart my soul like a lion,
ripping it in pieces, while there is no one to save me.
R. O Lord, my God, I take refuge in you.
Judge me, Lord, according to my righteousness,
and according to my integrity that is in me.
Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end,
but establish the righteous.
Minds and hearts are searched by the righteous God!
R. O Lord, my God, I take refuge in you.
My shield is with God,
who saves the upright in heart.
God is a just judge,
a God who has indignation every day.
R. O Lord, my God, I take refuge in you.
Gospel – John 7.40-53
Much of the crowd,
when they heard these words, said,
“This is truly the Prophet.”
Others said, “This is the Christ.”
But some said, “The Christ
does not come out of Galilee, does he?
Do not the Scriptures say that
the Christ comes of the seed of David,
and from Bethlehem,
the village where David was?”
So there arose a division in the crowd because of him.
Some of them would have arrested him,
but no one laid hands on him.
The officers therefore went
to the chief priests and Pharisees,
and they said to them, “Why did you not bring him?”
The officers answered,
“No one ever spoke like this human!”
The Pharisees therefore answered them,
“You are not also led astray, are you?
Have any of the rulers believed in him,
or the Pharisees?
But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.”
Nicodemus (who came to him by night and was one of them)
said to them,
“Does our law judge a human,
unless it first hears from him personally
and knows what he does?”
They answered him,
“Are you also from Galilee?
Search, and see that no prophet
rises up out of Galilee.”
Each one went to their own house.
Friday of the Fourth Week of Lent
Official Translation
Reading 1 – Wisdom 2.1a, 12-22
For the wicked said among themselves,
though thinking not aright:
Let us lie in wait for the just man,
because he is not like us,
and he is contrary to our actions,
and upbraids us for transgressions of the law,
and accuses us of the sins of our way of life.
He boasts that he has the knowledge of God,
and calls himself the son of God.
He has become a censure of our thoughts.
He is grievous unto us, even to behold:
for his life is not like other men's,
and his ways are very different.
We are considered by him to be triflers,
and he abstains from our ways as from filthiness,
and he prefers the final end of the just,
and glories that he has God for his father.
Let us see then if his words be true,
and let us test what shall happen to him,
and we shall know what his end shall be.
For if he be the true son of God,
he will defend him and will deliver him
from the hands of his enemies.
Let us examine him by outrages and tortures,
that we may know his meekness
and try his patience.
Let us condemn him to a most shameful death:
For by his own words, there will be a regard for him.
These things they thought,
but they were deceived:
for their own malice blinded them.
And they knew not the secrets of God,
nor hoped for the wages of justice,
nor considered the honor of holy souls.
Responsorial – Psalm 34.17-18, 19-20, 21+23 Resp. 19a
R. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted.
But the face of the Lord is against evildoers,
to cut off remembrance of them from the earth.
The just cried, and the Lord heard them,
and delivered them out of all their troubles.
R. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted.
The Lord is near to the brokenhearted,
and he will save the humble of spirit.
Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
but the Lord delivers him out of them all.
R. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted.
He protects all of his bones.
Not one of them is broken.
The LORD redeems the soul of his servants.
None of those who take refuge in him shall be condemned.
R. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted.
Gospel – John 7.1-2, 10, 25-30
Jesus was walking in Galilee,
for he would not walk in Judea,
because the Jews sought to kill him.
Now the feast of the Jews,
the Feast of Tabernacles, was at hand.
But when his brothers had gone up to the feast,
then he also went up,
not publicly but as it were in secret.
Some of the Jerusalemites said,
“Is this not he whom they seek to kill?
Behold, he speaks openly,
and they say nothing to him.
Can it be that the rulers indeed know
that this is truly the Christ?
However we know where this man comes from,
but when the Christ comes,
no one will know where he comes from.”
Jesus therefore cried out in the temple,
teaching and saying,
“You both know me,
and know where I am from.
But I have not come of myself,
but he who sent me is true,
whom you do not know.
I know him, because I am from him,
and he sent me.”
They sought therefore to take him;
but no one laid a hand on him,
because his hour had not yet come.
Reading 1 – Wisdom 2.1a, 12-22
For the wicked said among themselves,
though thinking not aright:
Let us lie in wait for the just man,
because he is not like us,
and he is contrary to our actions,
and upbraids us for transgressions of the law,
and accuses us of the sins of our way of life.
He boasts that he has the knowledge of God,
and calls himself the son of God.
He has become a censure of our thoughts.
He is grievous unto us, even to behold:
for his life is not like other men's,
and his ways are very different.
We are considered by him to be triflers,
and he abstains from our ways as from filthiness,
and he prefers the final end of the just,
and glories that he has God for his father.
Let us see then if his words be true,
and let us test what shall happen to him,
and we shall know what his end shall be.
For if he be the true son of God,
he will defend him and will deliver him
from the hands of his enemies.
Let us examine him by outrages and tortures,
that we may know his meekness
and try his patience.
Let us condemn him to a most shameful death:
For by his own words, there will be a regard for him.
These things they thought,
but they were deceived:
for their own malice blinded them.
And they knew not the secrets of God,
nor hoped for the wages of justice,
nor considered the honor of holy souls.
Responsorial – Psalm 34.17-18, 19-20, 21+23 Resp. 19a
R. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted.
But the face of the Lord is against evildoers,
to cut off remembrance of them from the earth.
The just cried, and the Lord heard them,
and delivered them out of all their troubles.
R. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted.
The Lord is near to the brokenhearted,
and he will save the humble of spirit.
Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
but the Lord delivers him out of them all.
R. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted.
He protects all of his bones.
Not one of them is broken.
The LORD redeems the soul of his servants.
None of those who take refuge in him shall be condemned.
R. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted.
Gospel – John 7.1-2, 10, 25-30
Jesus was walking in Galilee,
for he would not walk in Judea,
because the Jews sought to kill him.
Now the feast of the Jews,
the Feast of Tabernacles, was at hand.
But when his brothers had gone up to the feast,
then he also went up,
not publicly but as it were in secret.
Some of the Jerusalemites said,
“Is this not he whom they seek to kill?
Behold, he speaks openly,
and they say nothing to him.
Can it be that the rulers indeed know
that this is truly the Christ?
However we know where this man comes from,
but when the Christ comes,
no one will know where he comes from.”
Jesus therefore cried out in the temple,
teaching and saying,
“You both know me,
and know where I am from.
But I have not come of myself,
but he who sent me is true,
whom you do not know.
I know him, because I am from him,
and he sent me.”
They sought therefore to take him;
but no one laid a hand on him,
because his hour had not yet come.
Thursday of the Fourth Week of Lent
Official Translation
Reading 1 – Exodus 32.7-14
The Lord spoke to Moses, “Go down;
for your people, whom you brought up
out of the land of Egypt,
have corrupted themselves!
They have turned aside quickly
out of the way which I commanded them.
They have made themselves a molten calf,
and have worshiped it,
and have sacrificed to it,
and said, ‘These are your gods, Israel,
which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.’”
The Lord said to Moses,
“I have seen these people,
and behold, they are a stiff-necked people.
Now therefore leave me alone,
that my wrath may burn hot against them,
and that I may consume them;
and I will make of you a great nation.”
Moses begged the Lord his God, and said,
“Lord, why does your wrath burn hot
against your people,
that you have brought out of the land of Egypt
with great power and with a mighty hand?
Why should the Egyptians speak, saying,
‘He brought them out for evil,
to kill them in the mountains,
and to consume them from the surface of the earth?’
Turn from your fierce wrath,
and repent of this evil against your people.
Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants,
to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them,
‘I will multiply your seed as the stars of the sky,
and all this land that I have spoken of
I will give to your seed,
and they shall inherit it forever.’”
The Lord repented of the evil
which he said he would do to his people.
Responsorial – Psalm 106.19-20, 21-22, 23
R. Remember me, the Lord, with the favor that you show to your people.
They made a calf in Horeb,
and worshiped a molten image.
Thus they exchanged their glory
for an image of a bull that eats grass.
R. Remember me, the Lord, with the favor that you show to your people.
They forgot God, their Savior,
who had done great things in Egypt,
Wondrous works in the land of Ham,
and awesome things by the Red Sea.
R. Remember me, the Lord, with the favor that you show to your people.
Therefore he said that he would destroy them,
had Moses, his chosen one,
not stood before him in the breach,
to turn away his wrath to destroy them.
R. Remember me, the Lord, with the favor that you show to your people.
Gospel – John 5.31-47
Jesus said to the Jews:
“If I testify about myself,
my witness is not true.
There is another
who testifies about me.
I know that the testimony
which he testifies about me is true.
You sent to John,
and he has testified to the truth.
But the testimony which I receive
is not from a human.
However, I say these things
that you may be saved.
He was the burning and shining lamp,
and you were willing
to rejoice for a while in his light.
