Responsorial Psalm
Bless the Lord, my soul;
all my being, bless his holy name!
Bless the Lord, my soul, and do not forget all his kindness;
he forgives all your sins and heals all your sickness;
he redeems your life from destruction
and crowns you with love and compassion;
The Lord restores justice and secures
the rights of the oppressed.
He has made known his ways to Moses and his deeds
to the people of Israel.
The Lord is gracious and merciful,
abounding in love and slow to anger;
As the heavens are high above the earth,
so great is his love for those fearing him.
2nd. READING (1Cor 10,1-6.10-12)
Let me remind you, brothers and sisters, about our ancestors. All of them were under
the cloud and all crossed the sea. All underwent the baptism of the land and of the sea
to join Moses and all of them ate from the same spiritual manna and all of them
drank from the same spiritual drink. For you know that they drank from a spiritual
rock following them, and the rock was Christ. However, most of them did not please
God, and the desert was strewn with their bodies. All of this happened as an example
for us, so that we might not become people of evil desires, as they did. Nor grumble as
some of them did and were cut down by the destroying angel. These things happened
to them as an example, and they were written as a warning for us, as the last times
come upon us. Therefore, if you think you stand, beware, lest you fall.
Gospel
One day some persons told Jesus what had occurred in the Temple: Pilate had
Galileans killed and their blood mingled with the blood of their sacrifices. Jesus
replied, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other
Galileans because they suffered this? I tell you: no. But unless you change your ways,
you will all perish as they did. And those eighteen persons in Siloah who were crushed
when the tower fell, do you think they were more guilty than all the others in
Jerusalem? I tell you: no. But unless you change your ways, you will all perish as they
did." And Jesus continued with this story, "A man had a fig tree growing in his
vineyard and he came looking for fruit on it, but found none. Then he said to the
gardener: 'Look here, for three years now I have been looking for figs on this tree and I
have found none. Cut it down, why should it use up the ground?' The gardener
replied: 'Leave it one more year, so that I may dig around it and add some fertilizer;
and perhaps it will bear fruit from now on. But if it doesn't, you can cut it down."
