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.

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 - Luke 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.

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.”

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.

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.”

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.

Third Sunday of Lent (C)

Official Translation

Reading 1 – Exodus 3.1-8a, 13-15

Now Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian,
and he led the flock to the west of the wilderness and came to God's mountain, to Horeb.
The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush.
He looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.
Moses said, “I will turn aside now, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.”
When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see,
God called to him out of the midst of the bush, and said, "Moses! Moses!" He said, "Here I am."
He said, “Do not come close.
Take your sandals off of your feet, for the place you are standing on is holy ground.”
Moreover he said, “I am the God of your father,
the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”
Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
The Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt,
and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows.
I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians,
and to bring them up out of that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey.”

Moses said to God, “Behold, when I come to the children of Israel,
and tell them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you;’
and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ What should I tell them?”
God said to Moses, "I AM WHO AM,”
and he said, "You shall tell the children of Israel this: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
God also said to Moses, “You shall tell the children of Israel this:
‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,
has sent me to you.’
This is my name forever, and this is my memorial to all generations.

Responsorial – Psalm 103.1-2, 3-4, 6-7, 11 Resp. 8a

R. The Lord is merciful and gracious.

Praise The Lord, my soul!
All that is within me, praise his holy name!
Praise The Lord, my soul,
and forget not all his benefits.

R. The Lord is merciful and gracious.

He forgives all your sins;
he heals all your diseases;
he redeems your life from destruction;
he crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies.

R. The Lord is merciful and gracious.

The Lord brings about righteousness,
and justice for all who are oppressed.
He made known his ways to Moses,
his deeds to the children of Israel.

R. The Lord is merciful and gracious.

The Lord is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger, and abounding in loving kindness.
For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so great is his loving kindness toward those who fear him.

R. The Lord is merciful and gracious.

Reading 2 – 1 Corinthians 10.1-6, 10-12

I would not have you ignorant, brothers and sisters, that our fathers were all under the cloud,
and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea,
and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink.
For they drank of a spiritual rock that followed them,
and the rock was Christ.
However with most of them, God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
Now these things were our examples, so that we should not desire evil, as they desired.

Do not grumble, as some of them also grumbled, and perished by the destroyer.
Now all these things happened to them by way of example,
and they were written for our admonition,
on whom the ends of the ages have come.
Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.

Gospel – Luke 13.1-9

Now there were some present at that time who told him
about the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.
Jesus answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans
were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered such things?
I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all perish in the same way.
Or those eighteen, on whom the tower in Siloam fell, and killed them,
do you think that they were worse offenders than all the men who dwell in Jerusalem?
I tell you, no, but, unless you repent, you will all perish in the same way.”

He spoke this parable.
“Someone had a fig tree planted in his vineyard,
and he came seeking fruit on it, and found none.
He said to the vine dresser,
‘Behold, these three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and found none.
Cut it down. Why should it waste the soil?’
He answered, ‘Lord, leave it alone this year also,
until I dig around it, and fertilize it.
If it bears fruit, fine, but if not, after that, you can cut it down.’”

Saturday of the Second Week of Lent

Official Translation

Reading 1 - Micah 7.14-15, 18-20

Shepherd your people with your staff,
the flock of your heritage,
who dwell by themselves in a forest,
in the middle of Carmel.
Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead,
as in the days of old.
As in the days of your coming out of the land of Egypt,
show us marvelous things.

Who is like you, O God,
who pardons iniquity,
and passes over the disobedience
of the remnant of his heritage,
who does not retain his anger forever,
because he delights in loving kindness,
who will again have compassion on us,
who will tread our iniquities under foot?

You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.
You will give truth to Jacob,
and mercy to Abraham,
as you have sworn to our fathers
from the days of old.

Responsorial – Psalm 103.1-2, 3-4, 9-10, 11-12 Resp. 8a

R. The Lord is merciful and gracious.

Praise The Lord, my soul!
All that is within me, praise his holy name!
Praise The Lord, my soul,
and forget not all his benefits.

R. The Lord is merciful and gracious.

He forgives all your sins;
he heals all your diseases;
he redeems your life from destruction;
he crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies.

R. The Lord is merciful and gracious.

He will not always accuse;
nor will he stay angry forever.
He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
nor repaid us according to our guilt.

R. The Lord is merciful and gracious.

For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so great is his loving kindness toward those who fear him.
As far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

R. The Lord is merciful and gracious.

Gospel – Luke 15.1-3, 11-32

Now the tax collectors and sinners, draw near to Jesus, heard him,
and the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying,
“This man welcomes sinners, and eats with them.”
So he told them this parable, saying:

“There was a human who had two sons.
The younger of them said to his father,
‘Father, give me my share of your property.’
He divided his life between them.
Not many days after,
the younger son gathered all of this together
and traveled into a far country.
There he wasted his property with careless living.

When he had spent all of it,
there arose a severe famine in that country,
and he began to be in need.
He went and joined himself
to one of the citizens of that country,
who sent him into his fields to feed pigs.
He longed to fill his belly
with the carob-pods that the pigs ate,
but no one gave him any.

