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.’”