But the testimony which I have
is greater than that of John,
for the works which
the Father gave me to accomplish,
the very works that I do,
testify about me,
that the Father has sent me.
The Father himself, who sent me,
has testified about me.
You have neither heard
his voice at any time,
nor seen his form.
You do not have his word living in you;
because you do not believe him whom he sent.
You search the Scriptures,
because you think that in them
you have eternal life;
and these testify about me.
Yet you will not come to me,
that you may have life.
I do not receive glory from humans.
But I know you, that you do not
have God’s love in yourselves.
I have come in my Father’s name,
and you do not receive me.
If another comes in his own name,
you will receive him.
How can you believe,
who receive glory from one another,
and you do not seek the glory
that comes from the only God?
Do not think that I will
accuse you to the Father.
The one who accuses you
is Moses himself
on whom you have set your hope.
For if you believed Moses,
you would believe me;
for he wrote about me.
But if you do not believe his writings,
how will you believe my words?”
Reading 1 – Exodus 32.7-14
The Lord spoke to Moses, “Go down;
for your people, whom you brought up
out of the land of Egypt,
have corrupted themselves!
They have turned aside quickly
out of the way which I commanded them.
They have made themselves a molten calf,
and have worshiped it,
and have sacrificed to it,
and said, ‘These are your gods, Israel,
which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.’”
The Lord said to Moses,
“I have seen these people,
and behold, they are a stiff-necked people.
Now therefore leave me alone,
that my wrath may burn hot against them,
and that I may consume them;
and I will make of you a great nation.”
Moses begged the Lord his God, and said,
“Lord, why does your wrath burn hot
against your people,
that you have brought out of the land of Egypt
with great power and with a mighty hand?
Why should the Egyptians speak, saying,
‘He brought them out for evil,
to kill them in the mountains,
and to consume them from the surface of the earth?’
Turn from your fierce wrath,
and repent of this evil against your people.
Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants,
to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them,
‘I will multiply your seed as the stars of the sky,
and all this land that I have spoken of
I will give to your seed,
and they shall inherit it forever.’”
The Lord repented of the evil
which he said he would do to his people.
Responsorial – Psalm 106.19-20, 21-22, 23
R. Remember me, the Lord, with the favor that you show to your people.
They made a calf in Horeb,
and worshiped a molten image.
Thus they exchanged their glory
for an image of a bull that eats grass.
R. Remember me, the Lord, with the favor that you show to your people.
They forgot God, their Savior,
who had done great things in Egypt,
Wondrous works in the land of Ham,
and awesome things by the Red Sea.
R. Remember me, the Lord, with the favor that you show to your people.
Therefore he said that he would destroy them,
had Moses, his chosen one,
not stood before him in the breach,
to turn away his wrath to destroy them.
R. Remember me, the Lord, with the favor that you show to your people.
Gospel – John 5.31-47
Jesus said to the Jews:
“If I testify about myself,
my witness is not true.
There is another
who testifies about me.
I know that the testimony
which he testifies about me is true.
You sent to John,
and he has testified to the truth.
But the testimony which I receive
is not from a human.
However, I say these things
that you may be saved.
He was the burning and shining lamp,
and you were willing
to rejoice for a while in his light.
But the testimony which I have
is greater than that of John,
for the works which
the Father gave me to accomplish,
the very works that I do,
testify about me,
that the Father has sent me.
The Father himself, who sent me,
has testified about me.
You have neither heard
his voice at any time,
nor seen his form.
You do not have his word living in you;
because you do not believe him whom he sent.
You search the Scriptures,
because you think that in them
you have eternal life;
and these testify about me.
Yet you will not come to me,
that you may have life.
I do not receive glory from humans.
But I know you, that you do not
have God’s love in yourselves.
I have come in my Father’s name,
and you do not receive me.
If another comes in his own name,
you will receive him.
How can you believe,
who receive glory from one another,
and you do not seek the glory
that comes from the only God?
Do not think that I will
accuse you to the Father.
The one who accuses you
is Moses himself
on whom you have set your hope.
For if you believed Moses,
you would believe me;
for he wrote about me.
But if you do not believe his writings,
how will you believe my words?”
Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Lent
Official Translation
Reading 1 – Isaiah 49.8-15
Thus says the LORD:
“In an acceptable time
have I answered you,
and on a day of salvation
have I helped you;
and I will preserve you,
and give you for a covenant
of the people,
to raise up the land,
to make them inherit
the desolate heritage,
saying to those who are bound,
‘Come out!’;
to those who are in darkness,
‘Show yourselves!’
“They shall feed in the ways,
and on all bare heights
shall be their pasture.
They shall not hunger nor thirst;
nor shall the heat nor sun strike them:
for he who has mercy on them
will lead them,
even by springs of water
he will guide them.
I will make all my mountains a way,
and my highways shall be exalted.
Behold, these shall come from afar;
and behold, those from the north
and from the west; and these from the land of Syene.”
Sing, heavens; and be joyful, earth;
and break out into singing, mountain,
for the Lord has comforted his people,
and will have compassion on his afflicted.
But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me,
and the Lord has forgotten me.”
“Can a woman forget her nursing child,
that she should not have
compassion on the son of her womb?
Yes, these may forget, yet I will not forget you!”
Responsorial – Psalm 145.8-9, 13cd-14, 17-18 Resp. 8a
R. The Lord is gracious, merciful,
The Lord is gracious, merciful,
slow to anger, and of great loving kindness.
The Lord is good to all.
His tender mercies are over all his works.
R. The Lord is gracious, merciful,
The Lord is faithful in all his words,
and holy in all his deeds.
The Lord upholds all who fall,
and raises up all those who are bowed down.
R. The Lord is gracious, merciful,
The Lord is righteous in all his ways,
and gracious in all his works.
The Lord is near to all those who call on him,
to all who call on him in truth.
R. The Lord is gracious, merciful,
Gospel – John 517.30
But Jesus answered them,
“My Father is still working,
so I am working, too.”
For this reason therefore
the Jews sought all the more to kill him,
because he not only broke the Sabbath,
but also called God his own Father,
making himself equal with God.
Jesus therefore answered them,
“Amen, amen, I tell you,
the Son can do nothing of himself,
but what he sees the Father doing.
For whatever things he does,
the Son also does likewise.
For the Father loves the Son,
and shows him all things
that he himself does.
He will show him greater works than these,
that you may be amazed.
For as the Father raises the dead
and gives them life,
even so the Son also gives life
to whom he desires.
For the Father judges no one,
but he has given all judgment to the Son,
that all may honor the Son,
even as they honor the Father.
Whoever does not honor the Son
does not honor the Father who sent him.
“Amen, Amen, I tell you,
he who hears my word,
and believes him who sent me,
has eternal life and does not come into judgment,
but has passed out of death into life.
Amen, Amen, I tell you,
the hour comes, and now is here,
when the dead will hear the Son of God’s voice;
and those who hear will live.
For as the Father has life in himself,
even so he gave to the Son also
to have life in himself.
He also gave him authority to execute judgment,
because he is a son of human.
Do not marvel at this,
for the hour comes,
in which all that are in
the tombs will hear his voice,
and will come out;
those who have done good,
to the resurrection of life;
and those whether
have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment.
I can of myself do nothing.
As I hear, I judge,
and my judgment is righteous;
because I do not seek my own will,
but the will of my Father who sent me.
Reading 1 – Isaiah 49.8-15
Thus says the LORD:
“In an acceptable time
have I answered you,
and on a day of salvation
have I helped you;
and I will preserve you,
and give you for a covenant
of the people,
to raise up the land,
to make them inherit
the desolate heritage,
saying to those who are bound,
‘Come out!’;
to those who are in darkness,
‘Show yourselves!’
“They shall feed in the ways,
and on all bare heights
shall be their pasture.
They shall not hunger nor thirst;
nor shall the heat nor sun strike them:
for he who has mercy on them
will lead them,
even by springs of water
he will guide them.
I will make all my mountains a way,
and my highways shall be exalted.
Behold, these shall come from afar;
and behold, those from the north
and from the west; and these from the land of Syene.”
Sing, heavens; and be joyful, earth;
and break out into singing, mountain,
for the Lord has comforted his people,
and will have compassion on his afflicted.
But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me,
and the Lord has forgotten me.”
“Can a woman forget her nursing child,
that she should not have
compassion on the son of her womb?
Yes, these may forget, yet I will not forget you!”
Responsorial – Psalm 145.8-9, 13cd-14, 17-18 Resp. 8a
R. The Lord is gracious, merciful,
The Lord is gracious, merciful,
slow to anger, and of great loving kindness.
The Lord is good to all.
His tender mercies are over all his works.
R. The Lord is gracious, merciful,
The Lord is faithful in all his words,
and holy in all his deeds.
The Lord upholds all who fall,
and raises up all those who are bowed down.
R. The Lord is gracious, merciful,
The Lord is righteous in all his ways,
and gracious in all his works.
