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.