Readings at Mass

Liturgical Colour: Green. Year: A(II).

First reading	1 Kings 11:4-13

‘Since you have not kept my covenant I will tear the kingdom from you;
but I will give one tribe to your son, for the sake of David.’

When Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and did not wholly follow the Lord, as David his father had done. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem. And so he did for all his foreign wives, who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods.

And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods. But he did not keep what the Lord commanded. Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, ‘Since this has been your practice and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant. Yet for the sake of David your father I will not do it in your days, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son. However, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but I will give one tribe to your son, for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem which I have chosen.’

How to listen

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 106(105):3-4.35-36. 37, 40. ℟4a

O Lord, remember the favour you show to your people.

Blessed are they who observe what is just,

who at all times do what is right.

O Lord, remember me

with the favour you show to your people.

O Lord, remember the favour you show to your people.

Instead they mingled with the nations,

and learned to act as they did.

They also served their idols,

and these became a snare to entrap them.

O Lord, remember the favour you show to your people.

They even offered their sons

and their daughters in sacrifice to demons.

Then the Lord’s anger blazed against his people;

he was filled with horror at his heritage.

O Lord, remember the favour you show to your people.

Gospel Acclamation	James 1:21bc

Alleluia, alleluia.

Receive with meekness the implanted word,

which is able to save your souls.

Alleluia.

Gospel	Mark 7:24-30

‘The dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.’

At that time: Jesus arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And he entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet he could not be hidden. But immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. And he said to her, ‘Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.’ But she answered him, ‘Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.’ And he said to her, ‘For this statement you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter.’ And she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone.

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The readings on this page are from the English Standard Version, which is used at Mass in Great Britain. The Jerusalem Bible (which is used at Mass in much of the English-speaking world) will appear instead if you set this page to use a calendar from outside Great Britain. The New American Bible readings, which are used at Mass in the United States, are available in the Universalis apps, programs and downloads.