|
First reading |
|
2 Corinthians 3:4-11 © |
Before God, we are confident of this through Christ: not that we are qualified in ourselves to claim anything as our own work: all our qualifications come from God. He is the one who has given us the qualifications to be the administrators of this new covenant, which is not a covenant of written letters but of the Spirit: the written letters bring death, but the Spirit gives life. Now if the administering of death, in the written letters engraved on stones, was accompanied by such a brightness that the Israelites could not bear looking at the face of Moses, though it was a brightness that faded, then how much greater will be the brightness that surrounds the administering of the Spirit! For if there was any splendour in administering condemnation, there must be very much greater splendour in administering justification. In fact, compared with this greater splendour, the thing that used to have such splendour now seems to have none; and if what was so temporary had any splendour, there must be much more in what is going to last for ever.
|
Psalm |
Psalm 98:5-9 © |
You are holy, O Lord our God.
Exalt the Lord our God;
bow down before Zion, his footstool.
He the Lord is holy.
You are holy, O Lord our God.
Among his priests were Aaron and Moses,
among those who invoked his name was Samuel.
They invoked the Lord and he answered.
You are holy, O Lord our God.
To them he spoke in the pillar of cloud.
They did his will; they kept the law,
which he, the Lord, had given.
You are holy, O Lord our God.
O Lord our God, you answered them.
For them you were a God who forgives;
yet you punished all their offences.
You are holy, O Lord our God.
Exalt the Lord our God;
bow down before his holy mountain
for the Lord our God is holy.
You are holy, O Lord our God.
|
Gospel Acclamation |
Ps118:27 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Make me grasp the way of your precepts,
and I will muse on your wonders.
Alleluia!
|
Or |
Ps24:4,5 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Teach me your paths, my God,
make me walk in your truth.
Alleluia!
|
Gospel |
Matthew 5:17-19 © |
Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Do not imagine that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete them. I tell you solemnly, till heaven and earth disappear, not one dot, not one little stroke, shall disappear from the Law until its purpose is achieved. Therefore, the man who infringes even one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be considered the least in the kingdom of heaven; but the man who keeps them and teaches them will be considered great in the kingdom of heaven.’