Sunday, September 20, 2026
Liturgical Season: 
VII The Season of Sleebo
Special Significance: 
The I Sunday after Sleebo
The Syro-Malankara Re-union Day (1930)

Lk 17:20-35

The Coming of the Kingdom of God. 20* Asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he said in reply, “The coming of the kingdom of God cannot be observed,i 21* and no one will announce, ‘Look, here it is,’ or, ‘There it is.’j For behold, the kingdom of God is among you.”

The Day of the Son of Man. 22Then he said to his disciples, “The days will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it. 23There will be those who will say to you, ‘Look, there he is,’ [or] ‘Look, here he is.’ Do not go off, do not run in pursuit.k 24For just as lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be [in his day].l 25But first he must suffer greatly and be rejected by this generation.m 26As it was in the days of Noah,n so it will be in the days of the Son of Man; 27they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage up to the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. 28o Similarly, as it was in the days of Lot: they were eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building; 29on the day when Lot left Sodom, fire and brimstone rained from the sky to destroy them all. 30So it will be on the day the Son of Man is revealed. 31p On that day, a person who is on the housetop and whose belongings are in the house must not go down to get them, and likewise a person in the field must not return to what was left behind.q 32Remember the wife of Lot. 33Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses it will save it.r 34I tell you, on that night there will be two people in one bed; one will be taken, the other left. 35s And there will be two women grinding meal together; one will be taken, the other left.”

Gn 42:1-8

The Brothers’ First Journey to Egypt.* 1When Jacob learned that grain rations were for sale in Egypt, he said to his sons: “Why do you keep looking at one another?” 2He went on, “I hear that grain is for sale in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us, that we may stay alive and not die.”a 3So ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt. 4But Jacob did not send Joseph’s brother Benjamin with his brothers, for he thought some disaster might befall him. 5And so the sons of Israel were among those who came to buy grain, since there was famine in the land of Canaan.b

6Joseph, as governor of the country, was the one who sold grain to all the people of the land. When Joseph’s brothers came, they bowed down to him with their faces to the ground.c 7He recognized them as soon as he saw them. But he concealed his own identity from them and spoke harshly to them. “Where do you come from?” he asked them. They answered, “From the land of Canaan, to buy food.”

8When Joseph recognized his brothers, although they did not recognize him,

Hos 5:1-7

1Hear this, priests,

Pay attention, house of Israel,

Household of the king, give ear!a

For you are responsible for judgment.*

But you have been a snare at Mizpah,*

a net spread upon Tabor,

2a pit dug deep in Shittim.

Now I will discipline them all.

3I know Ephraim,

and Israel is not hidden from me:

Now, Ephraim, you have practiced prostitution,

Israel is defiled.

4Their deeds do not allow them

to return to their God;b

For the spirit of prostitution is in them,

and they do not know the LORD.

5The arrogance of Israel bears witness against him;

Israel and Ephraim stumble because of their iniquity,

and Judah stumbles with them.

6With their flocks and herds they will go

to seek the LORD, but will not find him;c

he has withdrawn from them.

7They have betrayed the LORD,

for they have borne illegitimate children;

Now the new moon* will devour them

together with their fields.

Dn 4:1-9

Nebuchadnezzar’s Madness. 1I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at home in my palace, content and prosperous. 2I had a terrifying dream as I lay in bed, and the images and my visions frightened me. 3So I issued a decree that all the wise men of Babylon should be brought before me to give the interpretation of the dream. 4When the magicians, enchanters, Chaldeans, and diviners had come in, I related the dream before them; but none of them could tell me its meaning. 5Finally there came before me Daniel, whose name is Belteshazzar after the name of my god,* and in whom is a spirit of the holy gods.a I repeated the dream to him: 6“Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, I know that a spirit of the holy gods is in you and no mystery is too difficult for you; this is the dream that I saw, tell me its meaning.

7“These were the visions I saw while in bed: I saw a tree of great height at the center of the earth. 8It was large and strong, with its top touching the heavens, and it could be seen to the ends of the earth. 9Its leaves were beautiful, its fruit abundant, providing food for all. Under it the wild beasts found shade, in its branches the birds of the air nested; all flesh ate of it.

Is 57:14-21

14And I say:

Build up, build up, prepare the way,

remove every obstacle from my people’s way.* d

15* For thus says the high and lofty One,

the One who dwells forever, whose name is holy:

I dwell in a high and holy place,

but also with the contrite and lowly of spirit,

To revive the spirit of the lowly,

to revive the heart of the crushed.

