First Reading

First Book of Samuel (1 Sm 15: 16-23)

Obedience is better than sacrifice; the Lord has rejected you as ruler.

Samuel said to Saul:

“Stop! Let me tell you what the LORD said to me last night.”

Saul replied,

“Speak!”

Samuel then said:

“Though little in your own esteem,
are you not leader of the tribes of Israel?
The LORD anointed you king of Israel and sent you on a mission, saying,
‘Go and put the sinful Amalekites under a ban of destruction.
Fight against them until you have exterminated them.’
Why then have you disobeyed the LORD?
You have pounced on the spoil, thus displeasing the LORD.”

Saul answered Samuel:

“I did indeed obey the LORD
and fulfill the mission on which the LORD sent me.
I have brought back Agag, and I have destroyed Amalek under the ban.
But from the spoil the men took sheep and oxen,
the best of what had been banned,
to sacrifice to the LORD their God in Gilgal.”

But Samuel said:

“Does the LORD so delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as in obedience to the command of the LORD?
Obedience is better than sacrifice,
and submission than the fat of rams.
For a sin like divination is rebellion,
and presumption is the crime of idolatry.
Because you have rejected the command of the LORD,
he, too, has rejected you as ruler.”

— The word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm

Ps 50: 8-9, 16bc-17, 21 and 23

To the upright I will show the saving power of God.

“Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you,
for your burnt offerings are before me always.
I take from your house no bullock,
no goats out of your fold.”

“Why do you recite my statutes,
and profess my covenant with your mouth,
Though you hate discipline
and cast my words behind you?”

“When you do these things, shall I be deaf to it?
Or do you think that I am like yourself?
I will correct you by drawing them up before your eyes.
He that offers praise as a sacrifice glorifies me;
and to him that goes the right way I will show the salvation of God.”

Gospel

Alleluia, alleluia.

The word of God is living and effective, able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.

Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark (Mk 2: 18-22)

The bridegroom is with them.

The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were accustomed to fast.
People came to Jesus and objected,

“Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast,
but your disciples do not fast?”

Jesus answered them,

“Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?
As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast.
But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them,
and then they will fast on that day.
No one sews a piece of unshrunken cloth on an old cloak.
If he does, its fullness pulls away,
the new from the old, and the tear gets worse.
Likewise, no one pours new wine into old wineskins.
Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins,
and both the wine and the skins are ruined.
Rather, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins.”

— The Gospel of the Lord.

First Reading

First Book of Samuel (1 Sm 3: 3b-10, 19)

Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.

Samuel was sleeping in the temple of the LORD
where the ark of God was.
The LORD called to Samuel, who answered,

“Here I am.”

Samuel ran to Eli and said,

“Here I am. You called me.”

“I did not call you,” Eli said. “Go back to sleep.”

So he went back to sleep.
Again the LORD called Samuel, who rose and went to Eli.

“Here I am,” he said. “You called me.”

But Eli answered,

“I did not call you, my son. Go back to sleep.”

At that time Samuel was not familiar with the LORD,
because the LORD had not revealed anything to him as yet.
The LORD called Samuel again, for the third time.
Getting up and going to Eli, he said,

“Here I am. You called me.”

Then Eli understood that the LORD was calling the youth.
So he said to Samuel,

“Go to sleep, and if you are called, reply,
Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.”

When Samuel went to sleep in his place,
the LORD came and revealed his presence,
calling out as before,

“Samuel, Samuel!”

Samuel answered,

“Speak, for your servant is listening.”

Samuel grew up, and the LORD was with him,
not permitting any word of his to be without effect.

— The word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm

Ps 40: 2, 4, 7-8, 8-9, 10

Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.

I have waited, waited for the LORD,
and he stooped toward me and heard my cry.
And he put a new song into my mouth,
a hymn to our God.

Sacrifice or offering you wished not,
but ears open to obedience you gave me.
Holocausts or sin-offerings you sought not;
then said I, “Behold I come.”

“In the written scroll it is prescribed for me,
to do your will, O my God, is my delight,
and your law is within my heart!”

I announced your justice in the vast assembly;
I did not restrain my lips, as you, O LORD, know.

