Readings

First Reading
Mi 6:1-4, 6-8

You have been told, O man, what the LORD requires of you.

A reading from the Book of the Prophet Micah

   Hear what the LORD says:
Arise, present your plea before the mountains,
   and let the hills hear your voice!
Hear, O mountains, the plea of the LORD,
   pay attention, O foundations of the earth!
For the LORD has a plea against his people,
   and he enters into trial with Israel.

O my people, what have I done to you,
   or how have I wearied you? Answer me!
For I brought you up from the land of Egypt,
   from the place of slavery I released you;
and I sent before you Moses,
   Aaron, and Miriam.

With what shall I come before the LORD,
   and bow before God most high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
   with calves a year old?
Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams,
   with myriad streams of oil?
Shall I give my first-born for my crime,
   the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
You have been told, O man, what is good,
   and what the LORD requires of you:
Only to do the right and to love goodness,
   and to walk humbly with your God.

The word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 50:5-6, 8-9, 16bc-17, 21 and 23

R. :

℟. (23b) To the upright I will show the saving power of God.

“Gather my faithful ones before me,
   those who have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.”
And the heavens proclaim his justice;
   for God himself is the judge.

℟. To the upright I will show the saving power of God.

“Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you,
   for your burnt offerings are before me always.
I take from your house no bullock,
   no goats out of your fold.”

℟. To the upright I will show the saving power of God.

“Why do you recite my statutes,
   and profess my covenant with your mouth,
Though you hate discipline
   and cast my words behind you?”

℟. To the upright I will show the saving power of God.

“When you do these things, shall I be deaf to it?
   Or do you think that I am like yourself?
   I will correct you by drawing them up before your eyes.
He that offers praise as a sacrifice glorifies me;
   and to him that goes the right way I will show the salvation of God.”

℟. To the upright I will show the saving power of God.

Acclamation before the Gospel
Ps 95:8

℟. Alleluia, alleluia.

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

℟. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel
Mt 12:38-42

At the judgment the queen of the south will arise with this generation and condemn it.

✠ A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew

Some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Jesus,
   “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.”
He said to them in reply,
   “An evil and unfaithful generation seeks a sign,
   but no sign will be given it
   except the sign of Jonah the prophet.
Just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights,
   so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth
   three days and three nights.
At the judgment, the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation
   and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah;
   and there is something greater than Jonah here.
At the judgment the queen of the south will arise with this generation
   and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth
   to hear the wisdom of Solomon;
   and there is something greater than Solomon here.”

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.