Mass Readings for August 26, 2025

1 Thessalonians 2:1-8
Psalms 139:1-3, 4-6
Matthew 23:23-26

1 Thessalonians 2:1-8
(1) For you yourselves know, brothers, that our acceptance among you was not empty (2) Instead, having previously suffered and been treated shamefully, as you know, at Philippi, we had confidence in our God, so as to speak the Gospel of God to you with much solicitude (3) For our exhortation was not in error, nor from impurity, nor with deception (4) But, just as we have been tested by God, so that the Gospel would be entrusted to us, so also did we speak, not so as to please men, but rather to please God, who tests our hearts (5) And neither did we, at any time, become flattering in speech, as you know, nor did we seek an opportunity for avarice, as God is witness (6) Nor did we seek the glory of men, neither from you, nor from others (7) And although we could have been a burden to you, as Apostles of Christ, instead we became like little ones in your midst, like a nurse cherishing her children (8) So desirous were we for you that we were willing to hand over to you, not only the Gospel of God, but even our own souls. For you have become most beloved to us

Psalms 139:1-3, 4-6
(1) Unto the end. A Psalm of David (2) Rescue me, O Lord, from the evil man. Rescue me from the iniquitous leader (3) Those who have devised iniquities in their hearts: all day long they constructed conflicts (4) They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent. The venom of asps is under their lips (5) Preserve me, O Lord, from the hand of the sinner, and rescue me from men of iniquity. They have decided to supplant my steps (6) The arrogant have hidden a snare for me. And they have stretched out cords for a snare. They have placed a stumbling block for me near the road

Matthew 23:23-26
(23) Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! For you collect tithes on mint and dill and cumin, but you have abandoned the weightier things of the law: judgment and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, while not omitting the others (24) You blind guides, straining out a gnat, while swallowing a camel (25) Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! For you clean what is outside the cup and the dish, but on the inside you are full of avarice and impurity (26) You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the dish, and then what is outside becomes clean