FIRST
READING: Isaiah 1:
10 - 17
10
Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom! Give ear to the
teaching of our God, you people of Gomor'rah!
11
"What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the LORD;
I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed
beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of
he-goats.
12
"When you come to appear before me, who requires of you this
trampling of my courts?
13
Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New
moon and sabbath and the calling of assemblies -- I cannot endure
iniquity and solemn assembly.
14
Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have
become a burden to me, I am weary of bearing them.
15
When you spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even
though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full
of blood.
16
Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your
doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil,
17
learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; defend the
fatherless, plead for the widow.
PSALM:
Psalms 50: 8 - 9, 16 - 17,
21, 23
8
I do not reprove you for your sacrifices; your burnt offerings are
continually before me.
9
I will accept no bull from your house, nor he-goat from your folds.
16
But to the wicked God says: "What right have you to recite my
statutes, or take my covenant on your lips?
17
For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you.
21
These things you have done and I have been silent; you thought that I
was one like yourself. But now I rebuke you, and lay the charge
before
you.
23
He who brings thanksgiving as his sacrifice honors me; to him who
orders his way aright I will show the salvation of God!"
GOSPEL:
Matthew 10: 34 -- 11: 1
34
"Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have
not come to bring peace, but a sword.
35
For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter
against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
36
and a man's foes will be those of his own household.
37
He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and
he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;
38
and he who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
39
He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my
sake will find it.
40
"He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me
receives him who sent me.
41
He who receives a prophet because he is a prophet shall receive a
prophet's reward, and he who receives a righteous man because he is a
righteous
man shall receive a righteous man's reward.
42
And whoever gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold
water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he shall not
lose his reward."
1
And when Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went
on
from
there to teach and preach in their cities.
