Responsorial Psalm
He gives justice to the oppressed
and gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets the prisoners free.
The Lord gives sight to the blind,
the Lord straightens the bent.
The Lord protects the stranger,
sustains the widow and the orphan.
The Lord loves the virtuous,
but he brings to ruin the way of the wicked.
The Lord will reign forever,
your God, O Zion,
from generation to generation. Alleluia!
2nd. READING (Jas 2,1-5)
My brothers and sisters, if you truly believe in our glorified Lord, Jesus Christ, you
will not discriminate between persons. Suppose a person enters the synagogue where
you are assembled, dressed magnificently and wearing a gold ring; at the same time, a
poor person enters dressed in rags. If you focus your attention on the well-dressed and
say, "Come and sit in the best seat," while to the poor one you say, "Stay standing or
else sit down at my feet," have you not, in fact, made a distinction between the two?
Have you not judged, using a double standard? Listen, my beloved brothers and
sisters, did God not choose the poor of this world to receive the riches of faith and to
inherit the kingdom which he has promised to those who love him?
Gospel
Again Jesus set out; from the country of Tyre he passed through Sidon and skirting the
sea of Galilee he came to the territory of Decapolis. There a deaf man who also had
difficulty in speaking was brought to him. They asked Jesus to lay his hand upon him.
Jesus took him apart from the crowd, put his fingers into the man's ears and touched
his tongue with spittle. Then, looking up to heaven, he groaned and said to him,
"Ephphetha," that is, "Be opened." And his ears were opened, his tongue was
loosened, and he began to speak clearly. Jesus ordered them not to tell anyone, but the
more he insisted on this, the more they proclaimed it. The people were completely
astonished and said, "He has done all things well; he makes the deaf hear and the
dumb speak."
