5TH SUNDAY OF LENT

FIRST READING
I am doing a new thing, and I will give drink to my people.
A reading from the Book of Isaiah (Isaiah 43:16-21)

Thus says the Lord, who makes away in the sea,
a path in the mighty waters, who brings forth chariot and horse,
army and warrior; they lie down, they cannot rise, they are extinguished,
quenched like a wick: “Remember not the former things,
nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing;
now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert. The wild beasts will honour me,
the jackals and the ostriches; for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert,
to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself
that they might declare my praise.”

The word of the Lord.

 

RESPONSORIAL PSALM  Ps 126:1-2ab.2cd-3.4-5.6 (R. cf. 3)
R/. What great deeds the Lord worked for us!
Indeed, we were glad.

When the Lord brought back the exiles of Sion,
we thought we were dreaming.
Then was our mouth filled with laughter;
on our tongues, songs of joy. R/.

Then the nations themselves said,
“What great deeds the Lord worked for them!”
What great deeds the Lord worked for us!
Indeed, we were glad. R/.

R/. What great deeds the Lord worked for us!
Indeed, we were glad.

Bring back our exiles, O Lord,
as streams in the south.
Those who are sowing in tears
will sing when they reap. R/.

They go out, they go out, full of tears,
bearing seed for the sowing;
they come back, they come back with a song,
bearing their sheaves. R/.

 

SECOND READING
“For Christ’s sake! I have suffered the loss of all things, becoming like him in his death.”
A reading from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Philippians (Philippians 3:8-14)

Brethren: I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth
of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.  For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things,
and count them as refuse, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him,
not having a righteousness of my own, based on law, but that
which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God
that depends on faith; that I may know him and the power of his resurrection,
and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
that if possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect;
but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.
Brethren, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but one thing I do,
forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,
I press on towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

The word of the Lord.

 

VERSE BEFORE THE GOSPEL Joel 2: 12-13
Glory and praise to you, O Christ.

Even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, for I am gracious and merciful.

Glory and praise to you, O Christ.

 

GOSPEL
“Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her. ”
A reading from the holy Gospel according to John (John 8: 1-11)

At that time: Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning
he came again to the temple; all the people came to him,
and he sat down and taught them. The scribes and the Pharisees
brought a woman who had been caught in adultery,
and placing her in their midst they said to him, “Teacher,
this woman has been caught in the act of adultery.
Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such.
What do you say about her?” This they said to test him,
that they might have some charge to bring against him.
Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground.
And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them,
“Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.”
And once more he bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground.
But when they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the eldest,
and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.
Jesus looked up and said to her, “Woman, where are they?
Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.”
And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and do not sin again.”
‘
The Gospel of the Lord.