Watchword from the gospel of St. Matthew 25,40: Jesus Christ said: ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’

Old Testament lesson from Genesis 4:1-16a  Adam lay with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, “With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man.”  ² Later she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil.  ³ In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD.  ⁴ But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering,  ⁵ but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.  ⁶ Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast?  ⁷ If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.”  ⁸ Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.  ⁹ Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” “I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”  ¹⁰ The LORD said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.  ¹¹ Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.  ¹² When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.”  ¹³ Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is more than I can bear.  ¹⁴ Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”  ¹⁵ But the LORD said to him, “Not so; if anyone kills Cain, he will suffer vengeance seven times over.” Then the LORD put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him.  ¹⁶ So Cain went out from the LORD’s presence

The epistle reading is from 1 John 4:7-12 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves  has been born of God and knows God.  ⁸ Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.  ⁹ This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.  ¹⁰ This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.  ¹¹ Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.  ¹² No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

The holy gospel according to the evangelist St. Luke 10:25-37  ²⁵ On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”  ²⁶ “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”  ²⁷ He answered: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.'”  ²⁸ “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”  ²⁹ But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”  ³⁰ In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead.  ³¹ A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.  ³² So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.  ³³ But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him.  ³⁴ He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him.  ³⁵ The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’  ³⁶ “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”  ³⁷ The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”