Readings

First Reading
1 Jn 3:22 – 4:6

Test the spirits to see whether they belong to God.

A reading from the first Letter of Saint John

Beloved:
We receive from him whatever we ask,
   because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.
And his commandment is this:
   we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ,
   and love one another just as he commanded us.
Those who keep his commandments remain in him, and he in them,
   and the way we know that he remains in us
   is from the Spirit whom he gave us.

Beloved, do not trust every spirit
   but test the spirits to see whether they belong to God,
   because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
This is how you can know the Spirit of God:
   every spirit that acknowledges Jesus Christ come in the flesh
   belongs to God,
   and every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus
   does not belong to God.
This is the spirit of the antichrist
   who, as you heard, is to come,
   but in fact is already in the world.
You belong to God, children, and you have conquered them,
   for the one who is in you
   is greater than the one who is in the world.
They belong to the world;
   accordingly, their teaching belongs to the world,
   and the world listens to them.
We belong to God, and anyone who knows God listens to us,
   while anyone who does not belong to God refuses to hear us.
This is how we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of deceit.

The word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 2:7bc-8, 10-12a

R. :

℟. (8ab) I will give you all the nations for an inheritance.

The LORD said to me, “You are my Son;
   this day I have begotten you.
Ask of me and I will give you
   the nations for an inheritance
   and the ends of the earth for your possession.”

℟. I will give you all the nations for an inheritance.

And now, O kings, give heed;
   take warning, you rulers of the earth.
Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice before him;
   with trembling rejoice.

℟. I will give you all the nations for an inheritance.

Acclamation before the Gospel
See Mt 4:23

℟. Alleluia, alleluia.

Jesus proclaimed the Gospel of the Kingdom
and cured every disease among the people.

℟. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel
Mt 4:12-17, 23-25

The kingdom of heaven is at hand.

✠ A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew

When Jesus heard that John had been arrested,
   he withdrew to Galilee.
He left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum by the sea,
   in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali,
   that what had been said through Isaiah the prophet
   might be fulfilled:

   Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,
      the way to the sea, beyond the Jordan,
      Galilee of the Gentiles,
   the people who sit in darkness
      have seen a great light,
   on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death
      light has arisen.

From that time on, Jesus began to preach and say,
   ”Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

He went around all of Galilee,
   teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom,
   and curing every disease and illness among the people.
His fame spread to all of Syria,
   and they brought to him all who were sick with various diseases
   and racked with pain,
   those who were possessed, lunatics, and paralytics,
   and he cured them.
And great crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, and Judea,
   and from beyond the Jordan followed him.

At the end of the Gospel, the Deacon, or the Priest, acclaims:

The Gospel of the Lord.

All reply:

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Then he kisses the book, saying quietly:

Through the words of the Gospel
may our sins be wiped away.