August 20, 2017

Reading

Isaiah  56: 1 ,6-7

56:1 Thus says the Lord: Preserve judgment, and accomplish justice. For my salvation is close to its arrival, and my justice is close to being revealed.

56:6 And the sons of the new arrival, who adhere to the Lord so as to worship him and to love his name, shall be his servants: all who keep the Sabbath without profaning it, and who hold to my covenant.

56:7 I will lead them to my holy mountain, and I will gladden them in my house of prayer. Their holocausts and their victims will be pleasing to me upon my altar. For my house will be called the house of prayer for all peoples.

Second Reading

Romans  11: 13-15, 29-34

11:13 For I say to you Gentiles: Certainly, as long as I am an Apostle to the Gentiles, I will honor my ministry,

11:14 in such a way that I might provoke to rivalry those who are my own flesh, and so that I may save some of them.

11:15 For if their loss is for the reconciliation of the world, what could their return be for, except life out of death?

11:29 For the gifts and the call of God are without regret. 11:30 And just as you also, in times past, did not believe in God, but now you have obtained mercy because of their unbelief, 11:31 so also have these now not believed, for your mercy, so that they might obtain mercy also.

11:32 For God has enclosed everyone in unbelief, so that he may have mercy on everyone.

11:33 Oh, the depths of the richness of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are his judgments, and how unsearchable are his ways!

11:34 For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?

Gospel

The Holy Gospel According to Matthew   15: 21-28

31:1 “In that time, says the Lord, I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be my people.”
31:2 Thus says the Lord: “The people who had remained after the sword, found grace in the desert. Israel will go to his rest.”
31:3 The Lord appeared to me from a distance: “And I have loved you in perpetual charity. Therefore, showing pity, I have drawn you.
31:4 And I will build you up again. And you shall be built up, O virgin of Israel. Still shall you be adorned with your timbrels, and still shall you go forth to the singing of those who play.
31:5 Still shall you plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria. The planters will plant, and they will not gather the vintage until the time arrives.
31:6 For there will be a day on which the guardians on mount Ephraim will cry out: ‘Arise! And let us ascend on Zion to the Lord our God!’ ”
31:7 For thus says the Lord: “Exult in the joy of Jacob, and neigh before the head of the Gentiles. Shout, and sing, and say: ‘O Lord, save your people, the remnant of Israel!’