Mass Readings: Sunday, 19th July 2020

FIRST READING
A reading from the Book of Wisdom    12:13. 16-19
After sin you will grant repentance.

There is no god, other than you, who cares for every thing,
to whom you might have to prove that you never judged unjustly;
Your justice has its source in strength,
your sovereignty over all makes you lenient to all.
You show your strength when your sovereign power is questioned
and you expose the insolence of those who know it;
but, disposing of such strength, you are mild in judgement,
you govern us with great lenience,
for you have only to will, and your power is there.
By acting thus you have taught a lesson to your people
how the virtuous man must be kindly to his fellow men,
and you have given your sons the good hope
that after sin you will grant repentance.

The Word of the Lord.



Responsorial Psalm    Ps 85

Response:  O Lord, you are good and forgiving.

1. O Lord, you are good and forgiving,
full of love to all who call.
Give heed, O Lord, to my prayer
and attend to the sound of my voice.

2. All the nations shall come to adore you
and glorify your name, O Lord:
for you are great and do marvellous deeds,
you who alone are God.

3. But you, God of mercy and compassion,
slow to anger, O Lord,
abounding in love and truth,

turn and take pity on me.



SECOND READING
A reading from the first letter of St Paul to the Romans    8:26-27
The Spirit himself expresses our plea in a way that could never be put
into words.

The Spirit too comes to help us in our weakness. For when we cannot
choose words in order to pray properly, the Spirit himself expresses
our plea in a way that could never be put into words, and God who
knows everything in our hearts knows perfectly well what he means,
and that the pleas of the saints expressed by the Spirit are according
to the mind of God.

The Word of the Lord.



Gospel Acclamation    Eph 1:17. 18

Alleluia, alleluia!
May the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
enlighten the eyes of our mind,
so that we can see what hope his call holds for us.
Alleluia!

Or Mt 11:25

Alleluia, alleluia!
Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
for revealing the mysteries of the kingdom to mere children.
Alleluia!




GOSPEL
A reading from the Gospel according to Matthew    13:24-43
Let them both grow till the harvest.

Jesus put a parable before the crowds, ‘The kingdom of heaven
may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field.
While everybody was asleep his enemy came, sowed darnel all
among the wheat, and made off. When the new wheat sprouted
and ripened, the darnel appeared as well. The owner’s servants
went to him and said, “Sir, was it not good seed that you sowed in
your field? If so, where does the darnel come from?” “Some enemy
has done this” he answered. And the servants said, “Do you want us
to go and weed it out?” But he said, “No, because when you weed
out the darnel you might pull up the wheat with it. Let them both
grow till the harvest; and at harvest time I shall say to the reapers:
First collect the darnel and tie it in bundles to be burnt, then gather
the wheat into my barn.”‘
He told them another parable, ‘The kingdom of heaven is like the
yeast a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour till it
was leavened all through’.
In all this Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables; indeed, he would
never speak to them except in parables. This was to fulfil the
prophecy: I will speak to you in parables and expound things hidden
since the foundation of the world.
Then, leaving the crowds, he went to the house; and his disciples
came to him and said, ‘Explain the parable about the darnel in the
field to us’. He said in reply, ‘The sower of the good seed is the Son of
Man. The field is the world; the good seed is the subjects of the
kingdom; the darnel, the subjects of the evil one; the enemy who
sowed them, the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; the
reapers are the angels. Well then, just as the darnel is gathered up
and burnt in the fire, so it will be at the end of time. The Son of Man
will send his angels and they will gather out of his Kingdom all the
thinks that provoke offences an all who do evil, and throw them into
the burning furnace, where there will be weeping and grinding of
teeth. Then the virtuous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their
Father. Listen, anyone who has ears.

The Gospel of the Lord.