Readings: Thursday 17th Week in Ordinary Time Y1

First Reading

First Reading: Exodus  40:16-21, 34-38

Moses did exactly as the Lord had commanded him.
On the first day of the first month of the second year
          the Dwelling was erected.
It was Moses who erected the Dwelling.
He placed its pedestals, set up its boards, put in its bars,
          and set up its columns.
He spread the tent over the Dwelling
          and put the covering on top of the tent,
          as the Lord had commanded him.
He took the commandments and put them in the ark;
          he placed poles alongside the ark and set the propitiatory upon it.
He brought the ark into the Dwelling and hung the curtain veil,
          thus screening off the ark of the commandments,
          as the Lord had commanded him.  
Then the cloud covered the meeting tent,
          and the glory of the Lord filled the Dwelling.
Moses could not enter the meeting tent,
          because the cloud settled down upon it
          and the glory of the Lord filled the Dwelling.
Whenever the cloud rose from the Dwelling,
          the children of Israel would set out on their journey.
But if the cloud did not lift, they would not go forward;
          only when it lifted did they go forward.
In the daytime the cloud of the Lord was seen over the Dwelling;
          whereas at night, fire was seen in the cloud
          by the whole house of Israel
          in all the stages of their journey. 

Responsorial Psalm

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm  84:3, 4, 5-6a and 8a, 11

R./  How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord, mighty God!

My soul yearns and pines 
          for the courts of the Lord.
My heart and my flesh
          cry out for the living God.
R./  How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord, mighty God!

Even the sparrow finds a home,
          and the swallow a nest
          in which she puts her young–
Your altars, O Lord of hosts,
          my king and my God!
R./  How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord, mighty God!

O my strength! for you I watch;
          for you, O God, are my stronghold, 
As for my God, may his mercy go before me;
          may he show me the fall of my foes.
R./  How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord, mighty God!

Blessed they who dwell in your house!
          continually they praise you.
Blessed the men whose strength you are!
They go from strength to strength.
R./  How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord, mighty God!

I had rather one day in your courts
          than a thousand elsewhere;
I had rather lie at the threshold of the house of my God
          than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
R./  How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord, mighty God!

Holy Gospel

Gospel Reading: Matthew  13:44-46

Jesus said to the disciples:
“The Kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea,
          which collects fish of every kind.
When it is full they haul it ashore
          and sit down to put what is good into buckets.
What is bad they throw away.
Thus it will be at the end of the age.
The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous
          and throw them into the fiery furnace,
          where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.”
“Do you understand all these things?”
They answered, “Yes.”
And he replied,
          “Then every scribe who has been instructed in the Kingdom of heaven
          is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom
          both the new and the old.”
When Jesus finished these parables, he went away from there.