First Reading

Reading from the First Book of Kings

1 Kings 17, 7-16

After some time, the stream where the prophet Elijah was hiding dried up, because it had not rained in the region. Then the Lord said to Elijah: “Go and travel to Zarephath of Sidon and stay there, for I have commanded a widow in that city to give you food”.

The prophet Elijah got up and set out on the road to Zarephath. When he arrived at the city gate, he found a widow there gathering wood. He called to her and said: “Please bring me a little water to drink”. As she was walking away, the prophet shouted to her: “Please bring me a little bread as well”. She answered him: “I swear by the Lord, your God, that I have not a single piece of bread left; all I have is a handful of flour in the jar and a little oil in the jug. As you can see, I was gathering a few sticks of wood. I am going to prepare a loaf for myself and my son. We will eat it and then we will die”.

Elijah said to her: “Do not be afraid. Go and prepare it as you have said; but first make a small loaf for me and bring it to me. After that you may do the same for yourself and your son, for thus says the Lord of Israel: ‘The jar of flour will not be emptied, the jug of oil will not run dry, until the day when the Lord sends rain upon the earth’ ”.

Then she went and did what the prophet had told her, and he, she, and the child ate. And just as the Lord had said through Elijah, from that moment on, neither the jar of flour was emptied nor the jug of oil ran dry.

Gospel

Reading from the holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew

Matthew 5, 13-16

At that time, Jesus said to his disciples: “You are the salt of the earth. If the salt loses its taste, how can its flavor be restored? It is no longer good for anything and is thrown out into the street to be trampled underfoot by people.

You are the light of the world. A city built on a hilltop cannot be hidden; and when a candle is lit, it is not placed under a pot, but on a candlestick, so that it may give light to everyone in the house.

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that, seeing the good works you do, they may give glory to your Father who is in heaven’’.