The Lord is near to all those who call on him,
to all who call on him in truth.
R. The Lord is gracious, merciful,
Gospel – John 517.30
But Jesus answered them,
“My Father is still working,
so I am working, too.”
For this reason therefore
the Jews sought all the more to kill him,
because he not only broke the Sabbath,
but also called God his own Father,
making himself equal with God.
Jesus therefore answered them,
“Amen, amen, I tell you,
the Son can do nothing of himself,
but what he sees the Father doing.
For whatever things he does,
the Son also does likewise.
For the Father loves the Son,
and shows him all things
that he himself does.
He will show him greater works than these,
that you may be amazed.
For as the Father raises the dead
and gives them life,
even so the Son also gives life
to whom he desires.
For the Father judges no one,
but he has given all judgment to the Son,
that all may honor the Son,
even as they honor the Father.
Whoever does not honor the Son
does not honor the Father who sent him.
“Amen, Amen, I tell you,
he who hears my word,
and believes him who sent me,
has eternal life and does not come into judgment,
but has passed out of death into life.
Amen, Amen, I tell you,
the hour comes, and now is here,
when the dead will hear the Son of God’s voice;
and those who hear will live.
For as the Father has life in himself,
even so he gave to the Son also
to have life in himself.
He also gave him authority to execute judgment,
because he is a son of human.
Do not marvel at this,
for the hour comes,
in which all that are in
the tombs will hear his voice,
and will come out;
those who have done good,
to the resurrection of life;
and those whether
have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment.
I can of myself do nothing.
As I hear, I judge,
and my judgment is righteous;
because I do not seek my own will,
but the will of my Father who sent me.
Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Lent
Official Translation
Reading 1 – Ezekiel 47.1-9,12
The angel brought me back to the gate of the temple,
and behold waters flowed out
from under the threshold of the temple toward the east
(for the front of the house looked toward the east),
but the waters came down to the south side of the temple
to the south part of the altar.
And he led me out by the way of the north gate,
and he took me to the outward gate
which looked toward the east,
and behold water was trickling out on the south side.
He went out eastward with the line in his hand.
He measured one thousand cubits
and had me to pass through the waters,
waters that were up to the ankles.
Again he measured one thousand
and had me to pass through the waters,
waters that were up to the knees.
Again he measured one thousand
and had me to pass through waters,
waters that were up to the waist.
Afterward he measured one thousand,
but it was a river that I could not pass through,
for the waters had risen.
They were waters to swim in,
a river that could not be waded through.
He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen?”
Then he brought me
and had me return to the bank of the river.
Now when I had returned, behold,
on the bank of the river were very many trees
on the one side and on the other.
And he said to me,
“These waters flow toward the east
and go down to the Arabah,
and go into the sea.
Where it enters the sea, the water will be fresh,
and every living creature whatsoever that crawls
will live wherever the river goes
and there shall be abundant fish.
Where this river goes, the water will become fresh,
and all things shall live.
And by the river, on its banks,
on both sides
all fruit-bearing trees will grow.
Their leaf shall not fall off, and their fruit shall not fail.
Every month they will bring forth fruit,
because they will be watered from the flow out of the sanctuary,
and their fruit shall be for food, and their leaves for medicine.
Responsorial - Psalm 46:2-3,5-6,8-9 Resp. 8
R. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our protector.
Our God is our refuge and strength,
a helper in troubles, which have found us exceedingly.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth quakes,
and the mountains fall into the depths of the sea.
R. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our protector.
The stream of the river makes the city of God joyful,
the most High has sanctified his own dwelling.
God is in the midst of it; it shall not be disturbed.
God will help it in the early morning.
R. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our protector.
The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our protector.
Come and behold the works of the Lord,
the wonders he has done upon earth,
R. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our protector.
Gospel – John 5.1-16
There was a feast of the Jews,
and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
Now in Jerusalem by the sheep gate,
there is a pool, which is called in Hebrew, “Bethesda”,
having five porches.
In these lay a great multitude
of those who were sick, blind, lame, or paralyzed.
A certain human was there,
who had been sick for thirty-eight years.
When Jesus saw him lying there
and knew that he had been sick for a long time,
he asked him, “Do you want to be made well?”
The sick human answered him,
“Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool
when the water is stirred up,
but while I am going, another steps down before me.”
Jesus said to him, “Arise, take up your mat, and walk.”
Immediately, the human was made well,
and took up his mat and walked.
Now it was the Sabbath on that day.
So the Jews said to him who was cured,
“It is the Sabbath. It is not lawful for you to carry that mat.”
He answered them,
“He who made me well said to me,
‘Take up your mat, and walk.’”
Then they asked him,
“Who is the human who said to you,
‘Take up your mat, and walk’?”
But he who was healed did not know who it was,
for Jesus had withdrawn, a crowd being in the place.
Afterward Jesus found him in the temple,
and said to him, “Behold, you are made well.
Sin no more, so that nothing worse happens to you.”
The human went away, and told the Jews
that it was Jesus who had made him well.
For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus,
and sought to kill him,
because he did these things on the Sabbath.
Reading 1 – Ezekiel 47.1-9,12
The angel brought me back to the gate of the temple,
and behold waters flowed out
from under the threshold of the temple toward the east
(for the front of the house looked toward the east),
but the waters came down to the south side of the temple
to the south part of the altar.
And he led me out by the way of the north gate,
and he took me to the outward gate
which looked toward the east,
and behold water was trickling out on the south side.
He went out eastward with the line in his hand.
He measured one thousand cubits
and had me to pass through the waters,
waters that were up to the ankles.
Again he measured one thousand
and had me to pass through the waters,
waters that were up to the knees.
Again he measured one thousand
and had me to pass through waters,
waters that were up to the waist.
Afterward he measured one thousand,
but it was a river that I could not pass through,
for the waters had risen.
They were waters to swim in,
a river that could not be waded through.
He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen?”
Then he brought me
and had me return to the bank of the river.
Now when I had returned, behold,
on the bank of the river were very many trees
on the one side and on the other.
And he said to me,
“These waters flow toward the east
and go down to the Arabah,
and go into the sea.
Where it enters the sea, the water will be fresh,
and every living creature whatsoever that crawls
will live wherever the river goes
and there shall be abundant fish.
Where this river goes, the water will become fresh,
and all things shall live.
And by the river, on its banks,
on both sides
all fruit-bearing trees will grow.
Their leaf shall not fall off, and their fruit shall not fail.
Every month they will bring forth fruit,
because they will be watered from the flow out of the sanctuary,
and their fruit shall be for food, and their leaves for medicine.
Responsorial - Psalm 46:2-3,5-6,8-9 Resp. 8
R. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our protector.
Our God is our refuge and strength,
a helper in troubles, which have found us exceedingly.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth quakes,
and the mountains fall into the depths of the sea.
R. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our protector.
The stream of the river makes the city of God joyful,
the most High has sanctified his own dwelling.
God is in the midst of it; it shall not be disturbed.
God will help it in the early morning.
R. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our protector.
The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our protector.
Come and behold the works of the Lord,
the wonders he has done upon earth,
R. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our protector.
Gospel – John 5.1-16
There was a feast of the Jews,
and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
Now in Jerusalem by the sheep gate,
there is a pool, which is called in Hebrew, “Bethesda”,
having five porches.
In these lay a great multitude
of those who were sick, blind, lame, or paralyzed.
A certain human was there,
who had been sick for thirty-eight years.
When Jesus saw him lying there
and knew that he had been sick for a long time,
he asked him, “Do you want to be made well?”
The sick human answered him,
“Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool
when the water is stirred up,
but while I am going, another steps down before me.”
Jesus said to him, “Arise, take up your mat, and walk.”
Immediately, the human was made well,
and took up his mat and walked.
Now it was the Sabbath on that day.
So the Jews said to him who was cured,
“It is the Sabbath. It is not lawful for you to carry that mat.”
He answered them,
“He who made me well said to me,
‘Take up your mat, and walk.’”
Then they asked him,
“Who is the human who said to you,
‘Take up your mat, and walk’?”
But he who was healed did not know who it was,
for Jesus had withdrawn, a crowd being in the place.
Afterward Jesus found him in the temple,
and said to him, “Behold, you are made well.
Sin no more, so that nothing worse happens to you.”
The human went away, and told the Jews
that it was Jesus who had made him well.
For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus,
and sought to kill him,
because he did these things on the Sabbath.
Solemnity of Saint Joseph, husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Official Translation
Reading 1 – 2 Samuel 7.4-5a, 12-14a, 16
The word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying,
“Go and tell my servant David,
When your days are fulfilled,
and you sleep with your fathers,
I will set up your seed after you,
who shall proceed out of your loins,
and I will establish his kingdom.
He shall build a house for my name,
and I will establish
the throne of his kingdom forever.
I will be his father, and he shall be my son.
Your house and your kingdom
shall be made sure forever before me.
Your throne shall be established forever.”
