Twenty-First Week in Ordinary Time
Year II
26th August 2026 (Monday)
Psalter: Week 1
Reading of the Day
| First Reading | 2 Thessalonians 1:1-5, 11b-12 |
| Response | Tell among all the people the wonders of the Lord. |
| Gospel | Matthew 23:13-22 |
First Reading
2 Thessalonians 1:1-5, 11b-12
Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of every one of you for one another is increasing. Therefore we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions that you are enduring. This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering. That our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfil every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 96:1-2a, 2b-3, 4-5 (R. see 3)
R/. Tell among all the people the wonders of the Lord
O sing a new song to the Lord;
sing to the Lord, all the earth.
O sing to the Lord; bless his name. R/.
Proclaim his salvation day by day.
Tell among the nations his glory,
and his wonders among all the peoples. R/.
For the Lord is great and highly to be praised,
to be feared above all gods.
For the gods of the nations are naught.
It was the Lord who made the heavens. R/.
Gospel Acclamation
John 10:27
V/. Alleluia
R/. Alleluia
V/. My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord; and I know them, and they follow me.
R/. Alleluia.
Gospel
Matthew 23:13-22
At that time: Jesus said, “Woe to you, scribes and pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. Woe to you, scribes and pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ’If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anything swears by the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.’ You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it. And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it.”
