First Reading

Book of Jonah (Jon 4: 1-11)

You are concerned over the plant. And should I not be concerned over Nineveh, the great city?

Jonah was greatly displeased
and became angry that God did not carry out the evil
he threatened against Nineveh.
He prayed,

“I beseech you, LORD,
is not this what I said while I was still in my own country?
This is why I fled at first to Tarshish.
I knew that you are a gracious and merciful God,
slow to anger, rich in clemency, loath to punish.
And now, LORD, please take my life from me;
for it is better for me to die than to live.”

But the LORD asked,

“Have you reason to be angry?”

Jonah then left the city for a place to the east of it,
where he built himself a hut and waited under it in the shade,
to see what would happen to the city.
And when the LORD God provided a gourd plant
that grew up over Jonah’s head,
giving shade that relieved him of any discomfort,
Jonah was very happy over the plant.
But the next morning at dawn
God sent a worm that attacked the plant,
so that it withered.
And when the sun arose, God sent a burning east wind;
and the sun beat upon Jonah’s head till he became faint.
Then Jonah asked for death, saying,

“I would be better off dead than alive.”

But God said to Jonah,

“Have you reason to be angry over the plant?”

“I have reason to be angry, Jonah answered, angry enough to die.”

Then the LORD said,

“You are concerned over the plant which cost you no labor
and which you did not raise;
it came up in one night and in one night it perished.
And should I not be concerned over Nineveh, the great city,
in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons
who cannot distinguish their right hand from their left,
not to mention the many cattle?”

— The word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm

Ps 86: 3-4, 5-6, 9-10

Lord, you are merciful and gracious.

Have mercy on me, O Lord,
for to you I call all the day.
Gladden the soul of your servant,
for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.

For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving,
abounding in kindness to all who call upon you.
Hearken, O LORD, to my prayer
and attend to the sound of my pleading.

All the nations you have made shall come
and worship you, O Lord,
and glorify your name.
For you are great, and you do wondrous deeds;
you alone are God.

Gospel

Alleluia, alleluia.

You have received a spirit of adoption as sons through which we cry: Abba! Father!

Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke (Lk 11: 1-4)

Lord, teach us to pray.

Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he had finished,
one of his disciples said to him,

“Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.”

He said to them,

“When you pray, say:

Father, hallowed be your name,
your Kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread
and forgive us our sins
for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us,
and do not subject us to the final test.”

— The Gospel of the Lord.

First Reading

Book of Jonah (Jon 3: 1-10)

Sawing how they turned from their evil way, God repented of the evil that he had threatened to do to them.

The word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time:

“Set out for the great city of Nineveh,
and announce to it the message that I will tell you.”

So Jonah made ready and went to Nineveh,
according to the LORD’s bidding.
Now Nineveh was an enormously large city;
it took three days to go through it.
Jonah began his journey through the city,
and had gone but a single day’s walk announcing,

“Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed,”

when the people of Nineveh believed God;
they proclaimed a fast and all of them, great and small,
put on sackcloth.

When the news reached the king of Nineveh,
he rose from his throne, laid aside his robe,
covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in the ashes.
Then he had this proclaimed throughout Nineveh,
by decree of the king and his nobles:

“Neither man nor beast, neither cattle nor sheep,
shall taste anything;
they shall not eat, nor shall they drink water.
Man and beast shall be covered with sackcloth
and call loudly to God;
every man shall turn from his evil way
and from the violence he has in hand.
Who knows, God may relent and forgive,
and withhold his blazing wrath,
so that we shall not perish.”

When God saw by their actions how they turned from their evil way,
he repented of the evil that he had threatened to do to them;
he did not carry it out.

— The word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm

Ps 130: 1b-2. 3-4ab. 7-8

If you, O Lord, mark iniquities, who can stand?

Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD
LORD, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
to my voice in supplication.

If you, O LORD, mark iniquities,
LORD, who can stand?
But with you is forgiveness,
that you may be revered.

Let Israel wait for the LORD,
For with the LORD is kindness
and with him is plenteous redemption;
And he will redeem Israel
from all their iniquities.

Gospel

Alleluia, alleluia.

Blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.

Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke (Lk 10: 38-42)

A woman whose name was Martha welcomed him. Mary has chosen the better part.

Jesus entered a village
where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him.
She had a sister named Mary
who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak.
Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said,

“Lord, do you not care
that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving?
Tell her to help me.”

