Prayer of the day: 

Gracious God, our heavenly Father, Your mercy attends us all our days.  Be our strength and support amid the wearisome changes of this world, and at life’s end grant us Your promised rest and full joys of Your salvation; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.

First Reading:

Zechariah 9:9-12                                                                               

The Coming King of Zion

⁹ Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
    Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you;
    righteous and having salvation is he,
humble and mounted on a donkey,
    on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
¹⁰ I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
    and the war horse from Jerusalem;
and the battle bow shall be cut off,
    and he shall speak peace to the nations;
his rule shall be from sea to sea,
    and from the River to the ends of the earth.
¹¹ As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you,
    I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.
¹² Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope;
    today I declare that I will restore to you double.

Psalm 91:2, 9-10; antiphon: Psalm 91:1

L:  He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High

C:  will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.

L:  I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress,

C:  my God, in whom I trust.”

L:  Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place-

C:  the Most High, who is my refuge-

L:  no evil shall be allowed to befall you,

C:  no plague come near your tent.

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:  He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High

C:  will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.

Epistle:

Romans 7:14-25                       

¹⁴ For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. ¹⁵ For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. ¹⁶ Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. ¹⁷ So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. ¹⁸ For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. ¹⁹ For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. ²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.  ²¹ So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. ²² For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, ²³ but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. ²⁴ Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

Gospel:

Matthew 11:25-30                                             

Come to Me, and I Will Give You Rest  ²⁵ At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; ²⁶ yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.  ²⁷ All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. ²⁸ Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Message Hymn:  WOV #783 “Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God”

Closing Hymn:  WOV #767 “All Things Bright and Beautiful”