First Reading

Book of Genesis (Gn 27: 1-5, 15-29)

Jacob stole my birthright and my blessing, says Esau.

When Isaac was so old that his eyesight had failed him,
he called his older son Esau and said to him,

“Son!”

“Yes father!” he replied.

Isaac then said,

“As you can see, I am so old
that I may now die at any time.
Take your gear, therefore – your quiver and bow –
and go out into the country to hunt some game for me.
With your catch prepare an appetizing dish for me, such as I like,
and bring it to me to eat,
so that I may give you my special blessing before I die.”

Rebekah had been listening
while Isaac was speaking to his son Esau.
So, when Esau went out into the country
to hunt some game for his father,
Rebekah [then] took the best clothes of her older son Esau
that she had in the house,
and gave them to her younger son Jacob to wear;
and with the skins of the kids she covered up his hands
and the hairless parts of his neck.
Then she handed her son Jacob the appetizing dish
and the bread she had prepared.

Bringing them to his father, Jacob said,

“Father!”

“Yes?” replied Isaac.

“Which of my sons are you?”

Jacob answered his father:

“I am Esau, your first-born.
I did as you told me.
Please sit up and eat some of my game,
so that you may give me your special blessing.”

But Isaac asked,

“How did you succeed so quickly, son?”

He answered,

“The LORD, your God, let things turn out well with me.”

Isaac then said to Jacob,

“Come closer, son, that I may feel you,
to learn whether you really are my son Esau or not.”

So Jacob moved up closer to his father.
When Isaac felt him, he said,

“Although the voice is Jacob's, the hands are Esau's.”

(He failed to identify him because his hands were hairy,
like those of his brother Esau;
so in the end he gave him his blessing.)
Again he asked Jacob,

“Are you really my son Esau?”

“Certainly,” Jacob replied.

Then Isaac said,

“Serve me your game, son, that I may eat of it
and then give you my blessing.”

Jacob served it to him, and Isaac ate;
he brought him wine, and he drank.

Finally his father Isaac said to Jacob,

“Come closer, son, and kiss me.”

As Jacob went up and kissed him,
Isaac smelled the fragrance of his clothes.
With that, he blessed him saying,

“Ah, the fragrance of my son
is like the fragrance of a field
that the LORD has blessed!

May God give to you
of the dew of the heavens
And of the fertility of the earth
abundance of grain and wine.

Let peoples serve you,
and nations pay you homage;
Be master of your brothers,
and may your mother's sons bow down to you.
Cursed be those who curse you,
and blessed be those who bless you.”

— The word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm

Ps 135: 1b-2, 3-4, 5-6

Praise the Lord for the Lord is good!

Praise the name of the LORD;
Praise, you servants of the LORD
Who stand in the house of the LORD,
in the courts of the house of our God.

Praise the LORD, for the LORD is good;
sing praise to his name, which we love;
For the LORD has chosen Jacob for himself,
Israel for his own possession.

For I know that the LORD is great;
our LORD is greater than all gods.
All that the LORD wills he does
in heaven and on earth,
in the seas and in all the deeps.

Gospel

Alleluia, alleluia.

My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord;
I know them, and they follow me.

Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew (Mt 9: 14-17)

Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?

The disciples of John approached Jesus and said,

“Why do we and the Pharisees fast much,
but your disciples do not fast?”

Jesus answered them,

“Can the wedding guests mourn
as long as the bridegroom is with them?
The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them,
and then they will fast.
No one patches an old cloak with a piece of unshrunken cloth,
for its fullness pulls away from the cloak and the tear gets worse.
People do not put new wine into old wineskins.
Otherwise the skins burst, the wine spills out, and the skins are ruined.
Rather, they pour new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”

— The Gospel of the Lord.

First Reading

Book of Genesis (Gn 23: 1-4, 19 ; 24: 1-8, 62-67)

In his love for Rebekah, Isaac found solace after the death of his mother.

The span of Sarah’s life was one hundred and twenty-seven years.
She died in Kiriatharba (that is, Hebron)
in the land of Canaan,
and Abraham performed the customary mourning rites for her.
Then he left the side of his dead one and addressed the Hittites:

“Although I am a resident alien among you,
sell me from your holdings a piece of property for a burial ground,
that I may bury my dead wife.”

After the transaction, Abraham buried his wife Sarah
in the cave of the field of Machpelah,
facing Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan.

Abraham had now reached a ripe old age,
and the LORD had blessed him in every way.
Abraham said to the senior servant of his household,
who had charge of all his possessions:

“Put your hand under my thigh,
and I will make you swear by the LORD,
the God of heaven and the God of earth,
that you will not procure a wife for my son
from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I live,
but that you will go to my own land and to my kindred
to get a wife for my son Isaac.”

The servant asked him:

“What if the woman is unwilling to follow me to this land?
Should I then take your son back to the land from which you migrated?”

“Never take my son back there for any reason,” Abraham told him.

“The LORD, the God of heaven,
who took me from my father’s house and the land of my kin,
and who confirmed by oath the promise he then made to me,
‘I will give this land to your descendants’ –
he will send his messenger before you,
and you will obtain a wife for my son there.
If the woman is unwilling to follow you,
you will be released from this oath.
But never take my son back there!”

A long time later, Isaac went to live in the region of the Negeb.
One day toward evening he went out... in the field,
and as he looked around, he noticed that camels were approaching.
Rebekah, too, was looking about, and when she saw him,
she alighted from her camel and asked the servant,

“Who is the man out there, walking through the fields toward us?”

“That is my master,” replied the servant.

Then she covered herself with her veil.

The servant recounted to Isaac all the things he had done.
Then Isaac took Rebekah into his tent;
he married her, and thus she became his wife.
In his love for her, Isaac found solace
after the death of his mother Sarah.

— The word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm

Ps 106: 1b-2, 3-4a, 4b-5

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,
for his mercy endures forever.
Who can tell the mighty deeds of the LORD,
or proclaim all his praises?

Blessed are they who observe what is right,
who do always what is just.
Remember us, O LORD, as you favor your people.

Visit me with your saving help,
That I may see the prosperity of your chosen ones,
rejoice in the joy of your people,
and glory with your inheritance.

Gospel

Alleluia, alleluia.

Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,
and I will give you rest, says the Lord.

Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew (Mt 9: 9-13)

Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. I desire mercy, not sacrifice.

As Jesus passed by,
he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the customs post.
He said to him,

“Follow me.”

And he got up and followed him.
While he was at table in his house,
many tax collectors and sinners came
and sat with Jesus and his disciples.
The Pharisees saw this and said to his disciples,

“Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

He heard this and said,

“Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do.
Go and learn the meaning of the words,
I desire mercy, not sacrifice.
I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”

— The Gospel of the Lord.