The Lord said to her in reply,

“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things.
There is need of only one thing.
Mary has chosen the better part
and it will not be taken from her.”

— The Gospel of the Lord.

First Reading

Book of Jonah (Jon 1: 1 — 2: 1-2, 11)

Jonah made ready to flee away from the LORD.

This is the word of the LORD that came to Jonah, son of Amittai:

“Set out for the great city of Nineveh, and preach against it;
their wickedness has come up before me.”

But Jonah made ready to flee to Tarshish away from the LORD.
He went down to Joppa, found a ship going to Tarshish,
paid the fare, and went aboard to journey with them to Tarshish,
away from the LORD.

The LORD, however, hurled a violent wind upon the sea,
and in the furious tempest that arose
the ship was on the point of breaking up.
Then the mariners became frightened and each one cried to his god.
To lighten the ship for themselves, they threw its cargo into the sea.
Meanwhile, Jonah had gone down into the hold of the ship,
and lay there fast asleep.
The captain came to him and said,

“What are you doing asleep?
Rise up, call upon your God!
Perhaps God will be mindful of us so that we may not perish.”

Then they said to one another,

“Come, let us cast lots
to find out on whose account we have met with this misfortune.”

So they cast lots, and thus singled out Jonah.

“Tell us, they said, what is your business?
Where do you come from?
What is your country, and to what people do you belong?”

Jonah answered them,

”I am a Hebrew,
I worship the LORD, the God of heaven,
who made the sea and the dry land.”

Now the men were seized with great fear and said to him,

” How could you do such a thing! –
They knew that he was fleeing from the LORD,
because he had told them. –
They asked, ”What shall we do with you,
that the sea may quiet down for us?”

For the sea was growing more and more turbulent.
Jonah said to them,

“Pick me up and throw me into the sea,
that it may quiet down for you;
since I know it is because of me
that this violent storm has come upon you.”

Still the men rowed hard to regain the land, but they could not,
for the sea grew ever more turbulent.
Then they cried to the LORD:

“We beseech you, O LORD,
let us not perish for taking this man’s life;
do not charge us with shedding innocent blood,
for you, LORD, have done as you saw fit.”

Then they took Jonah and threw him into the sea,
and the sea’s raging abated.
Struck with great fear of the LORD,
the men offered sacrifice and made vows to him.

But the LORD sent a large fish, that swallowed Jonah;
and Jonah remained in the belly of the fish
three days and three nights.
From the belly of the fish Jonah prayed
to the LORD, his God.
Then the LORD commanded the fish to spew Jonah upon the shore.

— The word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm

Jonah 2: 3, 4, 5, 8

You will rescue my life from the pit, O Lord.

Out of my distress I called to the LORD,
and he answered me;
From the midst of the nether world I cried for help,
and you heard my voice.

For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the sea,
and the flood enveloped me;
All your breakers and your billows
passed over me.

Then I said, “I am banished from your sight!
yet would I again look upon your holy temple.”

When my soul fainted within me,
I remembered the LORD;
My prayer reached you
in your holy temple.

Gospel

Alleluia, alleluia.

I give you a new commandment: love one another as I have loved you.

Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke (Lk 10: 25-37)

Who is my neighbor?

There was a scholar of the law who stood up to test Jesus and said,

“Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

Jesus said to him,

“What is written in the law?
How do you read it?”

He said in reply,

“You shall love the Lord, your God,
with all your heart,
with all your being,
with all your strength,
and with all your mind,
and your neighbor as yourself.”

He replied to him,

“You have answered correctly;
do this and you will live.”

But because he wished to justify himself, he said to Jesus,

“And who is my neighbor?”

Jesus replied,

“A man fell victim to robbers
as he went down from Jerusalem to Jericho.
They stripped and beat him and went off leaving him half-dead.
A priest happened to be going down that road,
but when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side.
Likewise a Levite came to the place,
and when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side.
But a Samaritan traveler who came upon him
was moved with compassion at the sight.
He approached the victim,
poured oil and wine over his wounds and bandaged them.
Then he lifted him up on his own animal,
took him to an inn, and cared for him.
The next day he took out two silver coins
and gave them to the innkeeper with the instruction,

‘Take care of him.
If you spend more than what I have given you,
I shall repay you on my way back.’

Which of these three, in your opinion,
was neighbor to the robbers’ victim?”

He answered,

“The one who treated him with mercy.”

Jesus said to him,

“Go and do likewise.”

— The Gospel of the Lord.