Twentieth Week in Ordinary Time
Year II
22nd August 2024 (Thursday)
Psalter: Week 4
Reading of the Day
| First Reading | Ezekiel 36:23-28 |
| Response | I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses. |
| Gospel | Matthew 22:1-14 |
First Reading
Ezekiel 36:23-28
Thus says the Lord: I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 51:12-13, 14-15, 18-19 (R. Ezekiel 36:25)
R/. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses.
Create a pure heart for me, O God;
renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me away from your presence;
take not your holy spirit from me. R/.
Restore in me the joy of your salvation;
sustain in me a willing spirit.
I will teach transgressors your ways,
that sinners may return to you. R/.
For in sacrifice you take no delight;
burnt offering from me would not please you.
My sacrifice to God, a broken spirit:
a broken and humbled heart, O God, you will not spurn. R/.
Gospel Acclamation
See Psalm 95:7d, 8a
V/. Alleluia
R/. Alleluia
V/. Today, harden not your hearts, but listen to the voice of the Lord.
R/. Alleluia.
Gospel
Matthew 22:1-14
At that time: Again Jesus spoke to chief priests and elders of the people, in parables, saying, “The Kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. Again he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.”’ But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests. “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called but few are chosen.”
