Reading 4

IS 54:5-14

The One who has become your husband is your Maker;

his name is the LORD of hosts;

your redeemer is the Holy One of Israel,

called God of all the earth.

The LORD calls you back,

like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit,

a wife married in youth and then cast off,

says your God.

For a brief moment I abandoned you,

but with great tenderness I will take you back. 

In an outburst of wrath, for a moment

I hid my face from you;

but with enduring love I take pity on you,

says the LORD, your redeemer.

This is for me like the days of Noah,

when I swore that the waters of Noah

should never again deluge the earth;

so I have sworn not to be angry with you,

or to rebuke you.

Though the mountains leave their place

and the hills be shaken,

my love shall never leave you

nor my covenant of peace be shaken,

says the LORD, who has mercy on you.

O afflicted one, storm-battered and unconsoled,

I lay your pavements in carnelians,

and your foundations in sapphires;

I will make your battlements of rubies,

your gates of carbuncles,

and all your walls of precious stones.

All your children shall be taught by the LORD,

and great shall be the peace of your children.

In justice shall you be established,

far from the fear of oppression,

where destruction cannot come near you.

Responsorial Psalm 

PS 30:2, 4, 5-6, 11-12, 13

R. (2a) I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.

I will extol you, O LORD, for you drew me clear

and did not let my enemies rejoice over me.

O LORD, you brought me up from the netherworld;

you preserved me from among those going down into the pit.

R. I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.

Sing praise to the LORD, you his faithful ones,

and give thanks to his holy name.

For his anger lasts but a moment;

a lifetime, his good will.

At nightfall, weeping enters in,

but with the dawn, rejoicing.

R. I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.

Hear, O LORD, and have pity on me;

O LORD, be my helper.

You changed my mourning into dancing;

O LORD, my God, forever will I give you thanks.

R. I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.

Reading 5 

IS 55:1-11

Thus says the LORD:

All you who are thirsty,

come to the water!

You who have no money,

come, receive grain and eat;

come, without paying and without cost,

drink wine and milk!

Why spend your money for what is not bread,

your wages for what fails to satisfy?

Heed me, and you shall eat well,

you shall delight in rich fare.

Come to me heedfully,

listen, that you may have life.

I will renew with you the everlasting covenant,

the benefits assured to David.

As I made him a witness to the peoples,

a leader and commander of nations,

so shall you summon a nation you knew not,

and nations that knew you not shall run to you,

because of the LORD, your God,

the Holy One of Israel, who has glorified you.

Seek the LORD while he may be found,

call him while he is near.

Let the scoundrel forsake his way,

and the wicked man his thoughts;

let him turn to the LORD for mercy;

to our God, who is generous in forgiving.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD.

As high as the heavens are above the earth,

so high are my ways above your ways

and my thoughts above your thoughts.

For just as from the heavens

the rain and snow come down

and do not return there

till they have watered the earth,

making it fertile and fruitful,

giving seed to the one who sows

and bread to the one who eats,

so shall my word be

that goes forth from my mouth;

my word shall not return to me void,

but shall do my will,

achieving the end for which I sent it.

Reading 7 EZ 36:16-17A, 18-28

The word of the LORD came to me, saying: 

Son of man, when the house of Israel lived in their land, 

they defiled it by their conduct and deeds.

Therefore I poured out my fury upon them 

because of the blood that they poured out on the ground, 

and because they defiled it with idols.

I scattered them among the nations, 

dispersing them over foreign lands; 

according to their conduct and deeds I judged them.

But when they came among the nations wherever they came, 

they served to profane my holy name, 

because it was said of them: "These are the people of the LORD,

yet they had to leave their land."

So I have relented because of my holy name 

which the house of Israel profaned 

among the nations where they came.

Therefore say to the house of Israel: Thus says the Lord GOD: 

Not for your sakes do I act, house of Israel, 

but for the sake of my holy name, 

which you profaned among the nations to which you came.

I will prove the holiness of my great name, profaned among the nations, 

in whose midst you have profaned it.

Thus the nations shall know that I am the LORD, says the Lord GOD, 

when in their sight I prove my holiness through you.

For I will take you away from among the nations, 

gather you from all the foreign lands, 

and bring you back to your own land.

I will sprinkle clean water upon you

to cleanse you from all your impurities, 

and from all your idols I will cleanse you.

I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you, 

taking from your bodies your stony hearts

and giving you natural hearts.

I will put my spirit within you and make you live by my statutes, 

careful to observe my decrees.

You shall live in the land I gave your fathers; 

you shall be my people, and I will be your God.

Responsorial Psalm - When Baptism Is Celebrated. PS 42:3, 5; 43:3, 4

R. (42:2) Like a deer that longs for running streams, my soul longs for you, my God.

Athirst is my soul for God, the living God.

When shall I go and behold the face of God? 

R. Like a deer that longs for running streams, my soul longs for you, my God.

I went with the throng

and led them in procession to the house of God,

Amid loud cries of joy and thanksgiving,

with the multitude keeping festival.

R. Like a deer that longs for running streams, my soul longs for you, my God.

Send forth your light and your fidelity;

they shall lead me on

And bring me to your holy mountain,

to your dwelling-place.

R. Like a deer that longs for running streams, my soul longs for you, my God.

Then will I go in to the altar of God,

the God of my gladness and joy;

then will I give you thanks upon the harp,

O God, my God!

R. Like a deer that longs for running streams, my soul longs for you, my God.

Epistle

ROM 6:3-11

Brothers and sisters:

Are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus 

were baptized into his death?

We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, 

so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead 

by the glory of the Father, 

we too might live in newness of life.

For if we have grown into union with him through a death like his, 

we shall also be united with him in the resurrection.

We know that our old self was crucified with him, 

so that our sinful body might be done away with, 

that we might no longer be in slavery to sin.

For a dead person has been absolved from sin.

If, then, we have died with Christ,

we believe that we shall also live with him.

We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more;

death no longer has power over him.

As to his death, he died to sin once and for all;

as to his life, he lives for God.

Consequently, you too must think of yourselves as being dead to sin

and living for God in Christ Jesus.

Responsorial Psalm 

 PS 118:1-2, 16-17, 22-23

R. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,

for his mercy endures forever.

Let the house of Israel say,

"His mercy endures forever."

R. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

The right hand of the LORD has struck with power;

the right hand of the LORD is exalted.

I shall not die, but live,

and declare the works of the LORD.

R. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

The stone the builders rejected 

has become the cornerstone.

By the LORD has this been done;

it is wonderful in our eyes.

R. Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.