Responsorial – Psalm 89.2-3, 4-5, 27+29 Resp. 37
R. The son of David will live forever.
I will sing of the loving kindness of the Lord forever.
With my mouth, I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.
I indeed declare, “Love stands firm forever.”
You established the heavens and your faithfulness is in them.”
R. The son of David will live forever.
“I have made a covenant with my chosen one,
I have sworn to David, my servant,
‘I will establish your seed forever,
and build up your throne to all generations.’”
R. The son of David will live forever.
He will call to me, ‘You are my Father,
my God, and the rock of my salvation!’
I will keep my loving kindness for him forever more.
My covenant will stand firm with him.
R. The son of David will live forever.
Reading 2 – Romans 4.13, 16-18, 22
Brothers and sisters:
The promise to Abraham
and to his seed
that he should inherit the world
was not through the law,
but through the righteousness of faith.
For this reason it is of faith:
that it may be according to grace,
to the end that the promise
may be sure to all the seed,
not to that only which is of the law,
but to that also which is
of the faith of Abraham,
who is the father of us all.
As it is written,
“I have made you
a father of many nations.”
In the eyes of God,
in whom he believed,
who gives life to the dead,
and calls the not existing as the existing.
In hope he believed against hope,
that he might become
a father of many nations,
according to that
which had been spoken,
“So will your seed be.”
Therefore it also was “reckoned to him for righteousness.”
Gospel – Matthew 1.16, 18-21, 24a
Jacob became the father of Joseph,
the husband of Mary,
from whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.
Now the birth of Jesus Christ happened in this way:
After his mother, Mary, was engaged to Joseph,
but before they came together,
she was found pregnant by the Holy Spirit.
Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man,
and unwilling to shame her,
resolved to divorce her secretly.
But while he thought about these things,
behold, an angel of the Lord
appeared to him in a dream, saying,
“Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid
to take in Mary, your wife,
for that which is conceived in her
is of the Holy Spirit.
She shall give birth to a son.
You shall call his name Jesus,
for it is he who shall save his people from their sins.”
Joseph arose from his sleep,
and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him,
and took his wife in.
Or Luke 2.41-51a
Jesus’ parents went every year
to Jerusalem at the feast of the Passover.
When he was twelve years old,
they went up to Jerusalem
according to the custom of the feast,
and when they had fulfilled the days,
as they were returning,
the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem.
Joseph and his mother did not know it,
but supposing him to be in the company,
they went a day’s journey,
and they looked for him
among their relatives and acquaintances.
When they did not find him,
they returned to Jerusalem, looking for him.
After three days they found him in the temple,
sitting in the midst of the teachers,
both listening to them,
and asking them questions.
All who heard him
were amazed at his understanding
and his answers.
When they saw him, they were astonished,
and his mother said to him,
“Son, why have you treated us this way?
Behold, your father and I were anxiously looking for you.”
He said to them,
“Why were you looking for me?
Did you not know
that I must be in my Father’s house?”
They did not understand the saying
which he spoke to them.
And he went down with them,
and came to Nazareth.
He was obedient to them.
Reading 1 – 2 Samuel 7.4-5a, 12-14a, 16
The word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying,
“Go and tell my servant David,
When your days are fulfilled,
and you sleep with your fathers,
I will set up your seed after you,
who shall proceed out of your loins,
and I will establish his kingdom.
He shall build a house for my name,
and I will establish
the throne of his kingdom forever.
I will be his father, and he shall be my son.
Your house and your kingdom
shall be made sure forever before me.
Your throne shall be established forever.”
Responsorial – Psalm 89.2-3, 4-5, 27+29 Resp. 37
R. The son of David will live forever.
I will sing of the loving kindness of the Lord forever.
With my mouth, I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.
I indeed declare, “Love stands firm forever.”
You established the heavens and your faithfulness is in them.”
R. The son of David will live forever.
“I have made a covenant with my chosen one,
I have sworn to David, my servant,
‘I will establish your seed forever,
and build up your throne to all generations.’”
R. The son of David will live forever.
He will call to me, ‘You are my Father,
my God, and the rock of my salvation!’
I will keep my loving kindness for him forever more.
My covenant will stand firm with him.
R. The son of David will live forever.
Reading 2 – Romans 4.13, 16-18, 22
Brothers and sisters:
The promise to Abraham
and to his seed
that he should inherit the world
was not through the law,
but through the righteousness of faith.
For this reason it is of faith:
that it may be according to grace,
to the end that the promise
may be sure to all the seed,
not to that only which is of the law,
but to that also which is
of the faith of Abraham,
who is the father of us all.
As it is written,
“I have made you
a father of many nations.”
In the eyes of God,
in whom he believed,
who gives life to the dead,
and calls the not existing as the existing.
In hope he believed against hope,
that he might become
a father of many nations,
according to that
which had been spoken,
“So will your seed be.”
Therefore it also was “reckoned to him for righteousness.”
Gospel – Matthew 1.16, 18-21, 24a
Jacob became the father of Joseph,
the husband of Mary,
from whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.
Now the birth of Jesus Christ happened in this way:
After his mother, Mary, was engaged to Joseph,
but before they came together,
she was found pregnant by the Holy Spirit.
Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man,
and unwilling to shame her,
resolved to divorce her secretly.
But while he thought about these things,
behold, an angel of the Lord
appeared to him in a dream, saying,
“Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid
to take in Mary, your wife,
for that which is conceived in her
is of the Holy Spirit.
She shall give birth to a son.
You shall call his name Jesus,
for it is he who shall save his people from their sins.”
Joseph arose from his sleep,
and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him,
and took his wife in.
Or Luke 2.41-51a
Jesus’ parents went every year
to Jerusalem at the feast of the Passover.
When he was twelve years old,
they went up to Jerusalem
according to the custom of the feast,
and when they had fulfilled the days,
as they were returning,
the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem.
Joseph and his mother did not know it,
but supposing him to be in the company,
they went a day’s journey,
and they looked for him
among their relatives and acquaintances.
When they did not find him,
they returned to Jerusalem, looking for him.
After three days they found him in the temple,
sitting in the midst of the teachers,
both listening to them,
and asking them questions.
All who heard him
were amazed at his understanding
and his answers.
When they saw him, they were astonished,
and his mother said to him,
“Son, why have you treated us this way?
Behold, your father and I were anxiously looking for you.”
He said to them,
“Why were you looking for me?
Did you not know
that I must be in my Father’s house?”
They did not understand the saying
which he spoke to them.
And he went down with them,
and came to Nazareth.
He was obedient to them.
Fourth Sunday of Lent (B)
Official Translation
Reading 1 – 2 Chronicles 36.14-16, 19-23
In those days, all the heads
of the priests and the people,
sinned very greatly
after all the abominations of the nations;
and they polluted the Lord’s house
which he had made holy in Jerusalem.
The Lord, the God of their fathers,
sent to them by his messengers,
sending them early on,
because he had compassion on his people,
and on his dwelling place,
but they mocked the messengers of God,
and despised his words,
and scoffed at his prophets,
until the wrath of the Lord
arose against his people,
until there was no remedy.
Their enemies burnt God’s house,
and broke down the wall of Jerusalem,
and burnt all its palaces with fire,
and destroyed all the goodly vessels of it.
Nebuchadnezzar carried those
who had escaped from the sword
away to Babylon,
and they were servants to him and his sons
until the reign of the kingdom of Persia,
to fulfill the Lord’s word
spoken through the mouth of Jeremiah,
“until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths”
As long as it lay desolate it kept Sabbath,
to fulfill seventy years.
Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia,
that the Lord’s word by the mouth of Jeremiah
might be accomplished,
the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia,
so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom,
and put it also in writing, saying,
“Thus says Cyrus king of Persia,
The Lord, the God of heaven,
has given all the kingdoms of the earth to me,
and he has commanded me
to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.
Whoever there is among you of all his people,
the Lord his God be with him, and let him go up.”
Responsorial – Psalm 137.1-2, 3, 4-5, 6. R. 6ab
R. Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you.
By the rivers of Babylon,
there we sat down; yes, we wept,
when we remembered Zion.
On the willows in that land,
we hung up our harps.
R. Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you.
For there, those who led us captive
asked us for songs.
Those who tormented us demanded songs of joy:
“Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”
R. Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you.
How can we sing a song of the Lord
in a foreign land?
If I forget you, Jerusalem,
let my right hand forget its use.
R. Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you.
Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth
if I do not remember you;
if I do not prefer Jerusalem
above my greatest joy.
R. Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you.
Reading 2 - Ephesians 2.4-10
Brothers and sisters:
God, being rich in mercy,
because of his great love
with which he loved us,
even when we were dead
through our trespasses,
made us alive together with Christ
(by grace you have been saved),
and raised us up with him,
and made us to sit with him
in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
that in the ages to come
he might show the exceeding riches
of his grace in kindness
toward us in Christ Jesus.
