Word Wide Open: The Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

First Reading (Exodus 22:20-26)

A reading from the Book of Exodus.

Thus says the LORD:

"You shall not molest or oppress an alien,

for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt. 

You shall not wrong any widow or orphan. 

If ever you wrong them and they cry out to me,

I will surely hear their cry. 

My wrath will flare up, and I will kill you with the sword;

then your own wives will be widows, and your children orphans.

"If you lend money to one of your poor neighbors among my people,

you shall not act like an extortioner toward him

by demanding interest from him. 

If you take your neighbor's cloak as a pledge,

you shall return it to him before sunset;

for this cloak of his is the only covering he has for his body. 

What else has he to sleep in?

If he cries out to me, I will hear him; for I am compassionate."

The word of the Lord.

Asking the big questions: Is there anything that stuck out to you from this reading? Who are the oppressed or aliens in our lives? In what ways is God compassionate? 


Second Reading (1 Thessalonians 1:5C-10)

A reading from the First Letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians.

Brothers and sisters:

You know what sort of people we were among you for your sake. 

And you became imitators of us and of the Lord,

receiving the word in great affliction, with joy from the Holy Spirit,

so that you became a model for all the believers

in Macedonia and in Achaia.

For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth

not only in Macedonia and in Achaia,

but in every place your faith in God has gone forth,

so that we have no need to say anything. 

For they themselves openly declare about us

what sort of reception we had among you,

and how you turned to God from idols

to serve the living and true God

and to await his Son from heaven,

whom he raised from the dead,

Jesus, who delivers us from the coming wrath.

The word of the Lord.

Asking the big questions: Is there anything that stuck out to you from this reading? What are idols we need to turn away from? How does believing in God impact how we treat others?

Gospel (Matthew 22:34-40)

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew.

When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees,

they gathered together, and one of them,

a scholar of the law tested him by asking,

"Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" 

He said to him,

"You shall love the Lord, your God,

with all your heart,

with all your soul,

and with all your mind.

This is the greatest and the first commandment.

The second is like it:

You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 

The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments."

The Gospel of the Lord.

Asking the big questions: Is there anything that stuck out to you from this Gospel reading? Who is your neighbor? Why do we owe to our neighbors? How are we called to love ourselves?