Friday after Ash Wednesday
Reading 1 and//www.usccb.org/bible/isaiah/58and1 IS 58and1-9A Thus says the Lord GODandCry out full-throated and unsparingly,lift up your voice like a trumpet blastTell my people their wickedness,and the house of Jacob their sins.They seek me day after day,and desire to know my ways,Like a nation that has done what is justand not abandoned the law of their GodThey ask me to declare what is due them,pleased to gain access to God. Why do we fast, and you do not see it?afflict ourselves, and you take no note of it?”Lo, on your fast day you carry out your own pursuits,and drive all your laborers.Yes, your fast ends in quarreling and fighting,striking with wicked claw.Would that today you might fastso as to make your voice heard on high!Is this the manner of fasting I wish,of keeping a day of penanceandThat a man bow his head like a reedand lie in sackcloth and ashes?Do you call this a fast,a day acceptable to the LORD?This, rather, is the fasting that I wishandreleasing those bound unjustly,untying the thongs of the yokeSetting free the oppressed,breaking every yokeSharing your bread with the hungry,sheltering the oppressed and the homelessClothing the naked when you see them,and not turning your back on your own.Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,and your wound shall quickly be healedYour vindication shall go before you,and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer,you shall cry for help, and he will sayand Here I am! Responsorial Psalm and//www.usccb.org/bible/psalms/51and3 PS 51and3-4, 5-6AB, 18-19 R. A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn. Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodnessin the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.Thoroughly wash me from my guiltand of my sin cleanse me.R.A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.For I acknowledge my offense,and my sin is before me alwaysand Against you only have I sinned,and done what is evil in your sight.” R.A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn. For you are not pleased with sacrificesshould I offer a burnt offering, you would not accept it.My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirita heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn. R.A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn. Verse Before The Gospel and//www.usccb.org/bible/amos/5:14 SEE AM 5:14 Seek good and not evil so that you may live,and the Lord will be with you. Gospel and//www.usccb.org/bible/9:14 MT 9:14-15 The disciples of John approached Jesus and said, Why do we and the Pharisees fast much,but your disciples do not fast?”Jesus answered them, Can the wedding guests mournas long as the bridegroom is with them?The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them,and then they will fast.”