Prayer of the day:  Stir up Your power, O Lord, and come, that by Your protection we may be rescued from the threatening perils of our sins and saved by Your mighty deliverance; for You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.

First Reading:

Isaiah 2:1-5                                                                              

The Mountain of the Lord  2 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.  ² It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, ³ and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.”  For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.  ⁴ He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.  ⁵ O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.

Psalm 25:4-5, 21-22; antiphon: Psalm 25:1-3

L:  To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.

C:  O my God, in you I trust; let me not be put to shame.

L:  Let not my enemies exult over me.

C:  Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame.

L:  Make me to know your ways, O Lord;

C:  teach me your paths.

L:  Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation;

C:  for you I wait all the day long.

L:  May integrity and uprightness preserve me,

C:  for I wait for you.

L:  Redeem Israel, O God,

C:  out of all his troubles.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever.  Amen

L:  To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.

C:  O my God, in you I trust; let me not be put to shame.

L:  Let not my enemies exult over me.

C:  Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame.

Epistle:

Romans 13:11-14                                           

¹¹ Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. ¹² The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. ¹³ Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. ¹⁴ But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

Gospel:

Matthew 21:1-11                                                                     

The Triumphal Entry

21 Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, ² saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. ³ If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” ⁴ This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, ⁵ “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’”  ⁶ The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. ⁷ They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. ⁸ Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. ⁹ And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” ¹⁰ And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” ¹¹ And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”