For by grace you have been saved through faith,
and that not of yourselves;
it is the gift of God, not of works,
so that no one could boast.
For we are his handiwork,
created in Christ Jesus for the good works
which God prepared ahead of time
that we would walk in them.
Gospel – John 3.14-21
Jesus said to Nicodemus:
“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”
For God so loved the world,
that he gave his one and only Son,
that whoever believes in him
shall not perish, but have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son
into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world should be saved through him.
Who believes in him is not condemned.
Who does not believe has been condemned already,
because they have not believed
in the name of the one and only Son of God.
This is the crisis:
the light has come into the world,
and humans loved the darkness so much more
than the light,
for their works were perverse.
For everyone who does evil
hates the light,
and does not come to the light,
lest his works would be exposed.
But he who does the truth
comes to the light,
that his works may be revealed,
that they have been done in God.
Reading 1 – 2 Chronicles 36.14-16, 19-23
In those days, all the heads
of the priests and the people,
sinned very greatly
after all the abominations of the nations;
and they polluted the Lord’s house
which he had made holy in Jerusalem.
The Lord, the God of their fathers,
sent to them by his messengers,
sending them early on,
because he had compassion on his people,
and on his dwelling place,
but they mocked the messengers of God,
and despised his words,
and scoffed at his prophets,
until the wrath of the Lord
arose against his people,
until there was no remedy.
Their enemies burnt God’s house,
and broke down the wall of Jerusalem,
and burnt all its palaces with fire,
and destroyed all the goodly vessels of it.
Nebuchadnezzar carried those
who had escaped from the sword
away to Babylon,
and they were servants to him and his sons
until the reign of the kingdom of Persia,
to fulfill the Lord’s word
spoken through the mouth of Jeremiah,
“until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths”
As long as it lay desolate it kept Sabbath,
to fulfill seventy years.
Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia,
that the Lord’s word by the mouth of Jeremiah
might be accomplished,
the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia,
so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom,
and put it also in writing, saying,
“Thus says Cyrus king of Persia,
The Lord, the God of heaven,
has given all the kingdoms of the earth to me,
and he has commanded me
to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.
Whoever there is among you of all his people,
the Lord his God be with him, and let him go up.”
Responsorial – Psalm 137.1-2, 3, 4-5, 6. R. 6ab
R. Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you.
By the rivers of Babylon,
there we sat down; yes, we wept,
when we remembered Zion.
On the willows in that land,
we hung up our harps.
R. Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you.
For there, those who led us captive
asked us for songs.
Those who tormented us demanded songs of joy:
“Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”
R. Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you.
How can we sing a song of the Lord
in a foreign land?
If I forget you, Jerusalem,
let my right hand forget its use.
R. Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you.
Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth
if I do not remember you;
if I do not prefer Jerusalem
above my greatest joy.
R. Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you.
Reading 2 - Ephesians 2.4-10
Brothers and sisters:
God, being rich in mercy,
because of his great love
with which he loved us,
even when we were dead
through our trespasses,
made us alive together with Christ
(by grace you have been saved),
and raised us up with him,
and made us to sit with him
in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
that in the ages to come
he might show the exceeding riches
of his grace in kindness
toward us in Christ Jesus.
For by grace you have been saved through faith,
and that not of yourselves;
it is the gift of God, not of works,
so that no one could boast.
For we are his handiwork,
created in Christ Jesus for the good works
which God prepared ahead of time
that we would walk in them.
Gospel – John 3.14-21
Jesus said to Nicodemus:
“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”
For God so loved the world,
that he gave his one and only Son,
that whoever believes in him
shall not perish, but have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son
into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world should be saved through him.
Who believes in him is not condemned.
Who does not believe has been condemned already,
because they have not believed
in the name of the one and only Son of God.
This is the crisis:
the light has come into the world,
and humans loved the darkness so much more
than the light,
for their works were perverse.
For everyone who does evil
hates the light,
and does not come to the light,
lest his works would be exposed.
But he who does the truth
comes to the light,
that his works may be revealed,
that they have been done in God.
Saturday of the Third Week of Lent
Official Translation
Reading 1 - Hosea 6.1-6
“Come, and let us return to Yahweh;
for he has torn us to pieces,
but he will heal us;
he has injured us,
but he will bind up our wounds.
After two days he will revive us.
On the third day he will raise us up,
and we will live before him.
Let us acknowledge the Lord.
Let us press on to know the Lord.
As surely as the sun rises,
the Lord will appear.
He will come to us like the rain,
like the spring rain that waters the earth.”
Ephraim, what shall I do to you?
Judah, what shall I do to you?
For your love is like a morning cloud,
and like the dew that disappears early.
Therefore I have cut them to pieces with the prophets;
I killed them with the words of my mouth.
For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice;
and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
Responsorial – Psalm 51.3-4, 18-19, 20-21ab Resp. Hosea 6:6
R. For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.
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. For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.
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. For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.
Do well in your good pleasure to Zion.
Build the walls of Jerusalem.
Then you will delight in the sacrifices of righteousness,
in burnt offerings and in holocausts.
R. For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.
Gospel Lk 18:9-14
Jesus spoke this parable
to those who were convinced
of their own righteousness,
and who despised all others.
“Two humans went up
into the temple to pray;
one was a Pharisee,
and the other was a tax collector.
The Pharisee stood
and prayed to himself like this:
‘God, I thank you,
that I am not like the rest of the humans:
extortionists, unrighteous, adulterers,
or even like this tax collector.
I fast twice a week.
I give tithes of all that I get.’
But the tax collector, standing far away,
would not even lift up his eyes to heaven,
but beat his breast, saying,
‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’
I tell you, this man went down
to his house justified
rather than the other;
for everyone who exalts himself
will be humbled,
but he who humbles himself
will be exalted.”
Reading 1 - Hosea 6.1-6
“Come, and let us return to Yahweh;
for he has torn us to pieces,
but he will heal us;
he has injured us,
but he will bind up our wounds.
After two days he will revive us.
On the third day he will raise us up,
and we will live before him.
Let us acknowledge the Lord.
Let us press on to know the Lord.
As surely as the sun rises,
the Lord will appear.
He will come to us like the rain,
like the spring rain that waters the earth.”
Ephraim, what shall I do to you?
Judah, what shall I do to you?
For your love is like a morning cloud,
and like the dew that disappears early.
Therefore I have cut them to pieces with the prophets;
I killed them with the words of my mouth.
For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice;
and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
Responsorial – Psalm 51.3-4, 18-19, 20-21ab Resp. Hosea 6:6
R. For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.
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. For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.
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. For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.
Do well in your good pleasure to Zion.
Build the walls of Jerusalem.
Then you will delight in the sacrifices of righteousness,
in burnt offerings and in holocausts.
R. For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.
Gospel Lk 18:9-14
Jesus spoke this parable
to those who were convinced
of their own righteousness,
and who despised all others.
“Two humans went up
into the temple to pray;
one was a Pharisee,
and the other was a tax collector.
The Pharisee stood
and prayed to himself like this:
‘God, I thank you,
that I am not like the rest of the humans:
extortionists, unrighteous, adulterers,
or even like this tax collector.
I fast twice a week.
I give tithes of all that I get.’
But the tax collector, standing far away,
would not even lift up his eyes to heaven,
but beat his breast, saying,
‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’
I tell you, this man went down
to his house justified
rather than the other;
for everyone who exalts himself
will be humbled,
but he who humbles himself
will be exalted.”
Friday of the Third Week of Lent
Official Translation
Reading 1 - Hosea 14.2-10
Thus says the LORD:
Israel, return to Lord your God;
for you have fallen because of your sin.
Take words with you,
and return to the Lord.
Tell him, “Forgive all our sins,
and accept that which is good:
so we might offer bulls from our stalls.
Assyria cannot save us.
We will not ride on horses;
nor will we say anymore
to the work of our hands, ‘Our gods!’
for in you the fatherless finds mercy.”
“I will heal their waywardness,” says the Lord,
“I will love them freely.
My anger is turned away from them.
I will be like the dew to Israel.
He will blossom like the lily,
and send down his roots like the Lebanon cedar.
His branches will spread,
and his beauty will be like the olive tree,
and his fragrance like the Lebanon cedar.
Men will dwell in his shade.
They will revive like the grain,
and blossom like the vine.
Their fragrance will be like the wine of Lebanon.
Ephraim, what has he to do anymore with idols?
I answer, and will take care of him.
‘I am like a green fir tree’?
from me your fruit is found.”
Who is wise, that he may understand these things?
Who is prudent, that he may know them?
For the ways of the Lord are straight,
and the righteous walk in them;
But the sinners stumble in them.
Responsorial – Psalm 81.6c-8a, 8bc-9, 10-11ab, 14+17 Resp. 11a+9a
R. I am the Lord, your God. Listen to me!
I heard a tongue that I did not know.
“I removed his shoulder from the burden.
His hands were freed from the basket.
