The readings meet you in the ordinary place where faith is practiced. Stay with what Jesus says or does here, and let it ask for one honest response.
Today’s readings
First Reading
Micah 6:1-4, 6-8
Listen now to what the LORD says: "Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear what you have to say. Hear, you mountains, the LORD's indictment, and you enduring foundations of the earth; for the LORD has a case against his people, and he will contend with Israel. My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? Answer me! For I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage. I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. How shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams? With tens of thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my disobedience? The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does the LORD require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 50:5-6, 8-9, 16bc-17, 21, 23
"Gather my saints together to me, those who have made a covenant with me by sacrifice." The heavens shall declare his righteousness, for God himself is judge. Selah. I don't rebuke you for your sacrifices. Your burnt offerings are continually before me. I have no need for a bull from your stall, nor male goats from your pens. But to the wicked God says, "What right do you have to declare my statutes, that you have taken my covenant on your lips, since you hate instruction, and throw my words behind you? You have done these things, and I kept silent. You thought that I was just like you. I will rebuke you, and accuse you in front of your eyes. Whoever offers the sacrifice of thanksgiving glorifies me, and prepares his way so that I will show God's salvation to him."
Gospel
Matthew 12:38-42
Then certain of the scribes and Pharisees answered, "Teacher, we want to see a sign from you." But he answered them, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, but no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the huge fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up in the judgment with this generation and will condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, someone greater than Jonah is here. The Queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with this generation and will condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, someone greater than Solomon is here.
A question for your journal
What line from today's readings do you want to carry into one ordinary hour?
Scripture text: World English Bible Catholic Edition, public domain. Reading citations are prepared for Come Aside from MIT-licensed citation metadata.
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