First Reading

First reading

Reading from the Book of Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy 7, 6-11

At that time, Moses spoke to the people and said to them: «You are a people consecrated to the Lord, your God; he has chosen you to be his own people among all the peoples of the earth.

The Lord has bound himself to you and has chosen you, not because you are the most numerous of all peoples, for on the contrary, you are the least numerous; rather, he has chosen you because of the love he has for you and to fulfill the oath he made to your ancestors. Therefore, the Lord, with a mighty hand, brought you out of slavery and from the power of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.

Know, then, that the Lord, your God, is the true and faithful God. He keeps his covenant and his mercy for a thousand generations toward those who love him and keep his commandments; but he punishes those who hate him, and he makes them perish without delay.

Therefore, keep the commandments, statutes, and laws that I command you today to put into practice.»

Second reading

Reading from the first letter of the Apostle Saint John

1 John 4, 7-16

Beloved children: Let us love one another, because love comes from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. The love that God has for us has been revealed in that he sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him.

Love consists in this: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us first and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

If God has loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God remains in us and his love in us is made perfect.

This is how we know that we remain in him and he in us: because he has given us his Spirit. We have seen and testify that the Father sent his Son as the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in them and they in God.

We have come to know and believe in the love God has for us. God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God, and God in them.

Gospel

Reading from the holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew

Matthew 11, 25-30

At that time, Jesus exclaimed: «I give you thanks, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned, and have revealed them to the simple. Thanks, Father, because this is what has pleased you.

The Father has placed all things in my hands. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart, and you will find rest, because my yoke is easy and my burden is light.»