First Reading

Book of Numbers (Nm 20: 1-13)

The water gushed out in abundance.

The whole congregation of the children of Israel
arrived in the desert of Zin in the first month,
and the people settled at Kadesh.
It was here that Miriam died, and here that she was buried.

As the community had no water,
they held a council against Moses and Aaron.
The people contended with Moses, exclaiming,

“Would that we too had perished with our kinsmen in the Lord’s presence!
Why have you brought the LORD’s assembly into this desert
where we and our livestock are dying?
Why did you lead us out of Egypt,
only to bring us to this wretched place
which has neither grain nor figs nor vines nor pomegranates?
Here there is not even water to drink!”

But Moses and Aaron went away from the assembly
to the entrance of the meeting tent, where they fell prostrate.

Then the glory of the LORD appeared to them,
and the LORD said to Moses,

“Take your staff and assemble the community,
you and your brother Aaron,
and in their presence order the rock to yield its waters.
From the rock you shall bring forth water for the congregation
and their livestock to drink.”

So Moses took his staff from its place before the LORD, as he was ordered.
He and Aaron assembled the community in front of the rock,
where he said to them,

“Listen to me, you rebels!
Are we to bring water for you out of this rock?”

Then, raising his hand, Moses struck the rock twice with his staff,
and water gushed out in abundance for the people
and their livestock to drink.
But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron,

“Because you were not faithful to me
in showing forth my sanctity before the children of Israel,
you shall not lead this community into the land I will give them.”

These are the waters of Meribah,
where the children of Israel contended against the Lord,
and where the LORD revealed his sanctity among them.

— The word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm

Ps 95: 1-2, 6-7, 8-9

If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Come, let us sing joyfully to the LORD;
let us acclaim the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us joyfully sing psalms to him.

Come, let us bow down in worship;
let us kneel before the LORD who made us.
For he is our God,
and we are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides.

Oh, that today you would hear his voice:
“Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,
as in the day of Massah in the desert,
Where your fathers tested me;
they tested me though they had seen my works.”

Gospel

Alleluia, alleluia.

You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church,
and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.

Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew (Mt 16: 13-23)

You are Peter, I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven.

Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi
and he asked his disciples,

“Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”

They replied,

“Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah,
still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

He said to them,

“But who do you say that I am?”

Simon Peter said in reply,

“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Jesus said to him in reply,

“Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah.
For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.
And so I say to you, you are Peter,
and upon this rock I will build my Church,
and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.
I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven.
Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven;
and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

Then he strictly ordered his disciples
to tell no one that he was the Christ.

From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples
that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly
from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
and be killed and on the third day be raised.
Then Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him,

“God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.”

He turned and said to Peter,

“Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me.
You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.”

— The Gospel of the Lord.

First Reading

Book of Numbers (Nm 13: 1-2, 25 — 14: 1, 26a-29a, 34-35)

So they spread discouraging reports about the land they had scouted.

The LORD said to Moses [in the desert of Paran,]

“Send men to reconnoiter the land of Canaan,
which I am giving the children of Israel.
You shall send one man from each ancestral tribe,
all of them princes.”

After reconnoitering the land for forty days they returned,
met Moses and Aaron and the whole congregation of the children of Israel
in the desert of Paran at Kadesh,
made a report to them all,
and showed the fruit of the country
to the whole congregation.
They told Moses:

“We went into the land to which you sent us.
It does indeed flow with milk and honey, and here is its fruit.
However, the people who are living in the land are fierce,
and the towns are fortified and very strong.
Besides, we saw descendants of the Anakim there.
Amalekites live in the region of the Negeb;
Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites dwell in the highlands,
and Canaanites along the seacoast and the banks of the Jordan.”

Caleb, however, to quiet the people toward Moses, said,

“We ought to go up and seize the land, for we can certainly do so.”

But the men who had gone up with him said,

“We cannot attack these people; they are too strong for us.”

So they spread discouraging reports among the children of Israel
about the land they had scouted, saying,

“The land that we explored is a country that consumes its inhabitants.
And all the people we saw there are huge, veritable giants
(the Anakim were a race of giants);
we felt like mere grasshoppers, and so we must have seemed to them.”

At this, the whole community broke out with loud cries,
and even in the night the people wailed.

The LORD said to Moses and Aaron:

“How long will this wicked assembly grumble against me?
I have heard the grumblings of the children of Israel against me.
Tell them: By my life, says the LORD,
I will do to you just what I have heard you say.
Here in the desert shall your dead bodies fall.
Forty days you spent in scouting the land;
forty years shall you suffer for your crimes:
one year for each day.
Thus you will realize what it means to oppose me.
I, the LORD, have sworn to do this
to all this wicked assembly that conspired against me:
here in the desert they shall die to the last man.”

