First Reading

Book of Jonah (Jon 4: 1-11)

You are concerned over the plant. And should I not be concerned over Nineveh, the great city?

Jonah was greatly displeased
and became angry that God did not carry out the evil
he threatened against Nineveh.
He prayed,

“I beseech you, LORD,
is not this what I said while I was still in my own country?
This is why I fled at first to Tarshish.
I knew that you are a gracious and merciful God,
slow to anger, rich in clemency, loath to punish.
And now, LORD, please take my life from me;
for it is better for me to die than to live.”

But the LORD asked,

“Have you reason to be angry?”

Jonah then left the city for a place to the east of it,
where he built himself a hut and waited under it in the shade,
to see what would happen to the city.
And when the LORD God provided a gourd plant
that grew up over Jonah’s head,
giving shade that relieved him of any discomfort,
Jonah was very happy over the plant.
But the next morning at dawn
God sent a worm that attacked the plant,
so that it withered.
And when the sun arose, God sent a burning east wind;
and the sun beat upon Jonah’s head till he became faint.
Then Jonah asked for death, saying,

“I would be better off dead than alive.”

But God said to Jonah,

“Have you reason to be angry over the plant?”

“I have reason to be angry, Jonah answered, angry enough to die.”

Then the LORD said,

“You are concerned over the plant which cost you no labor
and which you did not raise;
it came up in one night and in one night it perished.
And should I not be concerned over Nineveh, the great city,
in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons
who cannot distinguish their right hand from their left,
not to mention the many cattle?”

— The word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm

Ps 86: 3-4, 5-6, 9-10

Lord, you are merciful and gracious.

Have mercy on me, O Lord,
for to you I call all the day.
Gladden the soul of your servant,
for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.

For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving,
abounding in kindness to all who call upon you.
Hearken, O LORD, to my prayer
and attend to the sound of my pleading.

All the nations you have made shall come
and worship you, O Lord,
and glorify your name.
For you are great, and you do wondrous deeds;
you alone are God.

Gospel

Alleluia, alleluia.

You have received a spirit of adoption as sons through which we cry: Abba! Father!

Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke (Lk 11: 1-4)

Lord, teach us to pray.

Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he had finished,
one of his disciples said to him,

“Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.”

He said to them,

“When you pray, say:

Father, hallowed be your name,
your Kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread
and forgive us our sins
for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us,
and do not subject us to the final test.”

— The Gospel of the Lord.

First Reading

Book of Jonah (Jon 3: 1-10)

Sawing how they turned from their evil way, God repented of the evil that he had threatened to do to them.

The word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time:

“Set out for the great city of Nineveh,
and announce to it the message that I will tell you.”

So Jonah made ready and went to Nineveh,
according to the LORD’s bidding.
Now Nineveh was an enormously large city;
it took three days to go through it.
Jonah began his journey through the city,
and had gone but a single day’s walk announcing,

“Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed,”

when the people of Nineveh believed God;
they proclaimed a fast and all of them, great and small,
put on sackcloth.

When the news reached the king of Nineveh,
he rose from his throne, laid aside his robe,
covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in the ashes.
Then he had this proclaimed throughout Nineveh,
by decree of the king and his nobles:

“Neither man nor beast, neither cattle nor sheep,
shall taste anything;
they shall not eat, nor shall they drink water.
Man and beast shall be covered with sackcloth
and call loudly to God;
every man shall turn from his evil way
and from the violence he has in hand.
Who knows, God may relent and forgive,
and withhold his blazing wrath,
so that we shall not perish.”

When God saw by their actions how they turned from their evil way,
he repented of the evil that he had threatened to do to them;
he did not carry it out.

— The word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm

Ps 130: 1b-2. 3-4ab. 7-8

If you, O Lord, mark iniquities, who can stand?

Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD
LORD, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
to my voice in supplication.

If you, O LORD, mark iniquities,
LORD, who can stand?
But with you is forgiveness,
that you may be revered.

Let Israel wait for the LORD,
For with the LORD is kindness
and with him is plenteous redemption;
And he will redeem Israel
from all their iniquities.

Gospel

Alleluia, alleluia.

Blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.

Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke (Lk 10: 38-42)

A woman whose name was Martha welcomed him. Mary has chosen the better part.

Jesus entered a village
where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him.
She had a sister named Mary
who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak.
Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said,

“Lord, do you not care
that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving?
Tell her to help me.”

The Lord said to her in reply,

“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things.
There is need of only one thing.
Mary has chosen the better part
and it will not be taken from her.”

— The Gospel of the Lord.