First Reading

The Book of Ecclesiastes (Eccl 11: 9 — 12: 8)

Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the dust returns to the earth, and the life breath returns to God.

Rejoice, O young man, while you are young
and let your heart be glad in the days of your youth.
Follow the ways of your heart,
the vision of your eyes;
Yet understand that as regards all this
God will bring you to judgment.
Ward off grief from your heart
and put away trouble from your presence,
though the dawn of youth is fleeting.

Remember your Creator in the days of your youth,
before the evil days come
And the years approach of which you will say,
I have no pleasure in them;
Before the sun is darkened,
and the light, and the moon, and the stars,
while the clouds return after the rain;
When the guardians of the house tremble,
and the strong men are bent,
And the grinders are idle because they are few,
and they who look through the windows grow blind;
When the doors to the street are shut,
and the sound of the mill is low;
When one waits for the chirp of a bird,
but all the daughters of song are suppressed;
And one fears heights,
and perils in the street;
When the almond tree blooms,
and the locust grows sluggish
and the caper berry is without effect,
Because man goes to his lasting home,
and mourners go about the streets;
Before the silver cord is snapped
and the golden bowl is broken,
And the pitcher is shattered at the spring,
and the broken pulley falls into the well,
And the dust returns to the earth as it once was,
and the life breath returns to God who gave it.

Vanity of vanities, says Qoheleth,
all things are vanity!

— The word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm

Ps 90: 3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14 and 17

In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.

You turn man back to dust,
saying, “Return, O children of men.”
For a thousand years in your sight
are as yesterday, now that it is past,
or as a watch of the night.

You make an end of them in their sleep;
the next morning they are like the changing grass,
Which at dawn springs up anew,
but by evening wilts and fades.

Teach us to number our days aright,
that we may gain wisdom of heart.
Return, O LORD! How long?
Have pity on your servants!

Fill us at daybreak with your kindness,
that we may shout for joy and gladness all our days.
And may the gracious care of the LORD our God be ours;
prosper the work of our hands for us!
Prosper the work of our hands!

Gospel

Alleluia, alleluia.

Our Savior Christ Jesus destroyed death and brought life to light through the Gospel.

Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke (Lk 9: 43b-45)

The Son of Man is to be handed over to men. They were afraid to ask him about this saying.

While they were all amazed at his every deed,
Jesus said to his disciples,

“Pay attention to what I am telling you.
The Son of Man is to be handed over to men.”

But they did not understand this saying;
its meaning was hidden from them
so that they should not understand it,
and they were afraid to ask him about this saying.

— The Gospel of the Lord.

First Reading

The Book of Ecclesiastes (Eccl 3: 1-11)

There is a time for every thing under the heavens.

There is an appointed time for everything,
and a time for every thing under the heavens.
A time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to uproot the plant.
A time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to tear down, and a time to build.
A time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance.
A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather them;
a time to embrace, and a time to be far from embraces.
A time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away.
A time to rend, and a time to sew;
a time to be silent, and a time to speak.
A time to love, and a time to hate;
a time of war, and a time of peace.

What advantage has the worker from his toil?
I have considered the task that God has appointed
for the sons of men to be busied about.
He has made everything appropriate to its time,
and has put the timeless into their hearts,
without man’s ever discovering,
from beginning to end, the work which God has done.

— The word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm

Ps 144: 1b and 2abc, 3-4

Blessed be the Lord, my Rock!

Blessed be the LORD, my rock,
my mercy and my fortress,
my stronghold, my deliverer,
My shield, in whom I trust.

LORD, what is man, that you notice him;
the son of man, that you take thought of him?
Man is like a breath;
his days, like a passing shadow.

Gospel

Alleluia, alleluia.

The Son of Man came to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.

Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke (Lk 9: 18-22)

You are the Christ of God. The Son of Man must suffer greatly.

Once when Jesus was praying in solitude,
and the disciples were with him,
he asked them,

“Who do the crowds say that I am?”

They said in reply,

“John the Baptist; others, Elijah;
still others, ‘One of the ancient prophets has arisen.’”

Then he said to them,

“But who do you say that I am?”

Peter said in reply,

“The Christ of God.”

He rebuked them and directed them not to tell this to anyone.

He said,

“The Son of Man must suffer greatly
and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
and be killed and on the third day be raised.”

— The Gospel of the Lord.

First Reading

The Book of Ecclesiastes (Eccl 1: 2-11)

Nothing is new under the sun.

Vanity of vanities, says Qoheleth,
vanity of vanities! All things are vanity!
What profit has man from all the labor
which he toils at under the sun?
One generation passes and another comes,
but the world forever stays.
The sun rises and the sun goes down;
then it presses on to the place where it rises.
Blowing now toward the south, then toward the north,
the wind turns again and again, resuming its rounds.
All rivers go to the sea,
yet never does the sea become full.
To the place where they go,
the rivers keep on going.
All speech is labored;
there is nothing one can say.
The eye is not satisfied with seeing
nor is the ear satisfied with hearing.

What has been, that will be;
what has been done, that will be done.
Nothing is new under the sun.
Even the thing of which we say, “See, this is new!”
has already existed in the ages that preceded us.
There is no remembrance of the men of old;
nor of those to come will there be any remembrance
among those who come after them.

— The word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm

Ps 90: 3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14 and 17bc

In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge.

You turn man back to dust,
saying, “Return, O children of men.”
For a thousand years in your sight
are as yesterday, now that it is past,
or as a watch of the night.

You make an end of them in their sleep;
the next morning they are like the changing grass,
Which at dawn springs up anew,
but by evening wilts and fades.

Teach us to number our days aright,
that we may gain wisdom of heart.
Return, O LORD! How long?
Have pity on your servants!

Fill us at daybreak with your kindness,
that we may shout for joy and gladness all our days.
Prosper the work of our hands for us!
Prosper the work of our hands!

Gospel

Alleluia, alleluia.

I am the way and the truth and the life, says the Lord; no one comes to the Father except through me.

Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke (LK 9: 7-9)

John I beheaded. Who then is this about whom I hear such things?

Herod the tetrarch heard about all that was happening,
and he was greatly perplexed because some were saying,

“John has been raised from the dead”;

others were saying,

“Elijah has appeared”;

still others,

“One of the ancient prophets has arisen.”

But Herod said,

“John I beheaded.
Who then is this about whom I hear such things?”

And he kept trying to see him.

— The Gospel of the Lord.