FIRST READING
“O dwellers in the dust, awake and sing for joy.”
A reading from the Book of Isaiah (Isaiah 26:7-9.12. 16-19)
The way of the righteous is level; you make smooth the path of the righteous. In the path of your judgements, O Lord, we wait for you; your memorial name is the desire of our soul. My soul yearns for you in the night, my spirit within me earnestly seeks you. For when your judgements are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness. O Lord, you will ordain peace for us, you have wrought for us all our works. O Lord, in distress they sought you, they poured out a prayer when your chastening was upon them. Like a woman with child, who writhes and cries out in her pangs, when she is near her time, so were we because of you, O Lord; we were with child, we writhed, but we gave birth only to wind. We have wrought no deliverance in the earth, and the inhabitants of the world have not fallen. Your dead shall live, their bodies shall rise. O dwellers in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a dew of light, and on the land of the shades you will let it fall.
The word of the Lord.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM Ps 102: 13- l4ab and 15.16-18.19-21(R. 20b)
R/. The Lord looked down from heaven to the earth
But you, O Lord, are enthroned forever,
and your renown is from age to age.
You will arise and take pity on Sion,.
for this is the time, to have mercy.
Behold, your servants love her very stones,
are moved to pity for her dust. R/.
The nations shall fear the name of the Lord,
and all the earth’s kings your glory.
When the Lord shall build up Sion,
he will appear in all his glory.
Then he will turn to the prayers of the helpless;
he will not despise their prayers. R/.
R/. The Lord looked down from heaven to the earth
Let this be written for ages to come,
that a people yet unborn may praise the Lord;
the Lord looked down from his holy place on high,
looked down from heaven to the earth,
to hear the groans of the prisoners,
and free those condemned to die. R/.
ALLELUIA Matthew 11:28
Alleluia. Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest, says the Lord. Alleluia.
GOSPEL
“I am gentle and lowly in heart.”
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew (Matthew 11:28-30)
At that time: Jesus declared, “Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and l will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
Today’s Reflection
Jesus lives all that he teaches, today he invites his disciples to come to him and learn from him how they can carry their burdens without feeling their weight, because his yoke is easy and his burden light. Isaiah testifies to the life of the righteous, for God is always with them to make smooth their path of life and guide them on to the path of life eternal.