First Reading

Reading from the book of Isaiah

Isaiah 49:8-15

Thus says the Lord:
«In the time of mercy I listened to you,
on the day of salvation I helped you.
I formed you and destined you to be a covenant for the people:
to restore the land,
to reoccupy the destroyed homes,
to say to the prisoners: ‘Come out’,
and to those in darkness: ‘Come to the light’.

They will graze again along all the roads,
they will find pasture even on the dunes of the desert.
They will not suffer hunger or thirst,
the sun or the heat will not afflict them,
because the one who has pity on them
will lead them to the springs.
I will turn all the mountains into roads
and they will build embankments on my highways.

Look: these come from afar;
those, from the north and the west,
and those others, from the land of Sinim.

Shout for joy, heavens; rejoice, earth;
break into song, mountains,
because the Lord consoles his people
and has mercy on the destitute.
Zion had said: ‘The Lord has abandoned me,
the Lord has forgotten me’.
Can a mother forget her child
to the point of not feeling compassion for the son of her womb?
Even if there were a mother who forgot,
I will never forget you»,
says the Lord Almighty.

Gospel

Reading from the holy gospel according to Saint John 

John 5:17-30

At that time, Jesus said to the Jews (who were persecuting him for healing on the Sabbath): «My Father works always and I also work.» For this reason the Jews sought even more earnestly to kill him, not only because he violated the Sabbath, but also because he called God his Father, thus making himself equal to God.

Then Jesus spoke to them in these terms: «Amen, amen, I say to you: The Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; and what the Father does, the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he does, and he will show him greater works than these, so that you will be amazed. For just as the Father raises the dead and gives life, so also the Son gives life to whomever he wishes. The Father judges no one, but he has given all judgment to the Son, so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.

Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes in the one who sent me has eternal life and will not come to condemnation, but has passed from death to life.

Amen, amen, I say to you, the hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in himself, so also he gave to the Son the possession of life in himself; and he gave him power to exercise judgment, because he is the Son of Man.

Do not be amazed at this, because the hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and will come out, those who have done good deeds to the resurrection of life, but those who have done wicked deeds to the resurrection of condemnation. I cannot do anything on my own; I judge as I hear, and my judgment is just, because I do not seek my own will but the will of the one who sent me.»