Saint Ciaran, Abbot

First reading

Deuteronomy 10:8-9

The Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to do him service

Moses said to the people: ‘The Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the Lord’s covenant, to stand in the presence of the Lord, to do him service and in his name to pronounce blessing as they still do today. Levi therefore has no share or inheritance with his brothers: the Lord is his inheritance, as the Lord your God told him.’

Psalm or canticle

Psalm 1:1-4,6

Happy indeed is the man
 who follows not the counsel of the wicked;
nor lingers in the way of sinners
 nor sits in the company of scorners,
but whose delight is the law of the Lord
 and who ponders his law day and night.

He is like a tree that is planted
 beside the flowing waters,
that yields its fruit in due season
 and whose leaves shall never fade;
 and all that he does shall prosper.

Not so are the wicked, not so!
For they like winnowed chaff
 shall be driven away by the wind:
for the Lord guards the way of the just
 but the way of the wicked leads to doom.

Gospel

Matthew 19:3-12

Husband and wife are no longer two, but one body

Some Pharisees approached Jesus, and to test him they said, ‘Is it against the Law for a man to divorce his wife on any pretext whatever?’ He answered, ‘Have you not read that the creator from the beginning made them male and female and that he said: This is why a man must leave father and mother, and cling to his wife, and the two become one body? They are no longer two, therefore, but one body. So then, what God has united, man must not divide.’
They said to him, ‘Then why did Moses command that a writ of dismissal should be given in cases of divorce?’ ‘It was because you were so unteachable’ he said ‘that Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but it was not like this from the beginning. Now I say this to you: the man who divorces his wife – I am not speaking of fornication – and marries another, is guilty of adultery.’
The disciples said to him, ‘If that is how things are between husband and wife, it is not advisable to marry.’ But he replied, ‘It is not everyone who can accept what I have said, but only those to whom it is granted. There are eunuchs born that way from their mother’s womb, there are eunuchs made so by men and there are eunuchs who have made themselves that way for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let anyone accept this who can.’