First Reading

Book of Exodus (Ex 11: 10 — 12: 14)

The lamb shall be slaughtered during the evening twilight. Seeing the blood, I will pass over you.

Although Moses and Aaron performed various wonders
in Pharaoh’s presence,
the LORD made Pharaoh obstinate,
and he would not let the children of Israel leave his land.

The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt,

“This month shall stand at the head of your calendar;
you shall reckon it the first month of the year.
Tell the whole community of Israel:

‘On the tenth of this month
every one of your families must procure for itself a lamb,
one apiece for each household.
If a family is too small for a whole lamb,
it shall join the nearest household in procuring one
and shall share in the lamb
in proportion to the number of persons who partake of it.
The lamb must be a year-old male and without blemish.
You may take it from either the sheep or the goats.
You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, and then,
with the whole assembly of Israel present,
it shall be slaughtered during the evening twilight.
They shall take some of its blood
and apply it to the two doorposts and the lintel
of every house in which they partake of the lamb.
That same night they shall eat its roasted flesh
with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
It shall not be eaten raw or boiled, but roasted whole,
with its head and shanks and inner organs.
None of it must be kept beyond the next morning;
whatever is left over in the morning shall be burned up.

This is how you are to eat it:
with your loins girt, sandals on your feet and your staff in hand,
you shall eat like those who are in flight.
It is the Passover of the LORD.’

For on this same night I will go through Egypt,
striking down every first born of the land, both man and beast,
and executing judgment on all the gods of Egypt — I, the LORD!
But the blood will mark the houses where you are.
Seeing the blood, I will pass over you;
thus, when I strike the land of Egypt,
no destructive blow will come upon you.

This day shall be a memorial feast for you,
which all your generations shall celebrate
with pilgrimage to the LORD, as a perpetual institution.”

— The word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm

Ps 116: 12-13, 15 and 16bc, 17-18

I will take the cup of salvation, and call on the name of the Lord.

How shall I make a return to the LORD
for all the good he has done for me?
The cup of salvation I will take up,
and I will call upon the name of the LORD.

Precious in the eyes of the LORD
is the death of his faithful ones.
I am your servant, the son of your handmaid;
you have loosed my bonds.

To you will I offer sacrifice of thanksgiving,
and I will call upon the name of the LORD.
My vows to the LORD I will pay
in the presence of all his people.

Gospel

Alleluia, alleluia.

My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord,
I know them, and they follow me.

Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew (Mt 12: 1-8)

The Son of Man is Lord of the sabbath.

Jesus was going through a field of grain on the sabbath.
His disciples were hungry
and began to pick the heads of grain and eat them.
When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him,

“ See, your disciples are doing what is unlawful to do on the sabbath.”

He said to the them,

“ Have you not read what David did
when he and his companions were hungry,
how he went into the house of God and ate the bread of offering,
which neither he nor his companions
but only the priests could lawfully eat?
Or have you not read in the law that on the sabbath
the priests serving in the temple violate the sabbath
and are innocent?
I say to you, something greater than the temple is here.
If you knew what this meant, I desire mercy, not sacrifice,
you would not have condemned these innocent men.
For the Son of Man is Lord of the sabbath.”

— The Gospel of the Lord.

First Reading

Book of Exodus (Ex 3: 13-20)

I AM sent me to you.

Moses, hearing the voice of the LORD from the burning bush, said to him,

“When I go to the children of Israel and say to them,

‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’

if they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what am I to tell them?”

God replied,

“I am who am.”

Then he added,

“This is what you shall tell the children of Israel:
I AM sent me to you.”

God spoke further to Moses,

“Thus shall you say to the children of Israel:
The LORD, the God of your fathers,
the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob,
has sent me to you.

This is my name forever;
this my title for all generations.

Go and assemble the elders of Israel, and tell them:
The LORD, the God of your fathers,
the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
has appeared to me and said:
I am concerned about you
and about the way you are being treated in Egypt;
so I have decided to lead you up out of the misery of Egypt
into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites,
Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites,
a land flowing with milk and honey.

Thus they will heed your message.
Then you and the elders of Israel
shall go to the king of Egypt and say to him:

‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has sent us word.
Permit us, then, to go a three-days’ journey in the desert,
that we may offer sacrifice to the LORD, our God.’

Yet I know that the king of Egypt will not allow you to go
unless he is forced.
I will stretch out my hand, therefore,
and smite Egypt by doing all kinds of wondrous deeds there.
After that he will send you away.”

— The word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm

Ps 105: 1 and 5, 8-9, 24-25, 26-27

The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.

Give thanks to the LORD, invoke his name;
make known among the nations his deeds.
Recall the wondrous deeds that he has wrought,
his portents, and the judgments he has uttered.

He remembers forever his covenant
which he made binding for a thousand generations--
Which he entered into with Abraham
and by his oath to Isaac.

He greatly increased his people
and made them stronger than their foes,
Whose hearts he changed, so that they hated his people,
and dealt deceitfully with his servants.

He sent Moses his servant;
Aaron, whom he had chosen.
They wrought his signs among them,
and wonders in the land of Ham.

Gospel

Alleluia, alleluia.

Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,
and I will give you rest, says the Lord.

Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew (Mt 11: 28-30)

I am meek and humble of heart.

Jesus said:

“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am meek and humble of heart;
and you will find rest for yourselves.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”

— The Gospel of the Lord.

First Reading

Book of Exodus (Ex 3: 1-6, 9-12)

An angel of the LORD appeared to him in fire flaming out of a bush.

Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian.
Leading the flock across the desert, he came to Horeb,
the mountain of God.
There an angel of the LORD appeared to him in fire
flaming out of a bush.
As he looked on, he was surprised to see that the bush,
though on fire, was not consumed.
So Moses decided,

“I must go over to look at this remarkable sight,
and see why the bush is not burned.”

When the LORD saw him coming over to look at it more closely,
God called out to him from the bush,

“Moses! Moses!”

He answered,

“Here I am.”

God said,

“Come no nearer!
Remove the sandals from your feet,
for the place where you stand is holy ground.
I am the God of your father, he continued,
the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.
The cry of the children of Israel has reached me,
and I have truly noted that the Egyptians are oppressing them.
Come, now! I will send you to Pharaoh to lead my people,
the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”

But Moses said to God,

“Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh
and lead the children of Israel out of Egypt?”

He answered,

“I will be with you;
and this shall be your proof that it is I who have sent you:
when you bring my people out of Egypt,
you will worship God on this very mountain.”

— The word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm

Ps 103: 1b-2, 3-4, 6-7

The Lord is kind and merciful.

Bless the LORD, O my soul;
and all my being, bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits.

He pardons all your iniquities,
he heals all your ills.
He redeems your life from destruction,
he crowns you with kindness and compassion.

The LORD secures justice
and the rights of all the oppressed.
He has made known his ways to Moses,
and his deeds to the children of Israel.

Gospel

Alleluia, alleluia.

Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth;
you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the Kingdom.

Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew (Mt 11: 25-27)

What you have hidden from the wise and the learned, you have revealed to the childlike.

At that time Jesus exclaimed:

“I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
for although you have hidden these things
from the wise and the learned
you have revealed them to the childlike.
Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will.
All things have been handed over to me by my Father.
No one knows the Son except the Father,
and no one knows the Father except the Son
and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.”

— The Gospel of the Lord.