Reading 1, Deuteronomy 5:12-15

12 ‘ “Observe the Sabbath day and keep it holy, as Yahweh your God has commanded you.

13 Labour for six days, doing all your work,

14 but the seventh day is a Sabbath for Yahweh your God. You must not do any work that day, neither you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your servants — male or female — nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your animals, nor the foreigner who has made his home with you;

15 so that your servants, male and female, may rest, as you do. Remember that you were once a slave in Egypt, and that Yahweh your God brought you out of there with mighty hand and outstretched arm; this is why Yahweh your God has commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 81:3-4, 5-6, 6-8, 10-11

3 blow the trumpet for the new month, for the full moon, for our feast day!

4 For Israel has this statute, a decision of the God of Jacob,

5 a decree he imposed on Joseph, when he went to war against Egypt. I heard a voice unknown to me,

6 ‘I freed his shoulder from the burden, his hands were able to lay aside the labourer’s basket.

7 You cried out in your distress, so I rescued you. ‘Hidden in the storm, I answered you, I tested you at the waters of Meribah.

8 Listen, my people, while I give you warning; Israel, if only you would listen to me!

10 I, Yahweh, am your God, who brought you here from Egypt, you have only to open your mouth for me to fill it.

11 ‘My people would not listen to me, Israel would have none of me.

Gospel, Mark 2:23-3:6

23 It happened that one Sabbath day he was taking a walk through the cornfields, and his disciples began to make a path by plucking ears of corn.

24 And the Pharisees said to him, ‘Look, why are they doing something on the Sabbath day that is forbidden?’

25 And he replied, ‘Have you never read what David did in his time of need when he and his followers were hungry-

26 how he went into the house of God when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the loaves of the offering which only the priests are allowed to eat, and how he also gave some to the men with him?’

27 And he said to them, ‘The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath;

28 so the Son of man is master even of the Sabbath.’

1 Another time he went into the synagogue, and there was a man present whose hand was withered.

2 And they were watching him to see if he would cure him on the Sabbath day, hoping for something to charge him with.

3 He said to the man with the withered hand, ‘Get up and stand in the middle!’

4 Then he said to them, ‘Is it permitted on the Sabbath day to do good, or to do evil; to save life, or to kill?’ But they said nothing.

5 Then he looked angrily round at them, grieved to find them so obstinate, and said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He stretched it out and his hand was restored.

6 The Pharisees went out and began at once to plot with the Herodians against him, discussing how to destroy him.

Reading 2, Second Corinthians 4:6-11

6 It is God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ that has shone into our hearts to enlighten them with the knowledge of God’s glory, the glory on the face of Christ.

7 But we hold this treasure in pots of earthenware, so that the immensity of the power is God’s and not our own.

8 We are subjected to every kind of hardship, but never distressed; we see no way out but we never despair;

9 we are pursued but never cut off; knocked down, but still have some life in us;

10 always we carry with us in our body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus, too, may be visible in our body.

11 Indeed, while we are still alive, we are continually being handed over to death, for the sake of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus, too, may be visible in our mortal flesh.

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