First Reading

Reading from the prophecy of Ezekiel

Ezekiel 37, 1-14

In those days, the hand of the Lord came upon me, and his spirit carried me away and set me in the middle of a valley full of bones. He made me walk around them. There was an innumerable amount of bones on the surface of the valley, and they were completely dry.

Then the Lord asked me: “Son of man, can these bones come back to life?” I answered: “Lord, you know.” He said to me: “Speak in my name to these bones and say to them: ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. This is what the Lord God says to these bones: Behold, I will put the spirit in you and you will come back to life. I will put sinews on you, make flesh grow on you, cover you with skin, put the spirit in you and you will come back to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord’ ”.

I spoke in the name of the Lord the words he had commanded me, and as I spoke, a great noise was heard, an earthquake occurred, and the bones came together. And I saw how sinews and flesh came out on them and how they were covered with skin; but they had no spirit. Then the Lord said to me: “Son of man, speak in my name to the spirit and say to it: ‘This is what the Lord says: Come, spirit, from the four winds and blow upon these dead, so that they may come back to life’ ”.

I spoke in the name of the Lord, as he had commanded me. The spirit came upon them, they came back to life and stood up. It was an innumerable multitude. The Lord said to me: “Son of man: These bones are the whole house of Israel, who have said: ‘Our bones are dry; our hope has perished and we are shattered’. Therefore, speak in my name and say to them: ‘This is what the Lord says: My people, I myself will open your graves, I will make you come out of them and I will lead you back to the land of Israel. When I open your graves and bring you out of them, my people, you will say that I am the Lord. Then I will put my spirit in you, I will establish you in your land and you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken and fulfilled it’ ”.

Gospel

Reading from the holy gospel according to Saint Matthew

Matthew 22, 34-40

At that time, when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they approached him. One of them, a teacher of the law, asked him to test him: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment of the law?”

Jesus answered him: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first of the commandments. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets”.