Readings For Thursday 20th Week In Ordinary Time

Year 1

First Reading
Ez 36:23-28

I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you.

A reading from the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel

Thus says the LORD:
   I will prove the holiness of my great name,
   profaned among the nations,
   in whose midst you have profaned it.
Thus the nations shall know that I am the LORD, says the Lord GOD,
   when in their sight I prove my holiness through you.
For I will take you away from among the nations,
   gather you from all the foreign lands,
   and bring you back to your own land.
I will sprinkle clean water upon you
   to cleanse you from all your impurities,
   and from all your idols I will cleanse you.
I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you,
   taking from your bodies your stony hearts
   and giving you natural hearts.
I will put my spirit within you and make you live by my statutes,
   careful to observe my decrees.
You shall live in the land I gave your ancestors;
   you shall be my people, and I will be your God.


Responsorial Psalm
Ps. 51:12-13, 14-15, 18-19

R. :

R. (Ezekiel 36:25) I will pour clean water on you and wash away all your sins.

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

R. I will pour clean water on you and wash away all your sins.

Give me back the joy of your salvation,
   and a willing spirit sustain in me.
I will teach transgressors your ways,
   and sinners shall return to you.

R. I will pour clean water on you and wash away all your sins.

For you are not pleased with sacrifices;
   should I offer a burnt offering, you would not accept it.
My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit;
   a heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.

R. I will pour clean water on you and wash away all your sins.

Year 2

First Reading
Jgs 11:29-39a

I shall offer whoever comes out of the door of my house as a burnt offering.

A reading from the Book of Judges

The Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah.
He passed through Gilead and Manasseh,
   and through Mizpah-Gilead as well,
   and from there he went on to the Ammonites.
Jephthah made a vow to the LORD.
“If you deliver the Ammonites into my power,” he said,
   “whoever comes out of the doors of my house
   to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites
   shall belong to the LORD.
I shall offer him up as a burnt offering.”

Jephthah then went on to the Ammonites to fight against them,
   and the LORD delivered them into his power,
   so that he inflicted a severe defeat on them,
   from Aroer to the approach of Minnith (twenty cities in all)
   and as far as Abel-keramim.
Thus were the Ammonites brought into subjection
   by the children of Israel.
When Jephthah returned to his house in Mizpah,
   it was his daughter who came forth,
   playing the tambourines and dancing.
She was an only child: he had neither son nor daughter besides her.
When he saw her, he rent his garments and said,
   “Alas, daughter, you have struck me down
   and brought calamity upon me.
For I have made a vow to the LORD and I cannot retract.”
She replied, “Father, you have made a vow to the LORD.
Do with me as you have vowed,
   because the LORD has wrought vengeance for you
   on your enemies the Ammonites.”
Then she said to her father, “Let me have this favor.
Spare me for two months, that I may go off down the mountains
   to mourn my virginity with my companions.”
“Go,” he replied, and sent her away for two months.
So she departed with her companions
   and mourned her virginity on the mountains.
At the end of the two months she returned to her father,
   who did to her as he had vowed.


Responsorial Psalm
40:5, 7-8a, 8b-9, 10

R. :

R. (8a and 9a) Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.

Blessed the man who makes the LORD his trust;
   who turns not to idolatry
   or to those who stray after falsehood.

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

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

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

“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!”

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

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

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


Gospel Acclamation
Ps 95:8

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

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

R. Alleluia, alleluia.


Gospel
Mt 22:1-14

Invite to the wedding feast whomever you find.

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew

Jesus again in reply spoke to the chief priests and the elders of the people in parables
   saying, “The Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king
   who gave a wedding feast for his son.
He dispatched his servants to summon the invited guests to the feast,
   but they refused to come.
A second time he sent other servants, saying,
   ‘Tell those invited: “Behold, I have prepared my banquet,
   my calves and fattened cattle are killed,
   and everything is ready; come to the feast.”’
Some ignored the invitation and went away,
   one to his farm, another to his business.
The rest laid hold of his servants,
   mistreated them, and killed them.
The king was enraged and sent his troops,
   destroyed those murderers, and burned their city.
Then the king said to his servants, ‘The feast is ready,
   but those who were invited were not worthy to come.
Go out, therefore, into the main roads
   and invite to the feast whomever you find.’
The servants went out into the streets
   and gathered all they found, bad and good alike,
   and the hall was filled with guests.
But when the king came in to meet the guests
   he saw a man there not dressed in a wedding garment.
He said to him, ‘My friend, how is it
   that you came in here without a wedding garment?’
But he was reduced to silence.
Then the king said to his attendants, ‘Bind his hands and feet,
   and cast him into the darkness outside,
   where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.’
Many are invited, but few are chosen.”

At the end of the Gospel, the Deacon, or the Priest, acclaims:

The Gospel of the Lord.

All reply:

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Then he kisses the book, saying quietly:

Through the words of the Gospel
may our sins be wiped away.


Homilies / Gospel Reflections

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