Friday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time (II)

Official Translation

Reading 1 – Amos 8.4-6, 9-12

Hear this, you who desire to swallow up the needy,
and cause the poor of the land to fail,
Saying, ‘When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell grain?
And the Sabbath, that we may market wheat,
making the ephah small, and the shekel large,
and dealing falsely with balances of deceit;
that we may buy the poor for silver,
and the needy for a pair of shoes,
and sell the sweepings with the wheat?’”

It will happen on that day,” says the Lord God,
“that I will cause the sun to go down at noon,
and I will darken the earth on the clear day.
I will turn your feasts into mourning,
and all your songs into lamentation;
and I will make you wear sackcloth on all your bodies,
and baldness on every head.
I will make it like the mourning for an only son,
and its end like a bitter day.

Behold, the days come,” says the Lord God,
“that I will send a famine in the land,
not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water,
but of hearing the word of the Lord.
They will wander from sea to sea,
and from the north even to the east;
they will run back and forth to seek the Lord’s word,
and will not find it.

Responsorial – Psalm 119.2, 10, 20, 30, 40, 131 Resp. Matthew 4.4

R. Not by bread alone does the human live, but by all the words that proceed out of the mouth of God.

Blessed are those who keep his statutes,
who seek him with their whole heart.

R. Not by bread alone does the human live, but by all the words that proceed out of the mouth of God.

With my whole heart, I have sought you.
Do not let me wander from your commandments.

R. Not by bread alone does the human live, but by all the words that proceed out of the mouth of God.

My soul is consumed with longing
for your ordinances at all times.

R. Not by bread alone does the human live, but by all the words that proceed out of the mouth of God.

I have chosen the way of truth.
I have set your ordinances before me.

R. Not by bread alone does the human live, but by all the words that proceed out of the mouth of God.

Behold, I long for your precepts!
Revive me in your righteousness.

R. Not by bread alone does the human live, but by all the words that proceed out of the mouth of God.

I opened my mouth wide and panted,
for I longed for your commandments.

R. Not by bread alone does the human live, but by all the words that proceed out of the mouth of God.

Gospel – Matthew 9.9-13

As Jesus passed by, he saw a human called Matthew
sitting at the tax collection office.
He said to him, “Follow me.”
He got up and followed him.

As he sat in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners
came and sat down with Jesus and his disciples.
When the Pharisees saw it, they said to his disciples,
“Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
When Jesus heard it, he said to them,
“Those who are healthy have no need for a physician,
but those who are sick do.
But you go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’
for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”