— The word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm

Ps 106: 6-7ab, 13-14, 21-22, 23

Remember us, O Lord, as you favor your people.

We have sinned, we and our fathers;
we have committed crimes; we have done wrong.
Our fathers in Egypt
considered not your wonders.

But soon they forgot his works;
they waited not for his counsel.
They gave way to craving in the desert
and tempted God in the wilderness.

They forgot the God who had saved them,
who had done great deeds in Egypt,
Wondrous deeds in the land of Ham,
terrible things at the Red Sea.

Then he spoke of exterminating them,
but Moses, his chosen one,
Withstood him in the breach
to turn back his destructive wrath.

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

Book of Numbers (Nm 12: 1-13)

Why, then, did you not fear to speak against my servant Moses?

Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses on the pretext
of the marriage he had contracted with a Cushite woman.
They complained,

“Is it through Moses alone that the LORD speaks?
Does he not speak through us also?”

And the LORD heard this.
Now, Moses himself was by far the meekest man on the face of the earth.
So at once the LORD said to Moses and Aaron and Miriam,

“Come out, you three, to the meeting tent.”

And the three of them went.
Then the LORD came down in the column of cloud,
and standing at the entrance of the tent,
called Aaron and Miriam.
When both came forward, he said,

“Now listen to the words of the LORD:

Should there be a prophet among you,
in visions will I reveal myself to him,
in dreams will I speak to him;
not so with my servant Moses!
Throughout my house he bears my trust:
face to face I speak to him;
plainly and not in riddles.
The presence of the LORD he beholds.

Why, then, did you not fear to speak against my servant Moses?”

So angry was the LORD against them that when he departed,
and the cloud withdrew from the tent,
there was Miriam, a snow-white leper!
When Aaron turned and saw her a leper, he said to Moses,

“Ah, my lord! Please do not charge us with the sin
that we have foolishly committed!
Let her not thus be like the stillborn babe
that comes forth from its mother’s womb
with its flesh half consumed.”

Then Moses cried to the LORD,

“Please, not this! Pray, heal her!”

— The word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm

Ps 51: 3-4, 5-6ab, 6cd-7, 12-13

Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.

Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness;
in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.
Thoroughly wash me from my guilt
and of my sin cleanse me.

For I acknowledge my offense;
and my sin is before me always:
“Against you only have I sinned;
and done what is evil in your sight.”

That you may be justified in your sentence,
vindicated when you condemn.
Indeed, in guilt was I born,
and in sin my mother conceived me.

A clean heart create for me, O God,
and a steadfast spirit renew within me.
Cast me not off from your presence,
and your Holy Spirit take not from me.

Gospel

Alleluia, alleluia.

Rabbi, you are the Son of God;
you are the King of Israel.

Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew (Mt 14: 22-36)

Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.

Jesus made the disciples get into a boat
and precede him to the other side of the sea,
while he dismissed the crowds.
After doing so, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray.
When it was evening he was there alone.
Meanwhile the boat, already a few miles offshore,
was being tossed about by the waves, for the wind was against it.
During the fourth watch of the night,
he came toward them, walking on the sea.
When the disciples saw him walking on the sea they were terrified.

“It is a ghost,”

they said, and they cried out in fear.
At once Jesus spoke to them,

“Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.”

Peter said to him in reply,

“Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”

He said,

“Come.”

Peter got out of the boat and began to walk on the water toward Jesus.
But when he saw how strong the wind was he became frightened;
and, beginning to sink, he cried out,

“Lord, save me!”

Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught him,
and said to him, ”O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”
After they got into the boat, the wind died down.
Those who were in the boat did him homage, saying,

“Truly, you are the Son of God.”

After making the crossing, they came to land at Gennesaret.
When the men of that place recognized him,
they sent word to all the surrounding country.
People brought to him all those who were sick
and begged him that they might touch only the tassel on his cloak,
and as many as touched it were healed.

— The Gospel of the Lord.

Gospel

Alleluia, alleluia.

Rabbi, you are the Son of God;
you are the King of Israel.

Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew (Mt 15: 1-2, 10-14)

Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted.

Some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said,

“Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders?
They do not wash their hands when they eat a meal.”

He summoned the crowd and said to them,

“Hear and understand.
It is not what enters one’s mouth that defiles the man;
but what comes out of the mouth is what defiles one.”

Then his disciples approached and said to him,

“Do you know that the Pharisees took offense
when they heard what you said?”

He said in reply,

“Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted
will be uprooted.
Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind.
If a blind man leads a blind man,
both will fall into a pit.”

— The Gospel of the Lord.