You called in trouble, and I delivered you.”
R. I am the Lord, your God. Listen to me!
I answered you with thunder in the secret place.
I tested you at the waters of Meribah.
Hear, my people, and I will testify to you,
Israel, if you would listen to me!
R. I am the Lord, your God. Listen to me!
There shall be no strange god among you,
nor shall you worship any foreign god.
I am the Lord, your God,
who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
R. I am the Lord, your God. Listen to me!
Oh that my people would listen to me,
that Israel would walk in my ways!
I would feed them with the finest of the wheat.
I would satisfy you with honey out of the rock.
R. I am the Lord, your God. Listen to me!
Gospel – Mark 12.28-34
One of the scribes came,
and asked Jesus,
“Which commandment is the first of all?”
Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, Israel,
the Lord our God, is Lord alone:
you shall love the Lord your God
with all your heart,
and with all your soul,
and with all your mind,
and with all your strength.’
This is the first commandment.
The second is like it,
‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
There is no other commandment
greater than these.”
The scribe said to him,
“Truly, teacher,
you have said well that he is one,
and there is none other but he,
and to love him with all the heart,
and with all the understanding,
with all the soul,
and with all the strength,
and to love their neighbor as themself,
is more important than all
whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
When Jesus saw that he answered wisely,
he said to him,
“You are not far from the Kingdom of God.”
No one dared ask him any question after that.
Reading 1 - Hosea 14.2-10
Thus says the LORD:
Israel, return to Lord your God;
for you have fallen because of your sin.
Take words with you,
and return to the Lord.
Tell him, “Forgive all our sins,
and accept that which is good:
so we might offer bulls from our stalls.
Assyria cannot save us.
We will not ride on horses;
nor will we say anymore
to the work of our hands, ‘Our gods!’
for in you the fatherless finds mercy.”
“I will heal their waywardness,” says the Lord,
“I will love them freely.
My anger is turned away from them.
I will be like the dew to Israel.
He will blossom like the lily,
and send down his roots like the Lebanon cedar.
His branches will spread,
and his beauty will be like the olive tree,
and his fragrance like the Lebanon cedar.
Men will dwell in his shade.
They will revive like the grain,
and blossom like the vine.
Their fragrance will be like the wine of Lebanon.
Ephraim, what has he to do anymore with idols?
I answer, and will take care of him.
‘I am like a green fir tree’?
from me your fruit is found.”
Who is wise, that he may understand these things?
Who is prudent, that he may know them?
For the ways of the Lord are straight,
and the righteous walk in them;
But the sinners stumble in them.
Responsorial – Psalm 81.6c-8a, 8bc-9, 10-11ab, 14+17 Resp. 11a+9a
R. I am the Lord, your God. Listen to me!
I heard a tongue that I did not know.
“I removed his shoulder from the burden.
His hands were freed from the basket.
You called in trouble, and I delivered you.”
R. I am the Lord, your God. Listen to me!
I answered you with thunder in the secret place.
I tested you at the waters of Meribah.
Hear, my people, and I will testify to you,
Israel, if you would listen to me!
R. I am the Lord, your God. Listen to me!
There shall be no strange god among you,
nor shall you worship any foreign god.
I am the Lord, your God,
who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
R. I am the Lord, your God. Listen to me!
Oh that my people would listen to me,
that Israel would walk in my ways!
I would feed them with the finest of the wheat.
I would satisfy you with honey out of the rock.
R. I am the Lord, your God. Listen to me!
Gospel – Mark 12.28-34
One of the scribes came,
and asked Jesus,
“Which commandment is the first of all?”
Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, Israel,
the Lord our God, is Lord alone:
you shall love the Lord your God
with all your heart,
and with all your soul,
and with all your mind,
and with all your strength.’
This is the first commandment.
The second is like it,
‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
There is no other commandment
greater than these.”
The scribe said to him,
“Truly, teacher,
you have said well that he is one,
and there is none other but he,
and to love him with all the heart,
and with all the understanding,
with all the soul,
and with all the strength,
and to love their neighbor as themself,
is more important than all
whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
When Jesus saw that he answered wisely,
he said to him,
“You are not far from the Kingdom of God.”
No one dared ask him any question after that.
Thursday of the Third Week of Lent
Official Translation
Reading 1 - Jeremiah 7.23-28
Thus says the LORD:
“This I commanded my people, saying,
‘Listen to my voice, and I will be your God,
and you shall be my people,
and walk in all the way that I command you,
that it may be well with you.’
But they did not listen nor turn their ear,
but walked in their own counsels
and in the stubbornness of their evil heart,
and went backward, and not forward.
Since the day that your fathers
came out of the land of Egypt to this day,
I have sent to you all my servants the prophets,
daily rising up early and sending them:
yet they did not listen to me,
nor inclined their ear,
but made their neck stiff:
they did worse than their fathers.
You shall speak all these words to them,
but they will not listen to you;
you shall also call to them,
but they will not answer you.
You shall tell them,
‘This is the nation
that has not listened to the voice
of the Lord their God,
nor received instruction.
Faithfulness has perished,
and is cut off from their mouth.’”
Responsorial – Psalm 95.1-2, 6-7, 7-9 Resp. 8
R. Today, if you would hear his voice, harden not your heart.
Oh come, let us sing to the Lord.
Let us shout aloud to the rock of our salvation!
Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving.
Let us extol him with songs!
R. Today, if you would hear his voice, harden not your heart.
Come, let us worship and bow down.
Let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker,
for he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep in his care.
R. Today, if you would hear his voice, harden not your heart.
Today, oh that you would hear his voice!
Do not harden your heart, as at Meribah,
as in the day of Massah in the wilderness,
when your fathers tempted me,
they tested me though they saw my works.
R. Today, if you would hear his voice, harden not your heart.
Gospel – Luke 11.14-23
Jesus was casting out
a demon that was mute.
When the demon had gone out,
the mute man spoke;
and the crowds marveled.
But some of them said,
“He casts out demons through Beelzebul,
the prince of the demons.”
Others, testing him,
sought from him a sign from heaven.
But he, knowing their thoughts,
said to them,
“Every kingdom divided against itself
is brought to desolation.
A house divided against itself falls.
If Satan also is divided against himself,
how will his kingdom stand?
For you say that I cast out demons through Beelzebul,
but if I cast out demons through Beelzebul,
by whom do your sons cast them out?
Therefore they will be your judges.
But if by the finger of God
I cast out demons,
then the Kingdom of God has come to you.
When the strong one,
fully armed, guards his own dwelling,
his goods are at peace.
But when someone stronger
attacks him and overcomes him,
he takes from him his whole armor
on which he depended
and divides his plunder.
The one that is not with me is against me.
The one who does not gather with me scatters.”
Reading 1 - Jeremiah 7.23-28
Thus says the LORD:
“This I commanded my people, saying,
‘Listen to my voice, and I will be your God,
and you shall be my people,
and walk in all the way that I command you,
that it may be well with you.’
But they did not listen nor turn their ear,
but walked in their own counsels
and in the stubbornness of their evil heart,
and went backward, and not forward.
Since the day that your fathers
came out of the land of Egypt to this day,
I have sent to you all my servants the prophets,
daily rising up early and sending them:
yet they did not listen to me,
nor inclined their ear,
but made their neck stiff:
they did worse than their fathers.
You shall speak all these words to them,
but they will not listen to you;
you shall also call to them,
but they will not answer you.
You shall tell them,
‘This is the nation
that has not listened to the voice
of the Lord their God,
nor received instruction.
Faithfulness has perished,
and is cut off from their mouth.’”
Responsorial – Psalm 95.1-2, 6-7, 7-9 Resp. 8
R. Today, if you would hear his voice, harden not your heart.
Oh come, let us sing to the Lord.
Let us shout aloud to the rock of our salvation!
Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving.
Let us extol him with songs!
R. Today, if you would hear his voice, harden not your heart.
Come, let us worship and bow down.
Let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker,
for he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep in his care.
R. Today, if you would hear his voice, harden not your heart.
Today, oh that you would hear his voice!
Do not harden your heart, as at Meribah,
as in the day of Massah in the wilderness,
when your fathers tempted me,
they tested me though they saw my works.
R. Today, if you would hear his voice, harden not your heart.
Gospel – Luke 11.14-23
Jesus was casting out
a demon that was mute.
When the demon had gone out,
the mute man spoke;
and the crowds marveled.
But some of them said,
“He casts out demons through Beelzebul,
the prince of the demons.”
Others, testing him,
sought from him a sign from heaven.
But he, knowing their thoughts,
said to them,
“Every kingdom divided against itself
is brought to desolation.
A house divided against itself falls.
If Satan also is divided against himself,
how will his kingdom stand?
For you say that I cast out demons through Beelzebul,
but if I cast out demons through Beelzebul,
by whom do your sons cast them out?
Therefore they will be your judges.
But if by the finger of God
I cast out demons,
then the Kingdom of God has come to you.
