First Reading

Book of Deuteronomy (Dt 4: 1, 5-9)

Keep the commandments, and your work will be complete.

Moses spoke to the people and said:

“Now, Israel, hear the statutes and decrees
which I am teaching you to observe,
that you may live, and may enter in and take possession of the land
which the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you.
Therefore, I teach you the statutes and decrees
as the LORD, my God, has commanded me,
that you may observe them in the land you are entering to occupy.
Observe them carefully,
for thus will you give evidence
of your wisdom and intelligence to the nations,
who will hear of all these statutes and say,

‘This great nation is truly a wise and intelligent people.’

For what great nation is there
that has gods so close to it as the LORD, our God, is to us
whenever we call upon him?
Or what great nation has statutes and decrees
that are as just as this whole law
which I am setting before you today?

However, take care and be earnestly on your guard
not to forget the things which your own eyes have seen,
nor let them slip from your memory as long as you live,
but teach them to your children and to your children's children.”

— The word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm (Ps 147: 12-13, 15-16, 19-20)

Praise the Lord, Jerusalem.

Glorify the LORD, O Jerusalem;
praise your God, O Zion.
For he has strengthened the bars of your gates;
he has blessed your children within you.

He sends forth his command to the earth;
swiftly runs his word!
He spreads snow like wool;
frost he strews like ashes.

He has proclaimed his word to Jacob,
his statutes and his ordinances to Israel.
He has not done thus for any other nation;
his ordinances he has not made known to them.

Gospel

Glory and praise to you, O Christ.

Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life; you have the words of everlasting life.

Glory and praise to you, O Christ.

Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew (Mt 5: 17-19)

He who does them and teaches them shall be called great.

Jesus said to his disciples:

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.
I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.
Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away,
not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter
will pass from the law,
until all things have taken place.
Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments
and teaches others to do so
will be called least in the Kingdom of heaven.
But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments
will be called greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.”

— The Gospel of the Lord.

First Reading

Book of Isaiah (Is 7: 10-14 ; 8: 10)

Behold, a virgin shall conceive.

The LORD spoke to Ahaz, saying:

Ask for a sign from the LORD, your God;
let it be deep as the nether world, or high as the sky!

But Ahaz answered,

“I will not ask! I will not tempt the LORD!”

Then Isaiah said:

“Listen, O house of David!
Is it not enough for you to weary people,
must you also weary my God?
Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign:
the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son,
and shall name him Emmanuel,
which means "God is with us!”

— The word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm

Ps 40: 7-8a, 8b-9, 10, 11

Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.

Sacrifice or oblation you wished not,
but ears open to obedience you gave me.
Holocausts or sin-offerings you sought not;
then said I, “Behold I come.”

“In the written scroll it is prescribed for me,
To do your will, O my God, is my delight,
and your law is within my heart!”

I announced your justice in the vast assembly;
I did not restrain my lips, as you, O LORD, know.

Your justice I kept not hid within my heart;
your faithfulness and your salvation I have spoken of;
I have made no secret of your kindness and your truth
in the vast assembly.

Second Reading

Letter to the Hebrews (Heb 10: 4-10)

I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the roll of the book.

Brothers and sisters:
It is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats
take away sins.
For this reason, when Christ came into the world, he said:

“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but a body you prepared for me;
in holocausts and sin offerings you took no delight.
Then I said, ‘As is written of me in the scroll,
behold, I come to do your will, O God.’”

First he says,

“Sacrifices and offerings,
holocausts and sin offerings,
you neither desired nor delighted in.”

These are offered according to the law.
Then he says,

“Behold, I come to do your will.”

He takes away the first to establish the second.
By this “will,” we have been consecrated
through the offering of the Body of Jesus Christ once for all.

— The word of the Lord.

Gospel

Glory and praise to you, O Christ.

The Word of God became flesh and made his dwelling among us; and we saw his glory.

Glory and praise to you, O Christ.

Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke (Lk 1: 26-38)

You will conceive in your womb and bear a son.

The angel Gabriel was sent from God
to a town of Galilee called Nazareth,
to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph,
of the house of David,
and the virgin's name was Mary.

And coming to her, he said,

“Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.”

But she was greatly troubled at what was said
and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.

