First Reading

The Book of Nahum (Na 2: 1, 3 ; 3: 1-3, 6-7)

Woe to the bloody city.

See, upon the mountains there advances
the bearer of good news,
announcing peace!
Celebrate your feasts, O Judah,
fulfill your vows!
For nevermore shall you be invaded
by the scoundrel; he is completely destroyed.
The LORD will restore the vine of Jacob,
the pride of Israel,
Though ravagers have ravaged them
and ruined the tendrils. Woe to the bloody city, all lies,
full of plunder, whose looting never stops!
The crack of the whip, the rumbling sounds of wheels;
horses a-gallop, chariots bounding,
Cavalry charging, the flame of the sword, the flash of the spear,
the many slain, the heaping corpses,
the endless bodies to stumble upon!
I will cast filth upon you,
disgrace you and put you to shame;
Till everyone who sees you runs from you, saying,

“Nineveh is destroyed; who can pity her?
Where can one find any to console her?”

— The word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm

Deuteronomy 32: 35cd-36ab, 39abcd, 41

It is I who deal death and give life.

Close at hand is the day of their disaster,
and their doom is rushing upon them!
Surely, the LORD shall do justice for his people;
on his servants he shall have pity.

“Learn then that I, I alone, am God,
and there is no god besides me.
It is I who bring both death and life,
I who inflict wounds and heal them.”

I will sharpen my flashing sword,
and my hand shall lay hold of my quiver,
“With vengeance I will repay my foes
and requite those who hate me.”

Gospel

Alleluia, alleluia.

Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness; for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.

Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew (Mt 16: 24-28)

What can one give in exchange for his life?

Jesus said to his disciples,

“Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself,
take up his cross, and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world
and forfeit his life?
Or what can one give in exchange for his life?
For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father’s glory,
and then he will repay each according to his conduct.
Amen, I say to you, there are some standing here
who will not taste death
until they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom.”

— The Gospel of the Lord.

First Reading

The Book of Jeremiah (Jer 31: 1-7)

With age-old love I have loved you.

At that time, says the LORD,
I will be the God of all the tribes of Israel,
and they shall be my people.
Thus says the LORD:
The people that escaped the sword
have found favor in the desert.
As Israel comes forward to be given his rest,
the LORD appears to him from afar:
With age-old love I have loved you;
so I have kept my mercy toward you.
Again I will restore you, and you shall be rebuilt,
O virgin Israel;
Carrying your festive tambourines,
you shall go forth dancing with the merrymakers.
Again you shall plant vineyards
on the mountains of Samaria;
those who plant them shall enjoy the fruits.
Yes, a day will come when the watchmen
will call out on Mount Ephraim:

“Rise up, let us go to Zion,
to the LORD, our God.”

For thus says the LORD:
Shout with joy for Jacob,
exult at the head of the nations;
proclaim your praise and say:
The LORD has delivered his people,
the remnant of Israel.

— The word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm

Jer 31: 10, 11-12ab, 13

The Lord will guard us as a shepherd guards his flock.

Hear the word of the LORD, O nations,
proclaim it on distant isles, and say:
He who scattered Israel, now gathers them together,
he guards them as a shepherd his flock.

The LORD shall ransom Jacob,
he shall redeem him from the hand of his conqueror.
Shouting, they shall mount the heights of Zion,
they shall come streaming to the LORD’s blessings.

Then the virgins shall make merry and dance,
and young men and old as well.
I will turn their mourning into joy.
I will console and gladden them after their sorrows.

Gospel

Alleluia, alleluia.

A great prophet has arisen in our midst and God has visited his people.

Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew (Mt 15: 21-28)

O woman, great is your faith!

At that time Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon.
And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out,

“Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David!
My daughter is tormented by a demon.”

But he did not say a word in answer to her.
His disciples came and asked him,

“Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.”

He said in reply,

“I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

But the woman came and did him homage, saying,

“Lord, help me.”

