HOLY MASS READINGS FOR AUGUST 16, 2024

Friday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Weekday  (Green)

Optional Memorial of St. Stephen of Hungary             (White)

LH: Office of the Day or of the Memorial, Week III

Mass and Preface of the day or of the Memorial

FIRST READING
Your beauty was perfect through the splendour which I had bestowed upon you; but you played the harlot.
A reading from the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel (Ezekiel 16:1-15.60.63)

The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, make known to Jerusalem her abominations, and say, Thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth are of the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite, and your mother a Hittite. And as for your birth, on the day you were born your navel string was not cut, nor were you washed with water to cleanse you, nor rubbed with salt, nor swathed with bands. No eye pitied you, to do any of these things to you out of compassion for you; but you were cast out on the open field, for you were abhorred, on the day that you were born. “And when I passed by you, and saw you weltering in your blood, I said to you in your blood, ‘Live, and grow up like a plant to the field.’ And you grew up and became tall and arrived at full maidenhood; your breasts were formed, and your hair had grown; yet you were naked and bare. When I passed by you again and looked upon you, behold, you were at the age for love; and I spread my skirt over you, and covered your nakedness: yes, I pledged myself to you and entered into a covenant with you, says the Lord God, and you became mine. Then I bathed you with water and washed off your blood from you, and anointed you with oil. I clothed you also with embroidered cloth and shod you with leather, I wrapped you in fine linen and covered you with silk. And I decked you with ornaments, and put bracelets on your arms, and a chain on your neck. And I put a ring on your nose, and earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown upon your head. Thus you were decked with gold and silver; and your clothing was of fine linen, and silk, and embroidered cloth; you ate fine flour and honey and oil. You grew exceedingly beautiful, and came to regal estate. And your renown went forth among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through the splendour which I had bestowed upon you, says the Lord GOD. “But you trusted in your beauty, and played the harlot because of your renown, and lavished your harlotries on any passer-by. Yet I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish with you an everlasting covenant, that you may remember and be confounded, and never open your mouth again because of your shame, when I forgive you all that you have done, says the Lord God.”

The word of the Lord.

OR THE FOLLOWING

FIRST READING
Remember my covenant with you, and be confounded.
A reading from the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel (Ezekiel 16:59-63)

“Thus says the Lord GOD: I will deal with you as you have done, who have despised the oath in breaking the covenant, yet I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish with you an everlasting covenant. Then you will remember your ways, and be ashamed when I take your sisters, both your elder and your younger, and give them to you as daughters, but not on account of the covenant with you. I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall know that I am the Lord, that you may remember and be confounded, and never open your mouth again because of your shame, when I forgive you all that you have done, says the Lord GOD.”

The word of the Lord.

RESPONSORIAL PSALM 

Isaiah 12:2-3.4bcde.5-6 (R.1de)

R/. Your anger turned away and you comforted me.

“Behold God is my salvation,
I will trust, and will not be afraid;
for the Lord God is my strength
and my song, and he has
become my salvation.”
With joy you will draw water
from the wells of salvation. R/.

“Give thanks to the Lord,
call upon his name; make known
his deeds among the nations
proclaim that his name is exalted.” R/.

“Sing praises to the Lord,
for he has done gloriously;
let this be known in all the earth.
Shout, and sing for joy,
O inhabitant of Sion,
for great in your midst is the
Holy One of Israel.” R/.

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION 

1 Thessalonians 2:13

Alleluia. 

Accept the word of God, not as the word of men, but as what it really is, the word of God.

Alleluia.

GOSPEL
For your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so.
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew (Matthew 19:3-12)

At that time: Pharisees came up to Jesus and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?” He answered, ‘Have you not read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one’? So they are no longer two but one. What therefore God has joined together, .let no man put asunder.” They said to him, “Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?” He said to them, “For your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for unchastity, and marries another, commits adultery; and he who marries a divorced woman, commits adultery.” The disciples said to him, “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is not expedient to marry.” But he said to them, “Not all men can receive this precept, but only those to whom it is given. For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to receive this, let him receive it.”

The Gospel of the Lord.