First Reading

Joel 2:12-18

12Now, therefore, the Lord says: “Be converted to me with your whole heart, in fasting and weeping and mourning.” 13And rend your hearts, and not your garments, and convert to the Lord your God. For he is gracious and merciful, patient and full of compassion, and steadfast despite ill will. 14Who knows if he might convert and forgive, and bequeath a blessing after him, a sacrifice and a libation to the Lord your God? 15Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call an assembly. 16Gather the people, sanctify the church, unite the elders, gather together the little ones and infants at the breast. Let the bridegroom depart from his bed, and the bride from her bridal chamber. 17Between the vestibule and the altar, the priests, the ministers of the Lord, will weep, and they will say: “Spare, O Lord, spare your people. And do not bequeath your inheritance into disgrace, so that the nations would rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’” 18The Lord has been zealous for his land, and he has spared his people.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 50

3Be merciful to me, O God, according to your great mercy. And, according to the plentitude of your compassion, wipe out my iniquity. 4Wash me once again from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. 5For I know my iniquity, and my sin is ever before me. 6Against you only have I sinned, and I have done evil before your eyes. And so, you are justified in your words, and you will prevail when you give judgment. 7For behold, I was conceived in iniquities, and in sinfulness did my mother conceive me. 8For behold, you have loved truth. The obscure and hidden things of your wisdom, you have manifested to me. 9You will sprinkle me with hyssop, and I will be cleansed. You will wash me, and I will be made whiter than snow. 10In my hearing, you will grant gladness and rejoicing. And the bones that have been humbled will exult. 11Turn your face away from my sins, and erase all my iniquities. 12Create a clean heart in me, O God. And renew an upright spirit within my inmost being. 13Do not cast me away from your face; and do not take your Holy Spirit from me. 14Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and confirm me with an unsurpassed spirit. 15I will teach the unjust your ways, and the impious will be converted to you. 16Free me from blood, O God, the God of my salvation, and my tongue will extol your justice. 17O Lord, you will open my lips, and my mouth will announce your praise.

Second Reading

2 Corinthians 5:20—6:2

Gospel

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18

1“Pay attention, lest you perform your justice before men, in order to be seen by them; otherwise you shall not have a reward with your Father, who is in heaven. 2Therefore, when you give alms, do not choose to sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the towns, so that they may be honored by men. Amen I say to you, they have received their reward. 3But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4so that your almsgiving may be in secret, and your Father, who sees in secret, will repay you. 5And when you pray, you should not be like the hypocrites, who love standing in the synagogues and at the corners of the streets to pray, so that they may be seen by men. Amen I say to you, they have received their reward. 6But you, when you pray, enter into your room, and having shut the door, pray to your Father in secret, and your Father, who sees in secret, will repay you. 7And when praying, do not choose many words, as the pagans do. For they think that by their excess of words they might be heeded. 8Therefore, do not choose to imitate them. For your Father knows what your needs may be, even before you ask him. 9Therefore, you shall pray in this way: Our Father, who is in heaven: May your name be kept holy. 10May your kingdom come. May your will be done, as in heaven, so also on earth. 11Give us this day our life-sustaining bread. 12And forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. 13And lead us not into temptation. But free us from evil. Amen. 14For if you will forgive men their sins, your heavenly Father also will forgive you your offenses. 15But if you will not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive you your sins. 16And when you fast, do not choose to become gloomy, like the hypocrites. For they alter their faces, so that their fasting may be apparent to men. Amen I say to you, that they have received their reward. 17But as for you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18so that your fasting will not be apparent to men, but to your Father, who is in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will repay you.