16For I will not accuse forever,

nor always be angry;

For without me their spirit fails,

the life breath that I have given.e

17Because of their wicked avarice I grew angry;

I struck them, hiding myself from them in wrath.

But they turned back, following the way

of their own heart.f

18I saw their ways,

but I will heal them.

I will lead them and restore full comfort to them

and to those who mourn for them,g

19creating words of comfort.*

Peace! Peace to those who are far and near,

says the LORD; and I will heal them.

20But the wicked are like the tossing sea

which cannot be still,

Its waters cast up mire and mud.h

21There is no peace for the wicked!

says my God.i

Acts 3:21-26

21whom heaven must receive until the times of universal restoration* of which God spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old. 22For Moses said:*

‘A prophet like me will the Lord, your God, raise up for you

from among your own kinsmen;

to him you shall listen in all that he may say to you.l

23Everyone who does not listen to that prophet

will be cut off from the people.’m

24Moreover, all the prophets who spoke, from Samuel and those afterwards, also announced these days. 25You are the children of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your ancestors when he said to Abraham, ‘In your offspring all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’n 26For you first, God raised up his servant and sent him to bless you by turning each of you from your evil ways.”o

1 Cor 2:10-15

10f this God has revealed to us through the Spirit.

For the Spirit scrutinizes everything, even the depths of God. 11Among human beings, who knows what pertains to a person except the spirit of the person that is within? Similarly, no one knows what pertains to God except the Spirit of God. 12We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the things freely given us by God. 13And we speak about them not with words taught by human wisdom, but with words taught by the Spirit, describing spiritual realities in spiritual terms.*

14Now the natural person* does not accept what pertains to the Spirit of God, for to him it is foolishness, and he cannot understand it, because it is judged spiritually. 15The spiritual person, however, can judge everything but is not subject to judgment* by anyone.

Mk 13:28-37

The Lesson of the Fig Tree. 28m “Learn a lesson from the fig tree. When its branch becomes tender and sprouts leaves, you know that summer is near. 29In the same way, when you see these things happening, know that he is near, at the gates. 30Amen, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. 31Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

Need for Watchfulness. 32“But of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33n Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the time will come. 34It is like a man traveling abroad. He leaves home and places his servants in charge, each with his work, and orders the gatekeeper to be on the watch.o 35Watch, therefore; you do not know when the lord of the house is coming, whether in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning. 36May he not come suddenly and find you sleeping. 37What I say to you, I say to all: ‘Watch!’”

Jn 17:6-16

6“I revealed your name* to those whom you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7Now they know that everything you gave me is from you, 8because the words you gave to me I have given to them, and they accepted them and truly understood that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me. 9I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for the ones you have given me, because they are yours,e 10and everything of mine is yours and everything of yours is mine, and I have been glorified in them.f 11And now I will no longer be in the world, but they are in the world, while I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are. 12When I was with them I protected them in your name that you gave me, and I guarded them, and none of them was lost except the son of destruction, in order that the scripture might be fulfilled.g 13But now I am coming to you. I speak this in the world so that they may share my joy completely.h 14I gave them your word, and the world hated them, because they do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world.i 15* I do not ask that you take them out of the worldj but that you keep them from the evil one. 16They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world.

Gn 15:1-21

The Covenant with Abram.* 1Some time afterward, the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: Do not fear, Abram! I am your shield; I will make your reward very great.

2But Abram said, “Lord GOD, what can you give me, if I die childless and have only a servant of my household, Eliezer of Damascus?” 3Abram continued, “Look, you have given me no offspring, so a servant of my household will be my heir.” 4Then the word of the LORD came to him: No, that one will not be your heir; your own offspring will be your heir.a 5He took him outside and said: Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can. Just so, he added, will your descendants be.b 6c Abram put his faith in the LORD, who attributed it to him as an act of righteousness.*

7He then said to him: I am the LORD who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land as a possession.d 8“Lord GOD,” he asked, “how will I know that I will possess it?” 9* He answered him: Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.e 10He brought him all these, split them in two, and placed each half opposite the other; but the birds he did not cut up. 11Birds of prey swooped down on the carcasses, but Abram scared them away. 12As the sun was about to set, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and a great, dark dread descended upon him.

13* Then the LORD said to Abram: Know for certain that your descendants will reside as aliens in a land not their own, where they shall be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years.f 14But I will bring judgment on the nation they must serve, and after this they will go out with great wealth.g 15You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace; you will be buried at a ripe old age. 16In the fourth generation* your descendants will return here, for the wickedness of the Amorites is not yet complete.h

17When the sun had set and it was dark, there appeared a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch, which passed between those pieces. 18* On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying: To your descendants I give this land, from the Wadi of Egypt to the Great River, the Euphrates,i 19j the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, 20the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.

