23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time

4Say to the fainthearted: “Take courage and fear not! Behold, your God will bring the vindication of retribution. God himself will arrive to save you.” 5Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be cleared. 6Then the disabled will leap like a buck, and the tongue of the mute will be untied. For the waters have burst forth in the desert, and torrents in solitary places. 7And the land that was dry will have a pond, and the thirsty land will have fountains of water. In the hollows where the serpents lived before, there will rise up the greenery of reed and bulrush.

6who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all the things that are in them.

7He preserves the truth forever. He executes judgment for those who suffer injury. He provides food for the hungry. The Lord releases those who are bound.

8The Lord enlightens the blind. The Lord sets upright those who have been thrown down. The Lord loves the just.

9The Lord watches over new arrivals. He will support the orphan and the widow. And he will destroy the ways of sinners.

10The Lord shall reign forever: your God, O Zion, from generation to generation. (147A)

1My brothers, within the glorious faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, do not choose to show favoritism toward persons. 2For if a man has entered your assembly having a gold ring and splendid apparel, and if a poor man has also entered, in dirty clothing, 3and if you are then attentive to the one who is clothed in excellent apparel, so that you say to him, “You may sit in this good place,” but you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit below my footstool,” 4are you not judging within yourselves, and have you not become judges with unjust thoughts? 5My most beloved brothers, listen. Has not God chosen the poor in this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that God has promised to those who love him?

31And again, departing from the borders of Tyre, he went by way of Sidon to the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the area of the Ten Cities. 32And they brought someone who was deaf and mute to him. And they begged him, so that he would lay his hand upon him. 33And taking him away from the crowd, he put his fingers into his ears; and spitting, he touched his tongue. 34And gazing up to heaven, he groaned and said to him: “Ephphatha,” which is, “Be opened.” 35And immediately his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was released, and he spoke correctly. 36And he instructed them not to tell anyone. But as much as he instructed them, so much more did they preach about it. 37And so much more did they wonder, saying: “He has done all things well. He has caused both the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”