Responsorial Psalm
I will praise you in the great assembly,
fulfil my vows before all who revere you.
The lowly will eat and be satisfied.
Those who seek the Lord will praise him.
May your hearts live forever!
The whole earth from end to end
will acknowledge and turn to the Lord;
the families of nations will worship him.
Before him all those who rest in the earth
will bow down, all who go down to the dust.
My soul will live for him.
My descendants will serve him
and proclaim the Lord to coming generations;
they will announce his salvation
to a people yet unborn,
“These are the things that he has done.”
2nd. READING (1Jn 3,18-24)
My dear children let us love not only with words and with our lips, but in truth and in
deed. Then we shall know that we are of the truth and we may calm our conscience in
his presence. Every time it reproaches us, let us say: God is greater than our
conscience, and he knows everything. When our conscience does not condemn us,
dear friends, we may have complete confidence in God. Then whatever we ask we
shall receive, since we keep his commands and do what pleases him. His command is
that we believe in the Name of his Son Jesus Christ and that we love one another, as he
has commanded us. Whoever keeps his commands remains in God and God in him. It
is by the Spirit God has given us that we know he lives in us.
Gospel
Jesus said to his disciples: “I am the true vine and my Father is the winegrower. If any
of my branches doesn’t bear fruit, he breaks it off; and he prunes every branch that
does bear fruit, that it may bear even more fruit. You are already made clean by the
word I have spoken to you; live in me as I live in you. The branch cannot bear fruit by
itself but has to remain part of the vine; so neither can you if you don’t remain in me. I
am the vine and you are the branches. As long as you remain in me and I in you, you
bear much fruit; but apart from me you can do nothing. Whoever does not remain in
me is thrown away as they do with branches and they wither. Then they are gathered
and thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words in you, you
may ask whatever you want and it will be given to you. My Father is glorified when
you bear much fruit: it is then that you become my disciples.