When the strong one,
fully armed, guards his own dwelling,
his goods are at peace.
But when someone stronger
attacks him and overcomes him,
he takes from him his whole armor
on which he depended
and divides his plunder.
The one that is not with me is against me.
The one who does not gather with me scatters.”
Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent
Official Translation
Reading 1 - Deuteronomy 4:1, 5-9
Moses spoke to the people and said:
“Now, Israel, listen
to the statutes and to the ordinances,
which I teach you to do;
that you may live and go in
and possess the land
which the Lord, the God of your fathers,
gives you.
Behold, I have taught you
statutes and ordinances,
even as the Lord my God
commanded me,
that you should do so in the land
which you go to possess.
Keep therefore and do them;
for this is your wisdom
and your understanding
in the sight of the peoples,
who shall hear all these statutes, and say,
‘Surely this great nation is
a wise and understanding people.’
For what great nation is there,
that has a god so near to them,
as the Lord our God is to us
whenever we call on him?
What great nation is there
that has statutes and ordinances
as righteous as all this law,
which I set before you this day?
But be careful
and keep your soul diligently,
lest you forget the things
which your eyes saw,
and lest they depart from your heart
all the days of your life;
but make them known to your children
and your children’s children.”
Responsorial – Psalm 147.12-13, 15-16, 19-20 Resp. 12a
R. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem!
Praise the Lord, Jerusalem!
Praise your God, Zion!
For he has strengthened the bars of your gates.
He has blessed your children within you.
R. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem!
He sends out his commandment to the earth.
His word runs very swiftly.
He spreads snow out like wool;
he scatters the frost like ashes.
R. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem!
He shows his word to Jacob;
his statutes and his ordinances to Israel.
He has not done this for any other nation.
They do not know his ordinances.
R. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem!
Gospel – Matthew 5.17-19
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Do not think that
I came to destroy
the law or the prophets.
I came not to destroy but to fulfill.
For most certainly, I tell you,
until heaven and earth pass away,
not even one iota or one comma
shall in any way pass away from the law,
until all things are accomplished.
Whoever, therefore, shall break
one of these least commandments
and teach others to do so,
shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven;
but whoever shall do and teach them
shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Reading 1 - Deuteronomy 4:1, 5-9
Moses spoke to the people and said:
“Now, Israel, listen
to the statutes and to the ordinances,
which I teach you to do;
that you may live and go in
and possess the land
which the Lord, the God of your fathers,
gives you.
Behold, I have taught you
statutes and ordinances,
even as the Lord my God
commanded me,
that you should do so in the land
which you go to possess.
Keep therefore and do them;
for this is your wisdom
and your understanding
in the sight of the peoples,
who shall hear all these statutes, and say,
‘Surely this great nation is
a wise and understanding people.’
For what great nation is there,
that has a god so near to them,
as the Lord our God is to us
whenever we call on him?
What great nation is there
that has statutes and ordinances
as righteous as all this law,
which I set before you this day?
But be careful
and keep your soul diligently,
lest you forget the things
which your eyes saw,
and lest they depart from your heart
all the days of your life;
but make them known to your children
and your children’s children.”
Responsorial – Psalm 147.12-13, 15-16, 19-20 Resp. 12a
R. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem!
Praise the Lord, Jerusalem!
Praise your God, Zion!
For he has strengthened the bars of your gates.
He has blessed your children within you.
R. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem!
He sends out his commandment to the earth.
His word runs very swiftly.
He spreads snow out like wool;
he scatters the frost like ashes.
R. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem!
He shows his word to Jacob;
his statutes and his ordinances to Israel.
He has not done this for any other nation.
They do not know his ordinances.
R. Praise the Lord, Jerusalem!
Gospel – Matthew 5.17-19
Jesus said to his disciples:
“Do not think that
I came to destroy
the law or the prophets.
I came not to destroy but to fulfill.
For most certainly, I tell you,
until heaven and earth pass away,
not even one iota or one comma
shall in any way pass away from the law,
until all things are accomplished.
Whoever, therefore, shall break
one of these least commandments
and teach others to do so,
shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven;
but whoever shall do and teach them
shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Tuesday of the Third Week of Lent
Official Translation
Reading 1 – Daniel 3.25, 34-43
Then Azariah stood up and prayed in this way;
and opening his mouth
in the middle of the fire, he said,
“Yet do not deliver us up completely,
for the sake of your name,
nor completely annul your covenant.
And do not cause your mercy to depart from us,
for the sake of your beloved Abraham,
for the sake of your servant Isaac,
and for the sake of your holy Israel,
to whom you have spoken and promised
that you would multiply their seed
as the stars of heaven
and as the sand which lies upon the seashore.
For we, O Lord, have become less than any nation
and are oppressed this day in all the world
because of our sins.
Nor is there at this time any prince, prophet, or leader,
any burnt offering or sacrifice, oblation or incense,
or place to sacrifice before you in order to find mercy.
Nevertheless, with a contrite heart and a humble spirit,
let us be accepted.
Just as in the burnt offerings of rams and bullocks,
and just as in myriads of fat lambs,
so let it be with our sacrifice in your sight this day;
and grant that we may completely follow you,
for those who put their trust in you
shall not be dismayed.
And now we follow you with all our heart;
we fear you and seek your face.
Do not put us to shame,
but deal with us according to your loving kindness
and according to the multitude of your mercies.
Deliver us also according to your marvelous works
and give glory to your name, O Lord.”
Responsorial – Psalm 25.4-5ab, 6+7bc, 8-9 Resp. 6a
R. Lord, remember your tender mercies.
Show me your ways, O Lord.
Teach me your paths.
Guide me in your truth, and teach me,
For you are the God of my salvation,
R. Lord, remember your tender mercies.
Lord, remember your tender mercies
and your loving kindness, they are from of old.
Remember me according to your loving kindness,
for your goodness’ sake, O Lord.
R. Lord, remember your tender mercies.
Good and upright is the Lord,
therefore he will instruct sinners in the way.
He will guide the humble in justice.
He will teach the humble his way.
R. Lord, remember your tender mercies.
Gospel – Matthew 18.21-35
Then Peter came and said to him,
“Lord, how often should I forgive
my brother when he sins against me?
Even seven times?”
Jesus said to him,
“I do not tell you ‘even seven times’,
but, even seventy times seven.
Therefore the Kingdom of Heaven is like a king,
who wanted to reconcile accounts
with his servants.
When he had begun to reconcile,
one was brought to him who owed him
ten thousand talents.
But because he could not pay,
his lord commanded him to be sold,
with his wife, his children, and all that he had,
and payment be made.
The servant therefore fell down
and kneeled before him, saying,
‘Lord, have patience with me,
and I will repay you all!’
The lord of that servant,
being moved with compassion,
released him and forgave him the debt.
But that servant went out,
and found one of his fellow servants,
who owed him one hundred denarii,
and he grabbed him, and took him by the throat,
saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’
So his fellow servant fell down at his feet
and begged him, saying,
‘Have patience with me, and I will repay you!’
He would not but went and cast him into prison,
until he should pay back what was due.
So when his fellow servants saw what had happened,
they were exceedingly upset,
and came and told their lord all that had happened.
So his lord called him in, and said to him,
‘You wicked servant!
I forgave you all that debt because you begged me.
Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow servant,
even as I had mercy on you?’
His lord was angry and delivered him to the tormentors,
until he should pay all that was due to him.
So my heavenly Father will do to you as well,
if each of you does not forgive their brother or sister
from your heart.”
Reading 1 – Daniel 3.25, 34-43
Then Azariah stood up and prayed in this way;
and opening his mouth
in the middle of the fire, he said,
“Yet do not deliver us up completely,
for the sake of your name,
nor completely annul your covenant.
And do not cause your mercy to depart from us,
for the sake of your beloved Abraham,
for the sake of your servant Isaac,
and for the sake of your holy Israel,
to whom you have spoken and promised
that you would multiply their seed
as the stars of heaven
and as the sand which lies upon the seashore.
For we, O Lord, have become less than any nation
and are oppressed this day in all the world
because of our sins.
Nor is there at this time any prince, prophet, or leader,
any burnt offering or sacrifice, oblation or incense,
or place to sacrifice before you in order to find mercy.
Nevertheless, with a contrite heart and a humble spirit,
let us be accepted.
Just as in the burnt offerings of rams and bullocks,
and just as in myriads of fat lambs,
so let it be with our sacrifice in your sight this day;
and grant that we may completely follow you,
for those who put their trust in you
shall not be dismayed.
And now we follow you with all our heart;
we fear you and seek your face.
Do not put us to shame,
but deal with us according to your loving kindness
and according to the multitude of your mercies.
Deliver us also according to your marvelous works
and give glory to your name, O Lord.”
Responsorial – Psalm 25.4-5ab, 6+7bc, 8-9 Resp. 6a
R. Lord, remember your tender mercies.
Show me your ways, O Lord.
