Entrance Antiphon Cf. Ps 86:1 -3
Turn your ear, O Lord,
and
answer me; save the servant who trusts in you, my God.
Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I cry to you
all the day long.
Collect
O God, who cause the minds of the faithful to
unite in a single purpose, grant your people to love what you command and to
desire what you promise, that, amid the uncertainties of this world, our hearts
may be fixed on that place where true gladness is found.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who
lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever
and ever.
FIRST READING Joshua
24:1 -2a. 15-17.18b
“We
will serve the Lord, for he is our God.”
In those days: Joshua gathered all the
tribes of Israel to Shechem, and summoned the elders, the heads, the judges,
and the officers of Israel; and they presented themselves before God. And
Joshua said to all the people, “If you be unwilling to serve the Lord,
choose
this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the
region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell;
but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Then the people answered, “Far be it from
us that we should forsake the Lord, to serve other
gods; for it is the Lord our God who brought
us and our fathers up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, and
who did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way that we
went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed; therefore we also will
serve the Lord, for he is our God.’
RESPONSORIAL PSALM Psalm
34:2-3.16-17.18-19.20-21.22-23 (R. 9a)
R.
Taste and see that the Lord is good!
I will bless the Lord at all times,
praise of him is always in my mouth.
In the Lord my soul shall make
its boast;
the humble shall hear and be glad. R.
The Lord turns his eyes to
the just,
and his ears are open to their cry.
The Lord turns his face against
the wicked
to destroy their remembrance from the
earth. R.
When the just cry out, the Lord hears,
and rescues them in all their distress.
The Lord is close to the
broken-hearted;
those whose spirit is crushed he will save.
R.
Many are the trials of the just man,
but from them all the Lord will rescue him.
He will keep guard over all his bones;
not one of his bones shall be broken. R.
Evil brings death to the wicked;
those who hate the just man are doomed.
The Lord ransoms the souls
of his servants.
All who trust in him shall not be
condemned. R.
SECOND READING Ephesians 5:21-32
“This
is a great mystery, and I mean in reference to Christ and the Church.”
Brethren: Be subject to one another out of
reverence for Christ. Wives, be subject to your husbands, as to the Lord. For
the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the Church, his
body, and is himself its Saviour. As the Church is subject to Christ, so let
wives also be subject in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your
wives, as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her, that he might
sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that
he might present the Church to himself in splendour, without spot or wrinkle or
any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.
Even so husbands should love their wives as
their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no man ever hates
his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, as Christ does the Church,
because we are members of his body. “For this reason a man shall leave his
father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This is a
great mystery, and I mean in reference
to Christ and the Church.
The word of the Lord
ALLELUIA Cf.
John 6:63c.68c
V. Alleluia. R.
Alleluia.
V. Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life; you have the words of eternal life. R. Alleluia.
GOSPEL John
6:60-69
“Lord,
to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. ”
At that time: Many of the disciples of
Jesus said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” But Jesus, knowing
in himself that his disciples murmured at it, said to them, “Do you take
offence at this? Then what if you were to see the Son of man ascending where he
was before? It is the Spirit that gives life, the flesh is of no avail; the
words that I have spoken to you are Spirit and life. But there are some of you
that do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the first who those were that did not
believe, and who it was that would betray him. And he said, “This is why I told
you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.” After
this many of his disciples drew back and no longer walked with him. Jesus said
to the Twelve, “Will you also go away?”
Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom
shall we go? You have the words of eternal life; and we have believed, and have
come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”
The
Gospel of the Lord.
