First Reading

The Book of Revelation (Rv 11: 4-12)

These two prophets had caused much distress to the inhabitants of the earth.

I, John, heard a voice from heaven speak to me:
Here are my two witnesses:
These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands
that stand before the Lord of the earth.
If anyone wants to harm them, fire comes out of their mouths
and devours their enemies.
In this way, anyone wanting to harm them is sure to be slain.
They have the power to close up the sky
so that no rain can fall during the time of their prophesying.
They also have power to turn water into blood
and to afflict the earth with any plague as often as they wish.

When they have finished their testimony,
the beast that comes up from the abyss
will wage war against them and conquer them and kill them.
Their corpses will lie in the main street of the great city,
which has the symbolic names “Sodom” and “Egypt,”
where indeed their Lord was crucified.
Those from every people, tribe, tongue, and nation
will gaze on their corpses for three and a half days,
and they will not allow their corpses to be buried.
The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them
and be glad and exchange gifts
because these two prophets tormented the inhabitants of the earth.
But after the three and a half days,
a breath of life from God entered them.
When they stood on their feet, great fear fell on those who saw them.
Then they heard a loud voice from heaven say to them,

“Come up here.”

So they went up to heaven in a cloud as their enemies looked on.

— The word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm

Ps 144: 1, 2, 9-10

Blessed be the Lord, my Rock!

Blessed be the LORD, my rock,
who trains my hands for battle, my fingers for war.

My mercy and my fortress,
my stronghold, my deliverer,
My shield, in whom I trust,
who subdues my people under me.

O God, I will sing a new song to you;
with a ten stringed lyre I will chant your praise,
You who give victory to kings,
and deliver David, your servant from the evil sword.

Gospel

Alleluia, alleluia.

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

Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke (Lk 20: 27-40)

He is not God of the dead, but of the living.

Some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection,
came forward and put this question to Jesus, saying,

“Teacher, Moses wrote for us,
If someone’s brother dies leaving a wife but no child,
his brother must take the wife
and raise up descendants for his brother.
Now there were seven brothers;
the first married a woman but died childless.
Then the second and the third married her,
and likewise all the seven died childless.
Finally the woman also died.
Now at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be?
For all seven had been married to her.”

Jesus said to them,

“The children of this age marry and remarry;
but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age
and to the resurrection of the dead
neither marry nor are given in marriage.
They can no longer die,
for they are like angels;
and they are the children of God
because they are the ones who will rise.
That the dead will rise
even Moses made known in the passage about the bush,
when he called ‘Lord’
the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob;
and he is not God of the dead, but of the living,
for to him all are alive.”

Some of the scribes said in reply,

“Teacher, you have answered well.”

And they no longer dared to ask him anything.

— The Gospel of the Lord.

First Reading

The Book of Revelation (Rv 10: 8-11)

I took the small scroll from the angel’s hand and swallowed it.

I, John, heard a voice from heaven speak to me.
Then the voice spoke to me and said:

“Go, take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel
who is standing on the sea and on the land.”

So I went up to the angel and told him to give me the small scroll.
He said to me,

“Take and swallow it.
It will turn your stomach sour,
but in your mouth it will taste as sweet as honey.”

I took the small scroll from the angel’s hand and swallowed it.
In my mouth it was like sweet honey,
but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour.
Then someone said to me,

“You must prophesy again
about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings.”

— The word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm

Ps 119: 14, 24, 72, 103, 111, 131

How sweet to my taste is your promise!

In the way of your decrees I rejoice,
as much as in all riches.

Yes, your decrees are my delight;
they are my counselors.

The law of your mouth is to me more precious
than thousands of gold and silver pieces.

How sweet to my palate are your promises,
sweeter than honey to my mouth!

Your decrees are my inheritance forever;
the joy of my heart they are.

I gasp with open mouth
in my yearning for your commands.

Gospel

Alleluia, alleluia.

My sheep hear my voice, says the Lord; I know them, and they follow me.

Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke (Lk 19: 45-48)

You have made the house of God a den of thieves.

Jesus entered the temple area and proceeded to drive out
those who were selling things, saying to them,

“It is written,
My house shall be a house of prayer,
but you have made it a den of thieves.”

And every day he was teaching in the temple area.
The chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people, meanwhile,
were seeking to put him to death,
but they could find no way to accomplish their purpose
because all the people were hanging on his words.

— The Gospel of the Lord.