First Reading

First reading

Reading from the Book of Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy 8, 2-3. 14-16

At that time, Moses spoke to the people and said to them: «Remember the journey that the Lord, your God, has made you take these forty years through the desert, to humble you, to test you and to know whether you would keep his commandments or not.

He humbled you, making you go hungry, and then he fed you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers knew, to teach you that man does not live by bread alone, but also by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

Do not forget the Lord, your God, who brought you out of Egypt and out of slavery; who made you travel through that vast and terrible desert, full of snakes and scorpions; who in a barren land made water spring forth for you from the hardest rock, and who fed you in the desert with a manna that your fathers did not know».

Second reading

Reading from the first letter of the Apostle Saint Paul to the Corinthians

1 Corinthians 10, 16-17

Brothers and sisters: The cup of blessing with which we give thanks, does it not unite us to Christ through his blood? And the bread that we break, does it not unite us to Christ through his body? The bread is one, and so we, though we are many, form one single body, because we all eat of the same bread.

Gospel

Reading from the holy Gospel according to Saint Mark 12, 28b-34

At that time, a scribe approached Jesus and asked him:
«What is the first of all the commandments?».

Jesus answered:
«The first is: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one: you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your being”. The second is this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”. There is no greater commandment than these».

The scribe replied:
«Very well, Teacher, you are certainly right when you say that the Lord is one and there is no other besides him; and that to love him with all one’s heart, with all one’s understanding and with all one’s being, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices».

Jesus, seeing that he had answered wisely, said to him:
«You are not far from the kingdom of God».

And no one dared to ask him any more questions.