The Fifth Sunday of Lent

First reading Isaiah 43:16-21

‘Behold, I am doing a new thing and I will give drink to my chosen people.’

Thus says the Lord,

who makes a way in the sea,

a path in the mighty waters,

who brings forth chariot and horse,

army and warrior;

they lie down, they cannot rise,

they are extinguished, quenched like a wick:

‘Remember not the former things,

nor consider the things of old.

Behold, I am doing a new thing;

now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?

I will make a way in the wilderness

and rivers in the desert.

The wild beasts will honour me,

the jackals and the ostriches,

for I give water in the wilderness,

rivers in the desert,

to give drink to my chosen people,

the people whom I formed for myself

that they might declare my praise.’

The word of the Lord.

Responsorial PsalmPs 126(125):1-2b. 2c-3. 4-5. 6. ℟3

What great deeds the Lord worked for us!

Indeed, we were glad.

When the Lord brought back the exiles of Sion,

we thought we were dreaming.

Then was our mouth filled with laughter;

on our tongues, songs of joy. 

What great deeds the Lord worked for us!

Indeed, we were glad.

Then they said among the nations,

‘What great deeds the Lord worked for them!’

What great deeds the Lord worked for us!

Indeed, we were glad. 

What great deeds the Lord worked for us!

Indeed, we were glad.

Bring back our exiles, O Lord,

as streams in the Negeb.

Those who are sowing in tears

will sing when they reap. 

What great deeds the Lord worked for us!

Indeed, we were glad.

They go out, they go out, full of tears,

bearing seed for the sowing;

they come back, they come back with a song,

bearing their sheaves. 

What great deeds the Lord worked for us!

Indeed, we were glad.

Second reading Philippians 3:8-14

‘For the sake of Christ I have suffered the loss of all things, becoming like him in his death.’

Brothers and Sisters: I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith — that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

The word of the Lord.

Gospel Acclamation Joel 2:12-13

Glory to you, O Christ, Son of the living God.

Even now, says the Lord,

return to me with all your heart,

for I am gracious and merciful.

Glory to you, O Christ, Son of the living God.