1ST READING
As prophets to the modern world, we are called to proclaim the Good News. Isaiah calls forth conversion from the people so that they may set their lives back on track to God. There are many tracks in the world, a lot of which are dead ends or lead to the wrong destination. Through the witness of our lives, we are called to set an example of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.
Isaiah 58:1-9
1 Thus says the Lord God: Cry out full-throated and unsparingly, lift up your voice like a trumpet blast; tell my people their wickedness, and the house of Jacob their sins. 2 They seek me day after day, and desire to know my ways, like a nation that has done what is just and not abandoned the law of their God; they ask me to declare what is due them, pleased to gain access to God. 3 “Why do we fast, and you do not see it? afflict ourselves, and you take no note of it?” Lo, on your fast day you carry out your own pursuits, and drive all your laborers. 4 Yes, your fast ends in quarreling and fighting, striking with wicked claw. Would that today you might fast so as to make your voice heard on high! 5 Is this the manner of fasting I wish, of keeping a day of penance that a man bow his head like a reed, and lie in sackcloth and ashes? Do you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? 6 This, rather, is the fasting that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke; 7 sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own. 8 Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your wound shall quickly be healed; your vindication shall go before you, and the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. 9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer, you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am!
P S A L M
Psalm 51:3-4, 5-6, 18-19
R: A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
1 [3] Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness; in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense. 2 [4] Thoroughly wash me from my guilt and of my sin cleanse me. (R) 3 [5] For I acknowledge my offense, and my sin is before me always. 4 [6] “ Against you only have I sinned, and done what is evil in your sight.” (R) 16 [18] For you are not pleased with sacrifices; should I offer a burnt offering, you would not accept it. 17 [19] My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit; a heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn. (R)
GOSPEL
There is a time for everything under heaven. As we follow the call of Jesus in our lives, let us recognize that there are times to celebrate and times to repent. We are complicated people and as such no two lives of a disciple of Jesus are the same. There will be similarities but also differences. Let us do what we can to help one another to be faithful to God’s calling.
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION
Seek good and not evil so that you may live, and the Lord will be with you.
Matthew 9: 14-15
14The disciples of John approached Jesus and said, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast much, but your disciples do not fast?” 15Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.”
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