Ex 34:10-28

Religious Laws. 10The LORD said: Here is the covenant I will make. Before all your people I will perform marvels never before done* in any nation anywhere on earth, so that all the people among whom you live may see the work of the LORD. Awe-inspiring are the deeds I will perform with you! 11As for you, observe what I am commanding you today.d

See, I am about to drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 12e Take care not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land that you are to enter; lest they become a snare among you. 13Tear down their altars; smash their sacred stones, and cut down their asherahs.* 14You shall not bow down to any other god, for the LORD—“Jealous”* his name—is a jealous God. 15Do not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land; else, when they prostitute themselves with their gods and sacrifice to them, one of them may invite you and you may partake of the sacrifice. 16And when you take their daughters as wives for your sons, and their daughters prostitute themselves with their gods, they will make your sons do the same.

17You shall not make for yourselves molten gods.f

18You shall keep the festival of Unleavened Bread.g For seven days at the appointed time in the month of Abib you are to eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you; for in the month of Abib you came out of Egypt.

19To me belongs every male that opens the womb among all your livestock, whether in the herd or in the flock.h 20The firstling of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb; if you do not redeem it, you must break its neck. The firstborn among your sons you shall redeem.

No one shall appear before me empty-handed.

21Six days you may labor,i but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during the seasons of plowing and harvesting you must rest.

22j You shall keep the feast of Weeks with the first fruits of the wheat harvest, likewise, the feast of the Ingathering at the close of the year.* 23Three times a year all your men shall appear before the Lord, the LORD God of Israel. 24Since I will drive out the nations before you and enlarge your territory, no one will covet your land when you go up three times a year to appear before the LORD, your God.

25You shall not offer me the blood of sacrifice with anything leavened, nor shall the sacrifice of the Passover feast be kept overnight for the next day.

26The choicest first fruits of your soil you shall bring to the house of the LORD, your God.

You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.k

Radiance of Moses’ Face. 27Then the LORD said to Moses: Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel. 28So Moses was there with the LORD for forty days and forty nights,l without eating any food or drinking any water, and he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten words.

Hb 3:17-19

17For though the fig tree does not blossom,

and no fruit appears on the vine,

Though the yield of the olive fails

and the terraces produce no nourishment,

Though the flocks disappear from the fold

and there is no herd in the stalls,

18Yet I will rejoice in the LORD

and exult in my saving God.

19GOD, my Lord, is my strength;

he makes my feet swift as those of deer

and enables me to tread upon the heights.* e

For the leader; with stringed instruments.

Is 41:1-7

1Keep silence before me, O coastlands;*

let the nations renew their strength.

Let them draw near and speak;

let us come together for judgment.

2Who has stirred up from the East the champion of justice,

and summoned him to be his attendant?

To him he delivers nations

and subdues kings;

With his sword he reduces them to dust,

with his bow, to driven straw.

3He pursues them, passing on without loss,

by a path his feet scarcely touch.

4Who has performed these deeds?

Who has called forth the generations from the beginning?a

I, the LORD, am the first,

and at the last* I am he.

5The coastlands see, and fear;

the ends of the earth tremble:

they approach, they come on.

6Each one helps his neighbor,

one says to the other, “Courage!”

7The woodworker encourages the goldsmith,

the one who beats with the hammer, him who strikes on the anvil,

Saying of the soldering, “It is good!”

then fastening it with nails so it will not totter.

1 Jn 3:11-18

11* For this is the message you have heard from the beginning: we should love one another,f 12unlike Cain who belonged to the evil one and slaughtered his brother. Why did he slaughter him? Because his own works were evil, and those of his brother righteous.g 13Do not be amazed, [then,] brothers, if the world hates you.h 14We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers. Whoever does not love remains in death.i 15Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him.j 16The way we came to know love was that he laid down his life for us; so we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.k 17If someone who has worldly means sees a brother in need and refuses him compassion, how can the love of God remain in him?l 18Children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth.m

Eph 4:1-6

Unity in the Body. 1* I, then, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received,a 2with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love,b 3striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace:c 4* one body and one Spirit, as you were also called to the one hope of your call;d 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism;e 6one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.f

Jn 17:16-23

16They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. 17Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth.k 18As you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world.l 19And I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be consecrated in truth.

20“I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me.m 22And I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one, 23I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me.