Memorial of Saint Alphonsus Liguori, Bishop and Doctor of the Church

Reading 1 and//www.usccb.org/bible/leviticus/25and1 LV 25and1, 8-17 The LORD said to Moses on Mount Sinai, Seven weeks of years shall you count–seven times seven years–so that the seven cycles amount to forty-nine years.Then, on the tenth day of the seventh month, let the trumpet resoundon this, the Day of Atonement, the trumpet blast shall re-echothroughout your land.This fiftieth year you shall make sacredby proclaiming liberty in the land for all its inhabitants.It shall be a jubilee for you,when every one of you shall return to his own property,every one to his own family estate.In this fiftieth year, your year of jubilee,you shall not sow, nor shall you reap the aftergrowthor pick the grapes from the untrimmed vines.Since this is the jubilee, which shall be sacred for you,you may not eat of its produce,except as taken directly from the field. In this year of jubilee, then,every one of you shall return to his own property.Therefore, when you sell any land to your neighboror buy any from him, do not deal unfairly.On the basis of the number of years since the last jubileeshall you purchase the land from your neighborand so also, on the basis of the number of years for crops,shall he sell it to you.When the years are many, the price shall be so much the morewhen the years are few, the price shall be so much the less.For it is really the number of crops that he sells you.Do not deal unfairly, then but stand in fear of your God.I, the LORD, am your God.” Responsorial Psalm and//www.usccb.org/bible/psalms/67and2 PS 67and2-3, 5, 7-8 R. (4)O God, let all the nations praise you!May God have pity on us and bless usmay he let his face shine upon us.So may your way be known upon earthamong all nations, your salvation.R.O God, let all the nations praise you!May the nations be glad and exultbecause you rule the peoples in equitythe nations on the earth you guide.R.O God, let all the nations praise you!The earth has yielded its fruitsGod, our God, has blessed us.May God bless us,and may all the ends of the earth fear him!R.O God, let all the nations praise you! Alleluia and//www.usccb.org/bible/matthew/5:10 MT 5:10 R.Alleluia, alleluia.Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righeousnessfor theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.R.Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel and//www.usccb.org/bible/matthew/14:1 MT 14:1-12 Herod the tetrarch heard of the reputation of Jesusand said to his servants, This man is John the Baptist.He has been raised from the deadthat is why mighty powers are at work in him.”Now Herod had arrested John, bound him, and put him in prisonon account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip,for John had said to him, It is not lawful for you to have her.”Although he wanted to kill him, he feared the people,for they regarded him as a prophet.But at a birthday celebration for Herod,the daughter of Herodias performed a dance before the guestsand delighted Herod so muchthat he swore to give her whatever she might ask for.Prompted by her mother, she said, Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.”The king was distressed,but because of his oaths and the guests who were present,he ordered that it be given, and he had John beheaded in the prison.His head was brought in on a platter and given to the girl,who took it to her mother.His disciples came and took away the corpseand buried him and they went and told Jesus.