But when he came to himself he said,
‘How many hired servants of my father
have bread enough to spare,
and I am dying with hunger!
I will get up and go to my father,
and will tell him,
“Father, I have sinned
against heaven and in your sight.
I am no longer worthy to be called your son.
Make me as one of your hired servants.”’

He arose, and came to his father.
But while he was still far off,
his father saw him
and was moved with compassion,
and ran and hugged his neck and kissed him.
The son said to him,
‘Father, I have sinned against heaven,
and in your sight.
I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
“But the father said to his servants,
‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him.
Put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet.
Bring the fattened calf, kill it,
and let us eat and celebrate;
for this, my son, was dead, and is alive again.
He was lost, and is found.’
They began to celebrate.

Now his elder son was in the field.
As he came near to the house,
he heard music and dancing.
He called one of the servants to him,
and asked what was going on.
He said to him, ‘Your brother has come,
and your father has killed the fattened calf,
because he has received him back safe and healthy.’
But he was angry, and would not go in.

Therefore his father came out, and begged him.
But he answered his father,
‘Behold, these many years I have served you,
and I never disobeyed a commandment of yours,
but you never gave me a goat,
that I might celebrate with my friends.
But when this, your son, came,
who has devoured your living with prostitutes,
you killed the fattened calf for him.’
He said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me,
and all that is mine is yours.
But it was fitting to celebrate and be glad,
for this, your brother, was dead, and is alive again.
He was lost, and is found.’”

Friday of the Second Week in Lent

Official Translation

Reading 1 - Genesis 37.3-4, 12-13a, 17b-28a

Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons,
because he was the son of his old age,
and he made him a coat of many colors.
His brothers saw that their father loved him
more than all his brothers,
and they hated him
and could not speak peaceably to him.

His brothers went to feed
their father’s flock in Shechem.
Israel said to Joseph,
“Your brothers are feeding the flock in Shechem,
are they not?
Come, and I will send you to them.”

Joseph went after his brothers,
and found them in Dothan.
They saw him a ways off,
and before he came near to them,
they conspired against him to kill him.
They said to one another,
“Behold, this dreamer comes.
Come now therefore,
and let us kill him,
and cast him into one of the pits,
and we will say, ‘An evil animal has devoured him.’
We will see what will become of his dreams.”

Reuben heard it
and delivered him out of their hand,
and said, “Let us not take his life.”
Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood.
Throw him into this pit that is in the wilderness,
but lay no hand on him”
—that he might deliver him out of their hand,
to restore him to his father.
When Joseph came to his brothers,
they stripped Joseph of his coat,
the coat of many colors that was on him;
and they took him, and threw him into the pit.
The pit was empty. There was no water in it.

They sat down to eat bread,
and they lifted up their eyes and looked,
and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites
was coming from Gilead,
with their camels bearing
spices and balm and myrrh,
going to carry it down to Egypt.
Judah said to his brothers,
“What profit is it
if we kill our brother and conceal his blood?
Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites,
and not let our hand be on him;
for he is our brother, our flesh.”
His brothers listened to him.

They sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites
for twenty pieces of silver.

Responsorial – Psalm 105.16-17, 18-19, 20-21 Resp. 5a

R. Remember his marvelous works, that the Lord has done.

The Lord called for a famine on the land.
He destroyed the food supplies.
He sent a man before them.
Joseph was sold for a slave.

R. Remember his marvelous works, that the Lord has done.

They bruised his feet with shackles.
His neck was locked in irons,
until the time that his word came to pass,
and the Lord’s word proved him true.

R. Remember his marvelous works, that the Lord has done.

The king sent and freed him;
even the ruler of peoples let him go free.
He made him lord of his house,
and ruler of all of his possessions;

R. Remember his marvelous works, that the Lord has done.

Gospel – Matthew 21.33-43, 45-46

Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people:
“Hear another parable.
There was a human, a master of a household,
who planted a vineyard,
set a hedge about it,
dug a wine press in it,
built a tower,
leased it out to farmers,
and went into another country.
When the season for the fruit drew near,
he sent his servants to the farmers,
to receive his fruit.
The farmers took his servants,
beat one, killed another, and stoned another.
Again, he sent other servants
more than the first:
and they treated them the same way.

Finally, he sent to them his son, saying,
‘They will respect my son.’
But the farmers, when they saw the son,
said among themselves, ‘This is the heir.
Come, let us kill him, and seize his inheritance.’
So they took him,
and threw him out of the vineyard,
and killed him.
When therefore the lord of the vineyard comes,
what will he do to those farmers?”

They told him,
“He will miserably destroy those miserables,
and will lease out the vineyard
to other farmers,
who will give him the fruit in its season.”
Jesus said to them,
“Did you never read in the Scriptures,

‘The stone which the builders rejected,
Has become the cornerstone.
This was done by the Lord.
It is marvelous in our eyes?’

“Therefore I tell you,
the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you,
and will be given to a nation producing its fruit.

When the chief priests and the Pharisees
heard his parables,
they perceived that he spoke about them.
When they sought to seize him,
they feared the crowds,
because they held him to be a prophet.