Teach me your paths.
Guide me in your truth, and teach me,
For you are the God of my salvation,
R. Lord, remember your tender mercies.
Lord, remember your tender mercies
and your loving kindness, they are from of old.
Remember me according to your loving kindness,
for your goodness’ sake, O Lord.
R. Lord, remember your tender mercies.
Good and upright is the Lord,
therefore he will instruct sinners in the way.
He will guide the humble in justice.
He will teach the humble his way.
R. Lord, remember your tender mercies.
Gospel – Matthew 18.21-35
Then Peter came and said to him,
“Lord, how often should I forgive
my brother when he sins against me?
Even seven times?”
Jesus said to him,
“I do not tell you ‘even seven times’,
but, even seventy times seven.
Therefore the Kingdom of Heaven is like a king,
who wanted to reconcile accounts
with his servants.
When he had begun to reconcile,
one was brought to him who owed him
ten thousand talents.
But because he could not pay,
his lord commanded him to be sold,
with his wife, his children, and all that he had,
and payment be made.
The servant therefore fell down
and kneeled before him, saying,
‘Lord, have patience with me,
and I will repay you all!’
The lord of that servant,
being moved with compassion,
released him and forgave him the debt.
But that servant went out,
and found one of his fellow servants,
who owed him one hundred denarii,
and he grabbed him, and took him by the throat,
saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’
So his fellow servant fell down at his feet
and begged him, saying,
‘Have patience with me, and I will repay you!’
He would not but went and cast him into prison,
until he should pay back what was due.
So when his fellow servants saw what had happened,
they were exceedingly upset,
and came and told their lord all that had happened.
So his lord called him in, and said to him,
‘You wicked servant!
I forgave you all that debt because you begged me.
Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow servant,
even as I had mercy on you?’
His lord was angry and delivered him to the tormentors,
until he should pay all that was due to him.
So my heavenly Father will do to you as well,
if each of you does not forgive their brother or sister
from your heart.”
Monday of the Third Week of Lent
Official Translation
Reading 1 – 2 Kings 5.1-15ab
Naaman, captain of the army of the king of Aram,
was a great man with his master and honorable,
because by him the Lord had given victory to Aram.
He was a mighty man of valor, but also a leper.
The Arameans had gone out in bands,
and had brought away captive
out of the land of Israel
a little girl and she waited on Naaman's wife.
She said to her mistress,
“Would that my master
were with the prophet who is in Samaria!
Then he would recover from his leprosy.
Naaman went in, and told his master, saying,
“‘Thus and so’ said the maiden who is of the land of Israel.
The king of Aram said,
“Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.”
He departed and took with him
ten talents of silver
and six thousand pieces of gold,
and ten changes of clothing.
He brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying,
“Now when this letter is come to you,
behold, I have sent Naaman my servant to you,
that you may cure him of his leprosy.”
When the king of Israel had read the letter,
he tore his clothes and said,
“Am I God, to kill and to make alive,
that this man sends a man to me to cure him of his leprosy?
Consider, I ask you, and see how he seeks a quarrel against me.”
When Elisha the man of God heard
that the king of Israel had torn his clothes,
he sent to the king, saying,
“Why have you torn your clothes?
Let him come now to me,
and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.”
So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariots
and stood at the door of the house of Elisha.
Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying,
“Go and wash in the Jordan seven times,
and your flesh shall return to you,
and you shall be clean.”
But Naaman was angry, and went away, and said,
“Behold, I thought, ‘He will surely come out to me,
and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God,
and wave his hand over the place
and cure the leprosy.’
Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus,
better than all the waters of Israel?
May I not wash in them and be clean?”
So he turned and went away in a rage.
His servants came near,
and spoke to him and said,
“My father, if the prophet had asked you
to do some great thing, would you not have done it?
How much more then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean?’”
So he went down, and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan,
according to the saying of the man of God;
and his flesh returned like the flesh of a little child,
and he was clean.
He returned to the man of God,
he and all his company,
and came, and stood before him;
and he said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel.”
Responsorial – Psalm 42.2, 3; 43.3, 4 Resp. 42.3
R. My soul thirsts for the living God. When shall I come to see the face of God?
As the deer pants for the water brooks,
so my soul pants after you, God.
R. My soul thirsts for the living God. When shall I come to see the face of God?
My soul thirsts for God, the living God.
When shall I come to see the face of God?
R. My soul thirsts for the living God. When shall I come to see the face of God?
O send out your light and your truth.
Let them lead me.
Let them bring me to your holy mountain,
to your dwelling.
R. My soul thirsts for the living God. When shall I come to see the face of God?
Then I will go to the altar of God,
to God, my exceeding joy.
I will praise you on the harp,
O God, my God.
R. My soul thirsts for the living God. When shall I come to see the face of God?
Gospel – Luke 4.24-30
Jesus said to the people in the synagogue at Nazareth:
“Amen I say to you,
no prophet is acceptable in his hometown.
Truly I tell you,
there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah,
when the sky was shut up three and a half years,
when a great famine came over all the land.
Elijah was sent to none of them, but rather to Zarephath,
in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.
And there were many lepers in Israel
in the time of Elisha the prophet,
yet not one of them was cleansed,
but rather Naaman, the Syrian.”
Those in the synagogue were all filled with wrath
when they heard these things.
They rose up, threw him out of the city
and led him to the brow of the hill
that their city was built on,
that they might throw him off the cliff.
But he, passing through the midst of them, went his way.
Reading 1 – 2 Kings 5.1-15ab
Naaman, captain of the army of the king of Aram,
was a great man with his master and honorable,
because by him the Lord had given victory to Aram.
He was a mighty man of valor, but also a leper.
The Arameans had gone out in bands,
and had brought away captive
out of the land of Israel
a little girl and she waited on Naaman's wife.
She said to her mistress,
“Would that my master
were with the prophet who is in Samaria!
Then he would recover from his leprosy.
Naaman went in, and told his master, saying,
“‘Thus and so’ said the maiden who is of the land of Israel.
The king of Aram said,
“Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.”
He departed and took with him
ten talents of silver
and six thousand pieces of gold,
and ten changes of clothing.
He brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying,
“Now when this letter is come to you,
behold, I have sent Naaman my servant to you,
that you may cure him of his leprosy.”
When the king of Israel had read the letter,
he tore his clothes and said,
“Am I God, to kill and to make alive,
that this man sends a man to me to cure him of his leprosy?
Consider, I ask you, and see how he seeks a quarrel against me.”
When Elisha the man of God heard
that the king of Israel had torn his clothes,
he sent to the king, saying,
“Why have you torn your clothes?
Let him come now to me,
and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.”
So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariots
and stood at the door of the house of Elisha.
Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying,
“Go and wash in the Jordan seven times,
and your flesh shall return to you,
and you shall be clean.”
But Naaman was angry, and went away, and said,
“Behold, I thought, ‘He will surely come out to me,
and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God,
and wave his hand over the place
and cure the leprosy.’
Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus,
better than all the waters of Israel?
May I not wash in them and be clean?”
So he turned and went away in a rage.
His servants came near,
and spoke to him and said,
“My father, if the prophet had asked you
to do some great thing, would you not have done it?
How much more then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean?’”
So he went down, and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan,
according to the saying of the man of God;
and his flesh returned like the flesh of a little child,
and he was clean.
He returned to the man of God,
he and all his company,
and came, and stood before him;
and he said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel.”
Responsorial – Psalm 42.2, 3; 43.3, 4 Resp. 42.3
R. My soul thirsts for the living God. When shall I come to see the face of God?
As the deer pants for the water brooks,
so my soul pants after you, God.
R. My soul thirsts for the living God. When shall I come to see the face of God?
My soul thirsts for God, the living God.
When shall I come to see the face of God?
R. My soul thirsts for the living God. When shall I come to see the face of God?
O send out your light and your truth.
Let them lead me.
Let them bring me to your holy mountain,
to your dwelling.
R. My soul thirsts for the living God. When shall I come to see the face of God?
Then I will go to the altar of God,
to God, my exceeding joy.
I will praise you on the harp,
O God, my God.
R. My soul thirsts for the living God. When shall I come to see the face of God?
Gospel – Luke 4.24-30
Jesus said to the people in the synagogue at Nazareth:
“Amen I say to you,
no prophet is acceptable in his hometown.
Truly I tell you,
there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah,
when the sky was shut up three and a half years,
when a great famine came over all the land.
Elijah was sent to none of them, but rather to Zarephath,
in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.
And there were many lepers in Israel
in the time of Elisha the prophet,
yet not one of them was cleansed,
but rather Naaman, the Syrian.”
Those in the synagogue were all filled with wrath
when they heard these things.
They rose up, threw him out of the city
and led him to the brow of the hill
that their city was built on,
that they might throw him off the cliff.
But he, passing through the midst of them, went his way.
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