Responsorial Psalm
When the Lord brought the exiles back to Zion,
we were like those moving in a dream.
Then our mouths were filled with laughter,
and our tongues with songs of joy.
Among the nations it was said,
"The Lord has done great things for them."
Then our mouths were filled with laughter,
and our tongues with songs of joy.
Among the nations it was said,
"The Lord has done great things for them."
3 The Lord had done great things for us,
and we were glad indeed.
Bring back our exiles, O Lord,
like fresh streams in the desert.
Those who sow in tears
will reap with songs and shouts of joy.
They went forth weeping,
bearing the seeds for sowing,
they will come home with joyful shouts,
bringing their harvested sheaves.
2nd. READING (Phil 3,8-14)
Still more, everything seems to me as nothing compared with the knowledge of Christ
Jesus, my Lord. For his sake I have let everything fall away and I now consider all as
garbage, if instead I may gain Christ. May I be found in him, without merit or holiness
of my own for having fulfilled the Law, but with the holiness which comes through
faith in Christ, the holiness given by God which depends on faith in Christ Jesus. May
I know him and experience the power of his resurrection and share in his sufferings
and become like him in his death, and attain through this, God willing, the resurrection
from the dead! I do not believe I have already reached the goal, nor do I consider
myself perfect, but I press on till I conquer Christ Jesus, as I have already been
conquered by him. No, brothers and sisters, I do not claim to have claimed the prize
yet. I say only this: forgetting what is behind me, I race forward and run towards the
goal, my eyes on the prize to which God has called us from above in Christ Jesus.
Gospel
As for Jesus, he went to the Mount of Olives. At daybreak Jesus appeared in the
Temple again. All the people came to him, and he sat down and began to teach them.
Then the teachers of the Law and the Pharisees brought in a woman who had been
caught in the act of adultery. They made her stand in front of everyone. "Master," they
said, "this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now the Law of Moses
orders that such women be stoned to death; but you, what do you say?" They said
this to test Jesus, in order to have some charge against him. Jesus bent down and
started writing on the ground with his finger. And as they continued to ask him, he
straightened up and said to them, "Let anyone among you who has no sin be the first to
throw a stone at her." And he bent down again, writing on the ground. As a result of
these words, they went away, one by one, starting with the elders, and Jesus was left
alone with the woman standing before him. Then Jesus stood up and said to her,
"Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" She replied, "No one." And
Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you; go away and don't sin again."
