TWENTY-THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Themes

Year A: charity, social concern, guidance, love, worship, community
Year B: courage, healing, salvation, community, comfort, strength
Year C: wisdom, protection, discipleship, commitment

Entrance Antiphon

You are just, O Lord, and your judgment is right;
treat your servant in accord with your merciful love.

Communion Antiphon

Like the deer that yearns for running streams,
so my soul is yearning for you, my God;
my soul is thirsting for God, the living God.

Or:

I am the light of the world, says the Lord;
whoever follows me will not walk in darkness,
but will have the light of life.

Readings

Click to view the readings for this liturgy.

  Year A

First Reading Ezekiel 33:7-9

Thus says the LORD:
You, son of man, I have appointed watchman for the house of Israel;
when you hear me say anything, you shall warn them for me.
If I tell the wicked, “O wicked one, you shall surely die,”
and you do not speak out to dissuade the wicked from his way,
the wicked shall die for his guilt,
but I will hold you responsible for his death.
But if you warn the wicked,
trying to turn him from his way,
and he refuses to turn from his way,
he shall die for his guilt,
but you shall save yourself.

---

Responsorial Psalm Psalm 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9

℟. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Come, let us sing joyfully to the LORD;
let us acclaim the rock of our salvation.
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us joyfully sing psalms to him. ℟.

Come, let us bow down in worship;
let us kneel before the LORD who made us.
For he is our God,
and we are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides. ℟.

Oh, that today you would hear his voice:
“Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,
as in the day of Massah in the desert,
where your fathers tempted me;
they tested me though they had seen my works.” ℟.

---

Second Reading Romans 13:8-10

Brothers and sisters:
Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another;
for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.
The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery;
you shall not kill; you shall not steal; you shall not covet,”
and whatever other commandment there may be,
are summed up in this saying, namely,
“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Love does no evil to the neighbor;
hence, love is the fulfillment of the law.

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Gospel Acclamation 2 Corinthians 5:19

℟. Alleluia, alleluia.
God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ
and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. ℟.

---

Gospel Matthew 18:15-20

Jesus said to his disciples:
“If your brother sins against you,
go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.
If he listens to you, you have won over your brother.
If he does not listen,
take one or two others along with you,
so that ‘every fact may be established
on the testimony of two or three witnesses.’
If he refuses to listen to them, tell the church.
If he refuses to listen even to the church,
then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector.
Amen, I say to you,
whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven,
and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Again, amen, I say to you,
if two of you agree on earth
about anything for which they are to pray,
it shall be granted to them by my heavenly Father.
For where two or three are gathered together in my name,
there am I in the midst of them.”

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  Year B

First Reading Isaiah 35:4-7a

Thus says the LORD:
Say to those whose hearts are frightened:
Be strong, fear not!
Here is your God,
he comes with vindication;
with divine recompense
he comes to save you.
Then will the eyes of the blind be opened,
the ears of the deaf be cleared;
then will the lame leap like a stag,
then the tongue of the mute will sing.
Streams will burst forth in the desert,
and rivers in the steppe.
The burning sands will become pools,
and the thirsty ground, springs of water.

---

Responsorial Psalm Psalm 146:6-7, 8-9, 9-10

℟. Praise the Lord, my soul!
Or:
℟. Alleluia.

The God of Jacob keeps faith forever,
secures justice for the oppressed,
gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets captives free. ℟.

The LORD gives sight to the blind;
the LORD raises up those who were bowed down.
The LORD loves the just;
the LORD protects strangers. ℟.

The fatherless and the widow the LORD sustains,
but the way of the wicked he thwarts.
The LORD shall reign forever;
your God, O Zion, through all generations.
Alleluia. ℟.

---

Second Reading James 2:1-5

My brothers and sisters, show no partiality
as you adhere to the faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ.
For if a man with gold rings and fine clothes
comes into your assembly,
and a poor person in shabby clothes also comes in,
and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes
and say, “Sit here, please,”
while you say to the poor one, “Stand there,” or “Sit at my feet,”
have you not made distinctions among yourselves
and become judges with evil designs?

Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters.
Did not God choose those who are poor in the world
to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom
that he promised to those who love him?

---

Gospel Acclamation Cf. Matthew 4:23

℟. Alleluia, alleluia.
Jesus proclaimed the Gospel of the kingdom
and cured every disease among the people. ℟.