Second Reading

First Letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians (1 Cor 6: 13c-15a, 17-20)

Your bodies are members of Christ.

Brothers and sisters:
The body is not for immorality, but for the Lord,
and the Lord is for the body;
God raised the Lord and will also raise us by his power.

Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?
But whoever is joined to the Lord becomes one Spirit with him.
Avoid immorality.
Every other sin a person commits is outside the body,
but the immoral person sins against his own body.
Do you not know that your body
is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you,
whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?
For you have been purchased at a price.
Therefore glorify God in your body.

— The word of the Lord.

Gospel

Alleluia, alleluia.

We have found the Messiah: Jesus Christ, who brings us truth and grace.

Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John (Jn 1: 35-42)

They saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him.

John was standing with two of his disciples,
and as he watched Jesus walk by, he said,

“Behold, the Lamb of God.”

The two disciples heard what he said and followed Jesus.
Jesus turned and saw them following him and said to them,

“What are you looking for?”

They said to him,

“Rabbi — which translated means Teacher —,
where are you staying?”

He said to them,

“Come, and you will see.”

So they went and saw where Jesus was staying,
and they stayed with him that day.
It was about four in the afternoon.
Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter,
was one of the two who heard John and followed Jesus.
He first found his own brother Simon and told him,

“We have found the Messiah” — which is translated Christ —.

Then he brought him to Jesus.
Jesus looked at him and said,

“You are Simon the son of John;
you will be called Cephas” — which is translated Peter.

— The Gospel of the Lord.

First Reading

First Book of Samuel (1 Sm 9: 1-4, 17-19 ; 10: 1)

This is the man of whom the Lord told you; he is to govern his people.

There was a stalwart man from Benjamin named Kish,
who was the son of Abiel, son of Zeror,
son of Becorath, son of Aphiah, a Benjaminite.
He had a son named Saul, who was a handsome young man.
There was no other child of Israel more handsome than Saul;
he stood head and shoulders above the people.

Now the asses of Saul’s father, Kish, had wandered off.
Kish said to his son Saul,

“Take one of the servants with you
and go out and hunt for the asses.”

Accordingly they went through the hill country of Ephraim,
and through the land of Shalishah.
Not finding them there,
they continued through the land of Shaalim without success.
They also went through the land of Benjamin,
but they failed to find the animals.

When Samuel caught sight of Saul, the LORD assured him,

“This is the man of whom I told you; he is to govern my people.”

Saul met Samuel in the gateway and said,

“Please tell me where the seer lives.”

Samuel answered Saul:

“I am the seer.
Go up ahead of me to the high place and eat with me today.
In the morning, before dismissing you,
I will tell you whatever you wish.”

Then, from a flask he had with him, Samuel poured oil on Saul’s head;
he also kissed him, saying:

“The LORD anoints you commander over his heritage.
You are to govern the LORD’s people Israel,
and to save them from the grasp of their enemies roundabout.

This will be the sign for you
that the LORD has anointed you commander over his heritage.”

— The word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm

Ps 21: 2-3, 4-5, 6-7

Lord, in your strength the king is glad.

O LORD, in your strength the king is glad;
in your victory how greatly he rejoices!
You have granted him his heart’s desire;
you refused not the wish of his lips.

For you welcomed him with goodly blessings,
you placed on his head a crown of pure gold.
He asked life of you: you gave him
length of days forever and ever.

Great is his glory in your victory;
majesty and splendor you conferred upon him.
For you made him a blessing forever;
you gladdened him with the joy of your face.

Gospel

Alleluia, alleluia.

The Lord sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor and to proclaim liberty to captives.

Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Marc (Mk 2: 13-17)

I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.

Jesus went out along the sea.
All the crowd came to him and he taught them.
As he passed by, he saw Levi, son of Alphaeus,
sitting at the customs post.
Jesus said to him,

“Follow me.”

And he got up and followed Jesus.
While he was at table in his house,
many tax collectors and sinners sat with Jesus and his disciples;
for there were many who followed him.
Some scribes who were Pharisees saw that Jesus was eating with sinners
and tax collectors and said to his disciples,

“Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

Jesus heard this and said to them,

“Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do.
I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”

— The Gospel of the Lord.