32:15-24.30-34; Matthew 13

Memorial of Saints Joachim and Anne
Readings on p.1096 and Antiphons on p 1690 of the Daily Missal

Entrance Antiphon
Let us praise Joachim and Anne, to whom, in their generation, the Lord gave him who was a blessing for all the nations.

First Reading: Exodus 32:15-24.30-34

A reading from the Book of Exodus

In those days:
Moses turned, and went down from the mountain
with the two tablets of the covenant in his hands,
tablets that were written on both sides;
on the one side and on the other were they written.
And the tablets were the work of God,
and the writing was the writing of God,
graven upon the tablets.
When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted,
he said to Moses, “There is a noise of war in the camp.”

But he said,
“It is not the sound of shouting for victory
or the sound of the cry of defeat,
but the sound of singing that I hear.”
And as soon as he came near the camp
and saw the calf and the dancing,
Moses’ anger burned hot,
and he threw the tablets out of his hands
and broke them at the foot of the mountain.
And he took the calf which they had made,
and burnt it with fire,
and ground it to powder,
and scattered it upon the water,
and made the people of Israel drink it.

And Moses said to Aaron,
“What did these people do to you
that you have brought a great sin upon them?”

And Aaron said,
“Let not the anger of my lord burn hot;
you know the people, that they are set on evil.
For they said to me,
‘Make us gods, who shall go before us;
as for this Moses,
the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt,
we do not know what has become of him.’
And I said to them, ‘Let any who have gold take it off’;
so they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire,
and there came out this calf.”

The next day Moses said to the people,
“You have sinned a great sin.
And now I will go up to the Lord;
perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.”

So Moses returned to the Lord and said,
“Alas, these people have sinned a great sin;
they have made for themselves gods of gold.
But now, if you will forgive their sin—
and if not, blot me, I beg you,
out of your book which you have written.”

But the Lord said to Moses,
“Whoever has sinned against me,
he will I blot out of my book.
But now go,
lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you;
behold, my angel shall go before you.
Nevertheless, in the day when I visit,
I will visit their sin upon them.”

The Word of the Lord

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 106:19-20.21-22.23 (R. 1b)

Let us now pray the Responsorial Psalm:

R/. O give thanks to the Lord for he is good.

They fashioned a calf at Horeb,
and worshipped an image of metal,
they exchanged their glory
for the image of a bull that eats grass.

They forgot the God who was their saviour,
who had done such great things in Egypt,
such wonders in the land of Ham,
such marvels at the Red Sea.

For this he said he would destroy them,
but Moses, the man he had chosen,
stood in the breach before him,
to turn back his anger from destruction.

R/. O give thanks to the Lord for he is good.

Please stand for the Gospel

Alleluia, alleluia.
Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth
that we should be a kind of first fruits of his.
Alleluia.

Gospel: Matthew 13:31-35

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew

At that time:
Another parable Jesus put before the crowds, saying,
“The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed
which a man took and sowed in his field;
it is the smallest of all seeds,
but when it has grown
it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree
so that the birds of the air come
and make nests in its branches.”

He told them another parable.
“The kingdom of heaven is like leaven
which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal,
till it was all leavened.”

All this Jesus said to the crowds in parables;
indeed he said nothing to them without a parable.
This was to fulfil what was spoken by the prophet:
“I will open my mouth in parables,
I will utter what has been hidden
since the foundation of the world.”

The Gospel of the Lord

Communion Antiphon
They received blessings from the Lord and mercy from God their Saviour.