FIRST
READING: Joel 2:
12 - 18
12
"Yet even now," says the LORD, "return to me with all
your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
13
and rend your hearts and not your garments." Return to the LORD,
your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and
abounding in steadfast love, and repents of evil.
14
Who knows whether he will not turn and repent, and leave a blessing
behind him, a cereal offering and a drink offering for the LORD, your
God?
15
Blow the trumpet in Zion; sanctify a fast; call a solemn assembly;
16
gather the people. Sanctify the congregation; assemble the elders;
gather the children, even nursing infants. Let the bridegroom leave
his room, and the bride her chamber.
17
Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of
the LORD, weep and say, "Spare thy people, O LORD, and make not
thy heritage a reproach, a byword among the nations. Why should they
say among the peoples, `Where is their God?'"
18
Then the LORD became jealous for his land, and had pity on his
people.
PSALM:
Psalms 51:
3 - 6, 12 - 14, 17
3
For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.
4
Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done that which is evil
in thy sight, so that thou art justified in thy sentence and
blameless in thy judgment.
5
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother
conceive me.
6
Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward being; therefore teach me
wisdom in my secret heart.
12
Restore to me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with a willing
spirit.
13
Then I will teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners will return to
thee.
14
Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation, and
my tongue will sing aloud of thy deliverance.
17
The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and
contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
SECOND
READING: 2
Corinthians 5: 20 -- 6:
2
20
So we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us.
We beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
21
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we
might become the righteousness of God.
1
Working together with him, then, we entreat you not to accept the
grace of God in vain.
2
For he says, "At the acceptable time I have listened to you, and
helped you on the day of salvation." Behold, now is the
acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
GOSPEL:
Matthew 6:
1 - 6, 16 - 18
1
"Beware of practicing your piety before men in order to be seen
by them; for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in
heaven.
2
"Thus, when you give alms, sound no trumpet before you, as the
hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be
praised by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.
3
But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your
right hand is doing,
4
so that your alms may be in secret; and your Father who sees in
secret will reward you.
5
"And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites; for
they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street
corners, that they may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have
received their reward.
6
But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to
your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will
reward you.
16
"And when you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for
they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by men.
Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.
17
But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,
18
that your fasting may not be seen by men but by your Father who is in
secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