Then the angel said to her,

“Do not be afraid, Mary,
for you have found favor with God.
Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son,
and you shall name him Jesus.
He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High,
and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father,
and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever,
and of his Kingdom there will be no end.”

But Mary said to the angel,

“How can this be,
since I have no relations with a man?”

And the angel said to her in reply,

“The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
Therefore the child to be born
will be called holy, the Son of God.
And behold, Elizabeth, your relative,
has also conceived a son in her old age,
and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren;
for nothing will be impossible for God.”

Mary said,

“Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.
May it be done to me according to your word.”

Then the angel departed from her.

— The Gospel of the Lord.

First Reading

Sevond Book of King (2 Kgs 5: 1-15ab)

There were many lepers in Israel, but none was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.

Naaman, the army commander of the king of Aram,
was highly esteemed and respected by his master,
for through him the LORD had brought victory to Aram.
But valiant as he was, the man was a leper.
Now the Arameans had captured in a raid on the land of Israel
a little girl, who became the servant of Naaman’s wife.

“If only my master would present himself to the prophet in Samaria,”

she said to her mistress,

“he would cure him of his leprosy.”

Naaman went and told his lord
just what the slave girl from the land of Israel had said.

“Go,” said the king of Aram.
“I will send along a letter to the king of Israel.”

So Naaman set out, taking along ten silver talents,
six thousand gold pieces, and ten festal garments.
To the king of Israel he brought the letter, which read:

“With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you,
that you may cure him of his leprosy.”

When he read the letter,
the king of Israel tore his garments and exclaimed:

“Am I a god with power over life and death,
that this man should send someone to me to be cured of leprosy?
Take note! You can see he is only looking for a quarrel with me!”

When Elisha, the man of God,
heard that the king of Israel had torn his garments,
he sent word to the king:

“Why have you torn your garments?
Let him come to me and find out
that there is a prophet in Israel.”

Naaman came with his horses and chariots
and stopped at the door of Elisha’s house.
The prophet sent him the message:

“Go and wash seven times in the Jordan,
and your flesh will heal, and you will be clean.”

But Naaman went away angry, saying,

“I thought that he would surely come out and stand there
to invoke the LORD his God,
and would move his hand over the spot,
and thus cure the leprosy.
Are not the rivers of Damascus, the Abana and the Pharpar,
better than all the waters of Israel?
Could I not wash in them and be cleansed?”

With this, he turned about in anger and left.

But his servants came up and reasoned with him.

“My father,” they said,
“if the prophet had told you to do something extraordinary,
would you not have done it?
All the more now, since he said to you,
‘Wash and be clean,’ should you do as he said.”

So Naaman went down and plunged into the Jordan seven times
at the word of the man of God.
His flesh became again like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

He returned with his whole retinue to the man of God.
On his arrival he stood before him and said,

“Now I know that there is no God in all the earth,
except in Israel.”

— The word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm (Ps 42: 2, 3 ; 43: 3, 4)

Athirst is my soul for the living God. When shall I go and behold the face of God?

As the hind longs for the running waters,
so my soul longs for you, O God.

Athirst is my soul for God, the living God.
When shall I go and behold the face of God?

Send forth your light and your fidelity;
they shall lead me on
And bring me to your holy mountain,
to your dwelling-place.

Then will I go in to the altar of God,
the God of my gladness and joy;
Then will I give you thanks upon the harp,
O God, my God!

Gospel

Glory and praise to you, O Christ.

I hope in the LORD, I trust in his word; with him there is kindness and plenteous redemption.

Glory and praise to you, O Christ.

Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke (Lk 4: 24-30)

Like Elijah and Elisha, Jesus is not sent only to the Jews.

Jesus said to the people in the synagogue at Nazareth:

“Amen, I say to you,
no prophet is accepted in his own native place.
Indeed, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel
in the days of Elijah
when the sky was closed for three and a half years
and a severe famine spread over the entire land.
It was to none of these that Elijah was sent,
but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon.
Again, there were many lepers in Israel
during the time of Elisha the prophet;
yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”

When the people in the synagogue heard this,
they were all filled with fury.
They rose up, drove him out of the town,
and led him to the brow of the hill
on which their town had been built,
to hurl him down headlong.
But he passed through the midst of them and went away.

— The Gospel of the Lord.