First Reading

Book of the Prophet Ezekiel (Ez 37: 21-28)

I will make them one nation.

Thus says the Lord GOD:

I will take the children of Israel from among the nations
to which they have come,
and gather them from all sides to bring them back to their land.
I will make them one nation upon the land,
in the mountains of Israel,
and there shall be one prince for them all.
Never again shall they be two nations,
and never again shall they be divided into two kingdoms.

No longer shall they defile themselves with their idols,
their abominations, and all their transgressions.
I will deliver them from all their sins of apostasy,
and cleanse them so that they may be my people
and I may be their God.
My servant David shall be prince over them,
and there shall be one shepherd for them all;
they shall live by my statutes and carefully observe my decrees.
They shall live on the land that I gave to my servant Jacob,
the land where their fathers lived;
they shall live on it forever,
they, and their children, and their children's children,
with my servant David their prince forever.
I will make with them a covenant of peace;
it shall be an everlasting covenant with them,
and I will multiply them, and put my sanctuary among them forever.
My dwelling shall be with them;
I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Thus the nations shall know that it is I, the LORD,
who make Israel holy,
when my sanctuary shall be set up among them forever.

Responsorial Psalm

(Jer 31: 10, 11-12abcd, 13)

The Lord will guard us, as a shepherd guards his flock.

Hear the word of the LORD, O nations,
proclaim it on distant isles, and say:
He who scattered Israel, now gathers them together,
he guards them as a shepherd his flock.

The LORD shall ransom Jacob,
he shall redeem him from the hand of his conqueror.
Shouting, they shall mount the heights of Zion,
they shall come streaming to the LORD's blessings:
The grain, the wine, and the oil,
the sheep and the oxen.

Then the virgins shall make merry and dance,
and young men and old as well.
I will turn their mourning into joy,
I will console and gladden them after their sorrows.

Gospel

Glory and praise to you, O Christ.

Cast away from you all the crimes you have committed, says the LORD, and make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit.

Glory and praise to you, O Christ.

Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John (Jn 11: 45-56)

Together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.

Many of the Jews who had come to Mary
and seen what Jesus had done began to believe in him.
But some of them went to the Pharisees
and told them what Jesus had done.
So the chief priests and the Pharisees
convened the Sanhedrin and said,

“What are we going to do?
This man is performing many signs.
If we leave him alone, all will believe in him,
and the Romans will come
and take away both our land and our nation.”

But one of them, Caiaphas,
who was high priest that year, said to them,

“You know nothing,
nor do you consider that it is better for you
that one man should die instead of the people,
so that the whole nation may not perish.”

He did not say this on his own,
but since he was high priest for that year,
he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation,
and not only for the nation,
but also to gather into one the dispersed children of God.
So from that day on they planned to kill him.

So Jesus no longer walked about in public among the Jews,
but he left for the region near the desert,
to a town called Ephraim,
and there he remained with his disciples.

Now the Passover of the Jews was near,
and many went up from the country to Jerusalem
before Passover to purify themselves.
They looked for Jesus and said to one another
as they were in the temple area,

“What do you think?
That he will not come to the feast?”

— The Gospel of the Lord.

First Reading

Book of Jeremiah (Jer 20: 10-13)

The Lord is with me as a dread warrior.

I hear the whisperings of many:

“Terror on every side!
Denounce! let us denounce him!”

All those who were my friends
are on the watch for any misstep of mine.

“Perhaps he will be trapped; then we can prevail,
and take our vengeance on him.”

But the LORD is with me, like a mighty champion:
my persecutors will stumble, they will not triumph.
In their failure they will be put to utter shame,
to lasting, unforgettable confusion.
O LORD of hosts, you who test the just,
who probe mind and heart,
Let me witness the vengeance you take on them,
for to you I have entrusted my cause.
Sing to the LORD,
praise the LORD,
For he has rescued the life of the poor
from the power of the wicked!

