Mass Readings

Monday, July 20, 2026

Monday of the sixteenth week of Ordinary Time

Weekday · Ordinary Time · Cycle A · Year II · Green

Reading I

Mic 6:1-4, 6-8

Hear ye what the Lord saith: Arise, contend thou in judgment against the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice.

Let the mountains hear the judgment of the Lord, and the strong foundations of the earth: for the Lord will enter into judgment with his people, and he will plead against Israel.

O my people, what have I done to thee, or in what have I molested thee? answer thou me.

For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and delivered thee out of the house of slaves: and I sent before thy face Moses, and Aaron, and Mary.

What shall I offer to the Lord that is worthy? wherewith shall I kneel before the high God? shall I offer holocausts unto him, and calves of a year old?

May the Lord be appeased with thousands of rams, or with many thousands of fat he goats? shall I give my firstborn for my wickedness, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

I will shew thee, O man, what is good, and what the Lord requireth of thee: Verily to do judgment, and to love mercy, and to walk solicitous with thy God.

Responsorial Psalm

Ps 50:5-6, 8-9, 16bc-17, 21+23

Gather ye together his saints to him: who set his covenant before sacrifices.

And the heavens shall declare his justice: for God is judge.

I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices: and thy burnt offerings are always in my sight.

I will not take calves out of thy house: nor he goats out of thy flocks.

But to the sinner God hath said: Why dost thou declare my justices, and take my covenant in thy mouth?

Seeing thou hast hated discipline: and hast cast my words behind thee.

These things hast thou done, and I was silent. Thou thoughtest unjustly that I should be like to thee: but I will reprove thee, and set before thy face.

The sacrifice of praise shall glorify me: and there is the way by which I will shew him the salvation of God.

Gospel Acclamation

Ps 95:8

To day if you shall hear his voice, harden not your hearts:

Gospel

Matt 12:38-42

Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying: Master, we would see a sign from thee.

Who answering said to them: An evil and adulterous generation seeketh a sign: and a sign shall not be given it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet.

For as Jonas was in the whale's belly three days and three nights: so shall the Son of man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights.

The men of Ninive shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they did penance at the preaching of Jonas. And behold a greater than Jonas here.

The queen of the south shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold a greater than Solomon here.

About These Readings

Scripture text from the Douay-Rheims Bible (Challoner revision, 1899), which is in the public domain. The Mass readings appointed for today follow the Lectionary for Mass approved for the dioceses of the United States.

Psalm verses follow the Vulgate numbering in the Douay-Rheims, which may differ by one chapter and a few verses from the Hebrew numbering used by the modern Lectionary. The substance of each Psalm is the same.

Read today’s NAB readings at USCCB ↗