Readings for the Twenty-First Sunday After Trinity        October 25, 2026
 
A Reading from the Book of Exodus 22:21-27 

​

God said, “You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry, and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless. “If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be like a moneylender to him, and you shall not exact interest from him. If ever you take your neighbor's cloak in pledge, you shall return it to him before the sun goes down, for that is his only covering, and it is his cloak for his body; in what else shall he sleep? And if he cries to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate. 
 

 Psalm 1 

1 Blessed is the man who has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, * nor stood in the way of sinners, and has not sat in the seat of the scornful; 

2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, * and on his law will he meditate day and night.

 3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the waterside, * that will bring forth his fruit in due season.

 
4 His leaf also shall not wither; * and look, whatever he does, it shall prosper.

​

5 As for the ungodly, it is not so with them; * but they are like the chaff, which the wind scatters away from the face of the earth.

 6 Therefore the ungodly shall not be able to stand in the judgment, * neither the sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

 7 For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, * but the way of the ungodly shall perish

​

A Reading from the First Epistle of St. Paul to the Thessalonians (2:1-8)
 
For you yourselves know, brothers, that our coming to you was not in vain. But though we had already suffered and been shamefully treated at Philippi, as you know, we had boldness in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in the midst of much conflict. For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive, but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts. For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed—God is witness. Nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others, though we could have made demands as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us. 
 

The Holy Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ, according to St. Matthew. Matthew 22:34-46

But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him.  “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”  And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is is the great and first commandment.  And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question,  saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.” He said to them, “How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying,  “‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet”’? If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?” And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.