Liturgical day: Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time · green vestments · feast
The Readings at Mass Today
First ReadingJeremiah 20:10-13
10For I have heard the defaming of many, “Terror on every side! Denounce, and we will denounce him!” say all my familiar friends, those who watch for my fall. “Perhaps he will be persuaded, and we will prevail against him, and we will take our revenge on him.” 11But Yahweh is with me as an awesome mighty one. Therefore my persecutors will stumble, and they won’t prevail. They will be utterly disappointed, because they have not dealt wisely, even with an everlasting dishonor which will never be forgotten. 12But, Yahweh of Armies, who tests the righteous, who sees the heart and the mind, let me see your vengeance on them; for to you I have revealed my cause. 13Sing to Yahweh! Praise Yahweh, for he has delivered the soul of the needy from the hand of evildoers.
Responsorial PsalmPsalms 69:8-10, 14, 17, 33-35
8I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my mother’s children. 9For the zeal of your house consumes me. The reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me. 10When I wept and I fasted, that was to my reproach. 14Deliver me out of the mire, and don’t let me sink. Let me be delivered from those who hate me, and out of the deep waters. 17Don’t hide your face from your servant, for I am in distress. Answer me speedily! 33For Yahweh hears the needy, and doesn’t despise his captive people. 34Let heaven and earth praise him; the seas, and everything that moves therein! 35For God will save Zion, and build the cities of Judah. They shall settle there, and own it.
Second ReadingRomans 5:12-15
12Therefore as sin entered into the world through one man, and death through sin; and so death passed to all men, because all sinned. 13For until the law, sin was in the world; but sin is not charged when there is no law. 14Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those whose sins weren’t like Adam’s disobedience, who is a foreshadowing of him who was to come. 15But the free gift isn’t like the trespass. For if by the trespass of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God, and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.
GospelMatthew 10:26-33
26Therefore don’t be afraid of them, for there is nothing covered that will not be revealed; and hidden that will not be known. 27What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in the ear, proclaim on the housetops. 28Don’t be afraid of those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. Rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna. 29“Aren’t two sparrows sold for an assarion coin? Not one of them falls on the ground apart from your Father’s will, 30but the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31Therefore don’t be afraid. You are of more value than many sparrows. 32Everyone therefore who confesses me before men, him I will also confess before my Father who is in heaven. 33But whoever denies me before men, him I will also deny before my Father who is in heaven.
Scripture shown in the World English Bible (public domain). The translation proclaimed at Mass in the United States is the New American Bible, Revised Edition (NABRE) — you can read it at Catholic Online.
Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A. The Memorial of Saint Aloysius Gonzaga (d. 1591, Italian Jesuit who died caring for plague victims) yields to the Sunday in 2026 (USCCB Liturgical Calendar 2026).
Pray with the Church today
These are the readings appointed in the Catholic lectionary for Sunday, June 21, 2026 — the same Scriptures proclaimed at every Catholic Mass around the world today. Reading and praying over them is one of the simplest ways to enter into the Church's daily liturgy, whether or not you are able to attend Mass in person.