Saturday after Ash Wednesday Reading I Is 58:9b-14

Thus says the L ORD : If you remove from your midst oppression,             false accusation and malicious speech; If you bestow your bread on the hungry             and satisfy the afflicted; Then light shall rise for you in the darkness,             and the gloom shall become for you like midday; Then the L ORD will guide you always             and give you plenty even on the parched land. He will renew your strength,             and you shall be like a watered garden,             like a spring whose water never fails. The ancient ruins shall be rebuilt for your sake,             and the foundations from ages past you shall raise up; “Repairer of the breach,” they shall call you,             “Restorer of ruined homesteads.” If you hold back your foot on the sabbath             from following your own pursuits on my holy day; If you call the sabbath a delight,             and the L ORD ’s holy day honorable; If you honor it by not following your ways,             seeking your own interests, or speaking with malice-- Then you shall delight in the L ORD ,             and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will nourish you with the heritage of Jacob, your father,             for the mouth of the L ORD has spoken.

R.        (11ab)  Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth. Incline your ear, O L ORD ; answer me,             for I am afflicted and poor. Keep my life, for I am devoted to you;             save your servant who trusts in you.             You are my God. R.        Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth. Have mercy on me, O Lord,             for to you I call all the day. Gladden the soul of your servant,             for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. R.        Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth. For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving,             abounding in kindness to all who call upon you. Hearken, O L ORD , to my prayer             and attend to the sound of my pleading. R.        Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth.

I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked man, says the Lord, but rather in his conversion, that he may live.

Jesus saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the customs post. He said to him, “Follow me.” And leaving everything behind, he got up and followed him. Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were at table with them. The Pharisees and their scribes complained to his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” Jesus said to them in reply, “Those who are healthy do not need a physician, but the sick do. I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners.”