Reading 1, Deuteronomy 26:16-19
16 ‘Yahweh your God commands you today to observe these laws and customs; you must keep and observe them with all your heart and with all your soul.
17 ‘Today you have obtained this declaration from Yahweh: that he will be your God, but only if you follow his ways, keep his statutes, his commandments, his customs, and listen to his voice.
18 And today Yahweh has obtained this declaration from you: that you will be his own people — as he has said — but only if you keep all his commandments;
19 then for praise and renown and honors, he will raise you higher than every other nation he has made, and you will be a people consecrated to Yahweh, as he has promised.’
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 119:1-2, 4-5, 7-8
1 How blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the Law of Yahweh!
2 Blessed are those who observe his instructions, who seek him with all their hearts,
3 and, doing no evil, who walk in his ways.
4 You lay down your precepts to be carefully kept.
5 May my ways be steady in doing your will.
7 I thank you with a sincere heart for teaching me your upright judgements.
8 I shall do your will; do not ever abandon me wholly.
Gospel, Matthew 5:43-48
43 ‘You have heard how it was said, You will love your neighbour and hate your enemy.
44 But I say this to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you;
45 so that you may be children of your Father in heaven, for he causes his sun to rise on the bad as well as the good, and sends down rain to fall on the upright and the wicked alike.
46 For if you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Do not even the tax collectors do as much?
47 And if you save your greetings for your brothers, are you doing anything exceptional?
48 Do not even the gentiles do as much? You must therefore be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.’
