First Reading
Ex 22, 20-26
The Lord said to Moses: “Tell the sons of Israel this: You shall not wrong or oppress a
stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. You shall not harm the widow or
the orphan. If you do harm them and they cry out to me, I will hear them and my
anger will blaze and I will kill you with the sword, and your own wives will be
widows and your own children orphans. If you lend money to any of my people who
are poor, do not act like a moneylender and do not charge him interest. If ever you take
a person's cloak as a pledge, you must give it back to him by sunset, for it is all the
covering he has for his body. In what else will he sleep? And when he cries to me I
will hear him, for I am full of pity.
Responsorial Psalm
I love you, O Lord, my strength.
my rock, my fortress, my saviour.
My God is the rock
in whom I take refuge.
my shield, my powerful saviour,
my stronghold.
I call on the Lord,
who is worthy of praise:
he saves me from my enemies!
The Lord lives! Praised be my rock!
Exalted be my saviour God
"He has given victories to his king;
he has shown his love
to his anointed ones, to David,
and to his descendants forever."
Second Reading
1Thes 1 ,5-10
You also know how we dealt with you for your sake. In return, you became followers
of us and of the Lord when, on receiving the word, you experienced the joy of the
Holy Spirit in the midst of great opposition. And you became a model for the faithful
of Macedonia and Achaia, since from you the word of the Lord spread to Macedonia
and Achaia, and still farther. The faith you have in God has become news in so many
places that we need say no more about it. Others tell of how you responded to us and
turned from idols to the Lord. For you serve the living and true God, and you wait for
his Son from Heaven whom he raised from the dead, Jesus, who frees us from
impending trial.
Gospel
Mt 22, 34-40
When the Pharisees heard how Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they came together.
One of them, a teacher of the Law, tried to test him with this question, "Teacher,
which is the most important commandment in the Law?" Jesus answered, "You shall
love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind.
This is the first and the most important of the commandments. But after this there is
another one very similar to it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. The whole
Law and the Prophets are founded on these two commandments."