---

Gospel Mark 7:31-37

Again Jesus left the district of Tyre
and went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee,
into the district of the Decapolis.
And people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment
and begged him to lay his hand on him.
He took him off by himself away from the crowd.
He put his finger into the man’s ears
and, spitting, touched his tongue;
then he looked up to heaven and groaned, and said to him,
“Ephphatha!” — that is, “Be opened!” —
And immediately the man’s ears were opened,
his speech impediment was removed,
and he spoke plainly.
He ordered them not to tell anyone.
But the more he ordered them not to,
the more they proclaimed it.
They were exceedingly astonished and they said,
“He has done all things well.
He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

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  Year C

First Reading Wisdom 9:13-18b

Who can know God’s counsel,
or who can conceive what the LORD intends?
For the deliberations of mortals are timid,
and unsure are our plans.
For the corruptible body burdens the soul
and the earthen shelter weighs down the mind that has many concerns.
And scarce do we guess the things on earth,
and what is within our grasp we find with difficulty;
but when things are in heaven, who can search them out?
Or who ever knew your counsel, except you had given wisdom
and sent your holy spirit from on high?
And thus were the paths of those on earth made straight.

---

Responsorial Psalm Psalm 90:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14, 17

℟. In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.

You turn man back to dust,
saying, “Return, O children of men.”
For a thousand years in your sight. are as yesterday, now that it is past,
or as a watch of the night. ℟.

You make an end of them in their sleep;
the next morning they are like the changing grass,
Which at dawn springs up anew,
but by evening wilts and fades. ℟.

Teach us to number our days aright,
that we may gain wisdom of heart.
Return, O LORD! How long?
Have pity on your servants! ℟.

Fill us at daybreak with your kindness,
that we may shout for joy and gladness all our days.
And may the gracious care of the LORD our God be ours;
prosper the work of our hands for us!
Prosper the work of our hands! ℟.

---

Second Reading Philemon 9-10, 12-17

I, Paul, an old man,
and now also a prisoner for Christ Jesus,
urge you on behalf of my child Onesimus,
whose father I have become in my imprisonment;
I am sending him, that is, my own heart, back to you.
I should have liked to retain him for myself,
so that he might serve me on your behalf
in my imprisonment for the gospel,
but I did not want to do anything without your consent,
so that the good you do might not be forced but voluntary.
Perhaps this is why he was away from you for a while,
that you might have him back forever,
no longer as a slave
but more than a slave, a brother,
beloved especially to me, but even more so to you,
as a man and in the Lord.
So if you regard me as a partner, welcome him as you would me.

---

Gospel Acclamation Psalm 119:135

℟. Alleluia, alleluia.
Let your face shine upon your servant;
and teach me your laws. ℟.

---

Gospel Luke 14:25-33

Great crowds were traveling with Jesus,
and he turned and addressed them,
“If anyone comes to me without hating his father and mother,
wife and children, brothers and sisters,
and even his own life,
he cannot be my disciple.
Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me
cannot be my disciple.
Which of you wishing to construct a tower
does not first sit down and calculate the cost
to see if there is enough for its completion?
Otherwise, after laying the foundation
and finding himself unable to finish the work
the onlookers should laugh at him and say,
‘This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.’
Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down
and decide whether with ten thousand troops
he can successfully oppose another king
advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops?
But if not, while he is still far away,
he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms.
In the same way,
anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions
cannot be my disciple.”

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Music Selections

  Year A

2026 \(\bullet\) 2029 \(\bullet\) 2032 \(\bullet\) 2035 \(\bullet\) 2038 \(\bullet\) 2041 \(\bullet\) 2044 \(\bullet\) 2047 \(\bullet\) 2050

Processional	BB
Psalm	RA	If today you hear his voice, harden not your heart.
Offertory	BB	Psalm 42: As the Deer Longs (o waly waly)
Communion	BB	When We Eat This Bread
Meditation	BB	Open My Eyes
Recessional	BB

  Year B

2024 \(\bullet\) 2027 \(\bullet\) 2030 \(\bullet\) 2033 \(\bullet\) 2036 \(\bullet\) 2039 \(\bullet\) 2042 \(\bullet\) 2045 \(\bullet\) 2048

Processional	BB
Psalm	RA	Praise the Lord, my soul.
Offertory	BB	Give Me Ears to Listen
Communion	BB	Psalm 42: As the Deer Longs (o waly waly)
Meditation	BB	Blessed by Your Sacrifice
Recessional	BB	Lift High the Cross

  Year C

2025 \(\bullet\) 2028 \(\bullet\) 2031 \(\bullet\) 2034 \(\bullet\) 2037 \(\bullet\) 2040 \(\bullet\) 2043 \(\bullet\) 2046 \(\bullet\) 2049

Processional	BB	Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise
Psalm	RA	In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.
Offertory	BB	In Every Age
Communion	BB	Psalm 42: As the Deer Longs (o waly waly)
Meditation	BB
Recessional	BB	Take Up Your Cross (erhalt uns, herr)