1Sam 15:16-23; Mark 2

Memorial of Saint Anthony, Abbot
Readings on p. 731 and Antiphons on p. 1543 of the Daily Missal.

Entrance Antiphon.

The righteous will flourish like the palm tree, and grow like a Lebanon cedar, planted in the house of the Lord in the courts of the house of our God.

 

First Reading: 1 Samuel 15:16-23

A reading from the First Book of Samuel.

In those days:
Samuel said to Saul, “Stop!
I will tell you what the Lord said to me this night.”

And he said to him, “Say on.”

And Samuel said, “Though you are little in your own eyes,
are you not the head of the tribes of Israel?
The Lord anointed you king over Israel.
And the Lord sent you on a mission, and said,
‘Go, utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites,
and fight against them until they are consumed.’
Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord?
Why did you swoop on the spoil,
and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord?”

And Saul said to Samuel,
“I have obeyed the voice of the Lord,
I have gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me,
I have brought Agag the king of Amalek,
and I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.
But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen,
the best of the things devoted to destruction,
to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.”

And Samuel said,
“Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
as in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
and to listen than the fat of rams.
For rebellion is as the sin of divination,
and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,
he has also rejected you from being king.”

The Word of the Lord.

 

 

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 50:8-9.16bc-17.21 & 23 (R. 23bc)

Let us now pray the Responsorial Psalm:

R/. To one whose way is blameless,
I will show the salvation of God.

I do not rebuke you for your sacrifices;
your offerings are always before me.
I do not take more bullocks from your farms,
nor goats from among your herds.

“How can you recite my commandments,
and take my covenant on your lips,
you who despise correction,
and cast my words behind you,

You do this, and should I keep silence?
Do you think that I am like you?
I accuse you, lay the charge before you.
A sacrifice of praise gives me honour,
and to one whose way is blameless,
I will show the salvation of God.”

R/. To one whose way is blameless,
I will show the salvation of God.

 

Please stand for the Gospel.

Alleluia, Alleluia.
The word of the Lord is living and active,
discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
Alleluia.

 

 

Gospel: Mark 2:18-22

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Mark.

At that time:
John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting;
and people came and said to him,
“Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast,
but your disciples do not fast?”

And Jesus said to them,
“Can the wedding guests fast
while the bridegroom is with them?
As long as they have the bridegroom with them,
they cannot fast.
The days will come,
when the bridegroom is taken away from them,
and then they will fast in that day.
No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment;
if he does, the patch tears away from it,
the new from the old,
and a worse tear is made.
And no one puts new wine into old wineskins;
if he does, the wine will burst the skins,
and the wine is lost, and so are the skins;
but new wine is for fresh skins.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

 

Communion Antiphon.
If you would be perfect, go, sell what you have, give to the poor and follow me, says the Lord.