He said in reply,

“It is not right to take the food of the children
and throw it to the dogs.”

She said,

“Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps
that fall from the table of their masters.”

Then Jesus said to her in reply,

“O woman, great is your faith!
Let it be done for you as you wish.”

And her daughter was healed from that hour.

— The Gospel of the Lord.

First Reading

The Book of Jeremiah (Jer 28: 1-17)

Hananiah! The LORD has not sent you, and you have raised false confidence in this people.

In the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah,
in the fifth month of the fourth year,
the prophet Hananiah, son of Azzur, from Gibeon,
said to me in the house of the LORD
in the presence of the priests and all the people:

“Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel:
‘I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.
Within two years I will restore to this place
all the vessels of the temple of the LORD which Nebuchadnezzar,
king of Babylon, took away from this place to Babylon.
And I will bring back to this place Jeconiah,
son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah,
and all the exiles of Judah who went to Babylon,’ says the LORD,
‘for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.’”

The prophet Jeremiah answered the prophet Hananiah
in the presence of the priests and all the people assembled
in the house of the LORD, and said:
Amen! thus may the LORD do!
May he fulfill the things you have prophesied
by bringing the vessels of the house of the LORD
and all the exiles back from Babylon to this place!
But now, listen to what I am about to state in your hearing
and the hearing of all the people.
From of old, the prophets who were before you and me prophesied
war, woe, and pestilence against many lands and mighty kingdoms.
But the prophet who prophesies peace
is recognized as truly sent by the LORD
only when his prophetic prediction is fulfilled.

Thereupon the prophet Hananiah took the yoke
from the neck of the prophet Jeremiah and broke it,
and said in the presence of all the people:

“Thus says the LORD: ‘Even so, within two years
I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon,
from off the neck of all the nations.’”

At that, the prophet Jeremiah went away.

Some time after the prophet Hananiah had broken the yoke
from off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah,
The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah:
Go tell Hananiah this:
Thus says the LORD:
By breaking a wooden yoke, you forge an iron yoke!
For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel:
A yoke of iron I will place on the necks
of all these nations serving Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon,
and they shall serve him; even the beasts of the field I give him.

To the prophet Hananiah the prophet Jeremiah said:
Hear this, Hananiah!
The LORD has not sent you,
and you have raised false confidence in this people.
For this, says the LORD, I will dispatch you from the face of the earth;
this very year you shall die,
because you have preached rebellion against the LORD.
That same year, in the seventh month, Hananiah the prophet died.

— The word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm

Ps 119: 29, 43, 79, 80, 95, 102

Lord, teach me your statutes.

Remove from me the way of falsehood,
and favor me with your law.

Take not the word of truth from my mouth,
for in your ordinances is my hope.

Let those turn to me who fear you
and acknowledge your decrees.

Let my heart be perfect in your statutes,
that I be not put to shame.

Sinners wait to destroy me,
but I pay heed to your decrees.

From your ordinances I turn not away,
for you have instructed me.

Gospel

Alleluia, alleluia.

One does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.

Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew (Mt 14: 13-21)

Looking up to heaven, he said the blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, who in turn gave them to the crowds.

When Jesus heard of the death of John the Baptist,
he withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself.
The crowds heard of this and followed him on foot from their towns.
When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd,
his heart was moved with pity for them, and he cured their sick.
When it was evening, the disciples approached him and said,

“This is a deserted place and it is already late;
dismiss the crowds so that they can go to the villages
and buy food for themselves.”

He said to them,

“There is no need for them to go away;
give them some food yourselves.”

But they said to him,

“Five loaves and two fish are all we have here.”

Then he said,

“Bring them here to me,”

and he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass.
Taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven,
he said the blessing, broke the loaves,
and gave them to the disciples,
who in turn gave them to the crowds.
They all ate and were satisfied,
and they picked up the fragments left over –
twelve wicker baskets full.
Those who ate were about five thousand men,
not counting women and children.

— The Gospel of the Lord.