Reading 1, Lamentations 2:2, 10-14, 18-19

2 The pitilessly engulfed all the of Jacob; in his fury he tore down the fortresses of the daughter of Judah; he threw to the ground, he desecrated the kingdom and its princes.

10 Mute, they sit on the ground, the elders of the daughter of Zion; they have put dust on their heads and wrapped themselves in sackcloth. The young girls of bow their heads to the ground.

11 My eyes are worn out with weeping, my inmost being is in ferment, my heart plummets at the destruction of my young people, as the and babies grow faint in the streets of the city.

12 They keep saying to their mothers, 'Where is some food?' as they faint like wounded men in the streets of the city, as they breathe their last on their mothers' breasts.

13 To what can I compare or liken you, daughter of Jerusalem? Who can rescue and comfort you, young daughter of Zion? For huge as the sea is your ruin: who can heal you?

14 The your prophets had for you were deceptive whitewash; they did not lay bare your guilt so as to change your fortunes: the they told you were deceptive.

18 Cry then to the Lord, rampart of the daughter of Zion; let your tears flow like a torrent, day and night; allow yourself no respite, give your eyes no rest!

19 Up, cry out in the night-time as each watch begins! Pour your heart out like water in Yahweh's presence! Raise your hands to him for the lives of your (who faint with hunger at the end of every street)!

Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 74:1-2, 3-5, 5-7, 20-21

1 [Poem Of Asaph] God, why have you finally rejected us, your blazing against the flock you used to pasture?

2 Remember the people you took to yourself long ago, your own tribe which you redeemed, and this Mount Zion where you came to live.

3 Come up to these endless ruins! The enemy have sacked everything in the sanctuary;

4 your opponents made uproar in the place of assemblies, they fixed their emblems over the entrance, emblems

5 never known before. Their axes deep in the wood,

6 hacking at the panels, they battered them down with axe and pick;

7 they set fire to your sanctuary, profanely rased to the ground the dwelling-place of your name.

20 Look to the covenant! All the hiding-places of the land are full, haunts of violence.

21 Do not let the downtrodden retreat in confusion, give the poor and needy to praise your name.

Gospel, Matthew 8:5-17

5 When he went into Capernaum a came up and pleaded with him.

6 'Sir,' he said, 'my servant is at home paralysed and in great pain.'

7 Jesus said to him, 'I come myself and cure him.'

8 The replied, 'Sir, I am not worthy to have you under my roof; just give the word and my servant be cured.

9 For I am under authority myself and have soldiers under me; and I say to one man, "Go," and he goes; to another, "Come here," and he comes; to my servant, "Do this," and he does it.'

10 When heard this he was astonished and said to those following him, 'In I tell you, in no one in Israel have I found as great as this.

11 And I tell you that many come from east and west and sit down with and and at the feast in the kingdom of Heaven;

12 but the of the kingdom be thrown out into the darkness outside, where there be weeping and grinding of teeth.'

13 And to the said, 'Go back, then; let this be done for you, as your demands.' And the servant was cured at that moment.

14 And going into Peter's house found Peter's mother-in-law in bed and feverish.

15 He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to serve him.

16 That evening they brought him many who were possessed by devils. He drove out the spirits with a command and cured all who were sick.

17 This was to fulfil what was spoken by the Isaiah: He himself bore our sicknesses away and carried our diseases.