First Reading
Deuteronomy 4: 1- 2, 6- 8
| 4:1 | “And now, O Israel, listen to the precepts and judgments which I am teaching to you, so that, by doing these, you may live, and you may enter and possess the land, which the Lord, the God of your fathers, will give to you. |
| 4:2 | You shall not add to the word which I speak to you, neither shall you take away from it. Preserve the commandments of the Lord your God which I am teaching to you. |
| 4:6 | And you shall observe and fulfill these in practice. For this is your wisdom and understanding in the sight of the peoples, so that, upon hearing all these precepts, they may say: ‘Lo, a wise and understanding people, a great nation.’ |
| 4:7 | Neither is there any other nation so great, which has its gods so near to them, as our God is present to all our petitions. |
| 4:8 | For what other nation is there so renowned as to have ceremonies, and just judgments, and the entire law that I will set forth today before your eyes? |
| 4:9 | And so, guard yourself and your soul carefully. You should not forget the words that your eyes have seen, and do not let them be cut away from your heart, throughout all the days of your life. You shall teach them to your sons and to your grandsons, |
Second Reading
The Letter of Saint James 1: 17-18, 21-22, 27
| 1:17 | Every excellent gift and every perfect gift is from above, descending from the Father of lights, with whom there is no change, nor any shadow of alteration. |
| 1:18 | For by his own will he produced us through the Word of truth, so that we might be a kind of beginning among his creatures. |
| 1:19 | You know this, my most beloved brothers. So let every man be quick to listen, but slow to speak and slow to anger. |
| 1:20 | For the anger of man does not accomplish the justice of God. |
| 1:21 | Because of this, having cast away all uncleanness and an abundance of malice, receive with meekness the newly-grafted Word, which is able to save your souls. |
| 1:22 | So be doers of the Word, and not listeners only, deceiving yourselves. |
| 1:23 | For if anyone is a listener of the Word, but not also a doer, he is comparable to a man gazing into a mirror upon the face that he was born with; |
| 1:24 | and after considering himself, he went away and promptly forgot what he had seen. |
| 1:25 | But he who gazes upon the perfect law of liberty, and who remains in it, is not a forgetful hearer, but instead a doer of the work. He shall be blessed in what he does. |
| 1:26 | But if anyone considers himself to be religious, but he does not restrain his tongue, but instead seduces his own heart: such a one’s religion is vanity. |
| 1:27 | This is religion, clean and undefiled before God the Father: to visit orphans and widows in their tribulations, and to keep yourself immaculate, apart from this age. |
Gospel
The Holy Gospel According to Mark 7: 1-8, 14-15, 21-23
| 7:1 | And the Pharisees and some of the scribes, arriving from Jerusalem, gathered together before him. |
| 7:2 | And when they had seen certain ones from his disciples eating bread with common hands, that is, with unwashed hands, they disparaged them. |
| 7:3 | For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat without repeatedly washing their hands, holding to the tradition of the elders. |
| 7:4 | And when returning from the market, unless they wash, they do not eat. And there are many other things which have been handed down to them to observe: the washings of cups, and pitchers, and bronze containers, and beds. |
| 7:5 | And so the Pharisees and the scribes questioned him: “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but they eat bread with common hands?” |
| 7:6 | But in response, he said to them: “So well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, just as it has been written: ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. |
| 7:7 | And in vain do they worship me, teaching the doctrines and precepts of men.’ |
| 7:8 | For abandoning the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men, to the washing of pitchers and cups. And you do many other things similar to these.” |
| 7:14 | And again, calling the crowd to him, he said to them: “Listen to me, all of you, and understand. |
| 7:15 | There is nothing from outside a man which, by entering into him, is able to defile him. But the things which procede from a man, these are what pollute a man. |
| 7:21 | For from within, from the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, |
| 7:22 | thefts, avarice, wickedness, deceitfulness, homosexuality, an evil eye, blasphemy, self-exaltation, foolishness. |
| 7:23 | All these evils procede from within and pollute a man.” |