Sunday, October 23, 2016
Liturgical Season: 
VII The Season of Sleebo
Special Significance: 
VI Sunday after Sleebo
Mission Sunday
St. James, the Apostle

Mt 28:16-20

The Commissioning of the Disciples.* 16f The eleven* disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had ordered them. 17* When they saw him, they worshiped, but they doubted. 18* g Then Jesus approached and said to them, “All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19h Go, therefore,* and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, 20i teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.* And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”

Gn 42:29-38

29When they got back to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them. 30“The man who is lord of the land,” they said, “spoke to us harshly and put us in custody on the grounds that we were spying on the land. 31But we said to him: ‘We are honest men; we have never been spies. 32We are twelve brothers, sons of the same father; but one is no more, and the youngest one is now with our father in the land of Canaan.’ 33Then the man who is lord of the land said to us: ‘This is how I will know if you are honest men: leave one of your brothers with me, then take grain for your starving families and go. 34When you bring me your youngest brother, and I know that you are not spies but honest men, I will restore your brother to you, and you may move about freely in the land.’”

35When they were emptying their sacks, there in each one’s sack was his moneybag! At the sight of their moneybags, they and their father were afraid. 36Their father Jacob said to them: “Must you make me childless? Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and now you would take Benjamin away! All these things have happened to me!” 37Then Reuben told his father: “You may kill my own two sons if I do not return him to you! Put him in my care, and I will bring him back to you.” 38But Jacob replied: “My son shall not go down with you. Now that his brother is dead, he is the only one left. If some disaster should befall him on the journey you must make, you would send my white head down to Sheol in grief.”i

Sir 35:1-13

1To keep the law is to make many offerings;a

2whoever observes the commandments sacrifices a peace offering.

3By works of charity one offers fine flour,*

4and one who gives alms presents a sacrifice of praise.

5To refrain from evil pleases the Lord,

and to avoid injustice is atonement.

6Do not appear before the Lord empty-handed,

7for all that you offer is in fulfillment of the precepts.b

8The offering of the just enriches the altar:

a sweet odor before the Most High.

9The sacrifice of the just is accepted,

never to be forgotten.

10With a generous spirit pay homage to the Lord,

and do not spare your freewill gifts.c

11With each contribution show a cheerful countenance,

and pay your tithes in a spirit of joy.d

12Give to the Most High as he has given to you,

generously, according to your means.

13For he is a God who always repays

and will give back to you sevenfold.e

Prv 27:1-9

1Do not boast about tomorrow,

for you do not know what any day may bring forth.

2Let another praise you, not your own mouth;

a stranger, not your own lips.

3Stone is heavy, and sand a burden,

but a fool’s provocation is heavier than both.a

4Anger is cruel, and wrath overwhelming,

but before jealousy who can stand?*

5* Better is an open rebuke

than a love that remains hidden.

6Trustworthy are the blows of a friend,

dangerous, the kisses of an enemy.*

7One who is full spurns honey;

but to the hungry, any bitter thing is sweet.

8Like a bird far from the nest

so is anyone far from home.*

9Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart,

but by grief the soul is torn asunder.

Is 6:8-13

8Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?” “Here I am,” I said; “send me!” 9* And he replied: Go and say to this people:

Listen carefully, but do not understand!

Look intently, but do not perceive!f

10Make the heart of this people sluggish,

dull their ears and close their eyes;

Lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears,

and their heart understand,

and they turn and be healed.g

11“How long, O Lord?” I asked. And he replied:

* Until the cities are desolate,

without inhabitants,

Houses, without people,

and the land is a desolate waste.

12Until the LORD sends the people far away,

and great is the desolation in the midst of the land.

13If there remain a tenth part in it,

then this in turn shall be laid waste;

As with a terebinth or an oak

whose trunk remains when its leaves have fallen.* h

Holy offspring is the trunk.

Acts 22:17-21

17“After I had returned to Jerusalem and while I was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance 18and saw the Lord saying to me, ‘Hurry, leave Jerusalem at once, because they will not accept your testimony about me.’ 19But I replied, ‘Lord, they themselves know that from synagogue to synagogue I used to imprison and beat those who believed in you.j 20And when the blood of your witness Stephen was being shed, I myself stood by giving my approval and keeping guard over the cloaks of his murderers.’k 21Then he said to me,l ‘Go, I shall send you far away to the Gentiles.’”*

Rom 10:14-20

14* But how can they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone to preach?m 15And how can people preach unless they are sent? As it is written,n “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring [the] good news!”* 16But not everyone has heeded the good news; for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what was heard from us?”o 17Thus faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ.p 18But I ask, did they not hear? Certainly they did; for

“Their voice has gone forth to all the earth,

and their words to the ends of the world.”q

19But I ask, did not Israel understand?r First Moses says:

“I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation;

with a senseless nation I will make you angry.”

20s Then Isaiah speaks boldly and says:

“I was found [by] those who were not seeking me;

I revealed myself to those who were not asking for me.”

Mk 16:14-18

The Commissioning of the Eleven. 14h [But] later, as the eleven were at table, he appeared to them and rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart because they had not believed those who saw him after he had been raised. 15i He said to them, “Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature. 16Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will drive out demons, they will speak new languages. 18They will pick up serpents [with their hands], and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not harm them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”j