Thursday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time

Reading 1 and//usccb.org/bible/malachi/3:13 MAL 3:13-20B You have defied me in word, says the LORD,yet you ask, What have we spoken against you?”You have said, It is vain to serve God,and what do we profit by keeping his command,And going about in penitential dressin awe of the LORD of hosts?Rather must we call the proud blessedfor indeed evildoers prosper,and even tempt God with impunity.”Then they who fear the LORD spoke with one another,and the LORD listened attentivelyAnd a record book was written before himof those who fear the LORD and trust in his name.And they shall be mine, says the LORD of hosts,my own special possession, on the day I take action.And I will have compassion on them,as a man has compassion on his son who serves him.Then you will again see the distinctionbetween the just and the wickedBetween the one who serves God,and the one who does not serve him.For lo, the day is coming, blazing like an oven,when all the proud and all evildoers will be stubble,And the day that is coming will set them on fire,leaving them neither root nor branch,says the LORD of hosts.But for you who fear my name, there will arisethe sun of justice with its healing rays. Responsorial Psalm and//usccb.org/bible/psalms/1and1 PS 1and1-2, 3, 4 AND 6 R. Blessed are they who hope in the Lord. Blessed the man who follows notthe counsel of the wickedNor walks in the way of sinners,nor sits in the company of the insolent,But delights in the law of the LORDand meditates on his law day and night. R.Blessed are they who hope in the Lord. He is like a treeplanted near running water,That yields its fruit in due season,and whose leaves never fade.Whatever he does, prospers. R.Blessed are they who hope in the Lord. Not so the wicked, not sothey are like chaff which the wind drives away.For the LORD watches over the way of the just,but the way of the wicked vanishes. R.Blessed are they who hope in the Lord. Alleluia and//usccb.org/bible/acts/16:14 SEE ACTS 16:14B R.Alleluia, alleluia.Open our hearts, O Lord,to listen to the words of your Son.R.Alleluia, alleluia. Gospel and//usccb.org/bible/luke/11:5 LK 11:5-13 Jesus said to his disciplesand Suppose one of you has a friendto whom he goes at midnight and says,‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread,for a friend of mine has arrived at my house from a journeyand I have nothing to offer him,’and he says in reply from within,‘Do not bother me the door has already been lockedand my children and I are already in bed.I cannot get up to give you anything.’I tell you, if he does not get up to give him the loavesbecause of their friendship,he will get up to give him whatever he needsbecause of his persistence. And I tell you, ask and you will receiveseek and you will findknock and the door will be opened to you.For everyone who asks, receivesand the one who seeks, findsand to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.What father among you would hand his son a snakewhen he asks for a fish?Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg?If you then, who are wicked,know how to give good gifts to your children,how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spiritto those who ask him?”