— The word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm (Ps 18: 2-3a, 3bc-4, 5-6, 7)

In my distress I called upon the Lord, and he heard my voice.

I love you, O LORD, my strength,
O LORD, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer.

My God, my rock of refuge,
my shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold!
Praised be the LORD, I exclaim,
and I am safe from my enemies.

The breakers of death surged round about me,
the destroying floods overwhelmed me;
The cords of the nether world enmeshed me,
the snares of death overtook me.

In my distress I called upon the LORD
and cried out to my God;
From his temple he heard my voice,
and my cry to him reached his ears.

Gospel

Glory and praise you to you, O Christ.

Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life; you have the words of everlasting life.

Glory and praise you to you, O Christ.

Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John (Jn 10: 31-42)

They tried to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands.

The Jews picked up rocks to stone Jesus.
Jesus answered them,

“I have shown you many good works from my Father.
For which of these are you trying to stone me?”

The Jews answered him,

“We are not stoning you for a good work but for blasphemy.
You, a man, are making yourself God.”

Jesus answered them,

“Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, You are gods’?
If it calls them gods to whom the word of God came,
and Scripture cannot be set aside,
can you say that the one
whom the Father has consecrated and sent into the world
blasphemes because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?
If I do not perform my Father’s works, do not believe me;
but if I perform them, even if you do not believe me,
believe the works, so that you may realize and understand
that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”

Then they tried again to arrest him;
but he escaped from their power.

He went back across the Jordan
to the place where John first baptized, and there he remained.
Many came to him and said,

“John performed no sign,
but everything John said about this man was true.”

And many there began to believe in him.

— The Gospel of the Lord.

First Reading

Book of Genesis (Gn 17: 3-9)

You shall be the father of a multitude of Nations.

When Abram prostrated himself, God spoke to him:

“My covenant with you is this:
you are to become the father of a host of nations.
No longer shall you be called Abram;
your name shall be Abraham,
for I am making you the father of a host of nations.
I will render you exceedingly fertile;
I will make nations of you;
kings shall stem from you.
I will maintain my covenant with you
and your descendants after you
throughout the ages as an everlasting pact,
to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.
I will give to you
and to your descendants after you
the land in which you are now staying,
the whole land of Canaan, as a permanent possession;
and I will be their God.”

God also said to Abraham:

“On your part, you and your descendants after you
must keep my covenant throughout the ages.”

— The word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm (Ps 105: 4-5, 6-7, 8-9)

The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.

Look to the LORD in his strength;
seek to serve him constantly.
Recall the wondrous deeds that he has wrought,
his portents, and the judgments he has uttered.

You descendants of Abraham, his servants,
sons of Jacob, his chosen ones!
He, the LORD, is our God;
throughout the earth his judgments prevail.

He remembers forever his covenant
which he made binding for a thousand generations –
Which he entered into with Abraham
and by his oath to Isaac.

Gospel

Glory and praise to you, O Christ.

If today you hear his voice,
harden not your hearts.

Glory and praise to you, O Christ.

Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John (Jn 8: 51-59)

Your father Abraham rejoice that he was to see my day.

Jesus said to the Jews:

“Amen, amen, I say to you,
whoever keeps my word will never see death.”

So the Jews said to him,

“Now we are sure that you are possessed.
Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say,
‘Whoever keeps my word will never taste death.’
Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died?
Or the prophets, who died?
Who do you make yourself out to be?”

Jesus answered,

“If I glorify myself, my glory is worth nothing;
but it is my Father who glorifies me,
of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’
You do not know him, but I know him.
And if I should say that I do not know him,
I would be like you a liar.
But I do know him and I keep his word.
Abraham your father rejoiced to see my day;
he saw it and was glad.”

So the Jews said to him,

“You are not yet fifty years old and you have seen Abraham?”

Jesus said to them,

“Amen, amen, I say to you,
before Abraham came to be, I AM.”

So they picked up stones to throw at him;
but Jesus hid and went out of the temple area.

— The Gospel of the Lord.