Readings: Friday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time

First Reading

1st Reading: Am 8:4–6, 9–12

Hear this, you who trample on the needy to do away with the weak of the land. You who say, “When will the new moon or the sabbath feast be over that we may open the store and sell our grain? Let us lower the measure and raise the price; let us cheat and tamper with the scales, and even sell the refuse with the whole grain. We will buy up the poor for money and the needy for a pair of sandals.”

Yahweh says, “On that day I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight.

“I will turn your festivals into mourning and all your singing into wailing. Everyone will mourn, covered with sackcloth and every head will be shaved. I will make them mourn as for an only son and bring their day to a bitter end.”

Yahweh says, “Days are coming when I will send famine upon the land, not hunger for bread or thirst for water, but for hearing the word of Yahweh.

“Men will stagger from sea to sea, wander to and fro, from north to east, searching for the word of Yahweh, but they will not find it.”

Responsorial Psalm

Responsorial Psalm ps 119:2, 10, 20, 30, 40, 131

R.    (Matthew 4:4) One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

Blessed are they who observe his decrees,
who seek him with all their heart.

R. One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

With all my heart I seek you;
let me not stray from your commands.

R. One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

My soul is consumed with longing
for your ordinances at all times.

R. One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

The way of truth I have chosen;
I have set your ordinances before me.

R. One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

Behold, I long for your precepts;
in your justice give me life.

R. One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

I gasp with open mouth
in my yearning for your commands.

R. One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

Holy Gospel

Gospel: Matthew 9:9-13

As Jesus moved on from there, he saw a man named Matthew at his seat in the custom-house, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And Matthew got up and followed him. Now it happened, while Jesus was at table in Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and other sinners joined Jesus and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this they said to his disciples, “Why is it that your master eats with those sinners and tax collectors?”

When Jesus heard this he said, “Healthy people do not need a doctor, but sick people do. Go and find out what this means: What I want is mercy, not sacrifice. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”