First Reading

Book of Daniel (Dn 5: 1-6, 13-14, 16-17, 23-28)

Suddenly, the fingers of a human hand appeared, writing.

King Belshazzar gave a great banquet for a thousand of his lords,
with whom he drank.
Under the influence of the wine,
he ordered the gold and silver vessels
which Nebuchadnezzar, his father,
had taken from the temple in Jerusalem,
to be brought in so that the king, his lords,
his wives and his entertainers might drink from them.
When the gold and silver vessels
taken from the house of God in Jerusalem had been brought in,
and while the king, his lords, his wives and his entertainers
were drinking wine from them,
they praised their gods of gold and silver,
bronze and iron, wood and stone.

Suddenly, opposite the lampstand,
the fingers of a human hand appeared,
writing on the plaster of the wall in the king’s palace.
When the king saw the wrist and hand that wrote, his face blanched;
his thoughts terrified him, his hip joints shook,
and his knees knocked.

Then Daniel was brought into the presence of the king.
The king asked him,

“Are you the Daniel, the Jewish exile,
whom my father, the king, brought from Judah?
I have heard that the Spirit of God is in you,
that you possess brilliant knowledge and extraordinary wisdom.
I have heard that you can interpret dreams and solve difficulties;
if you are able to read the writing and tell me what it means,
you shall be clothed in purple,
wear a gold collar about your neck,
and be third in the government of the kingdom.”

Daniel answered the king:

“You may keep your gifts, or give your presents to someone else;
but the writing I will read for you, O king,
and tell you what it means.
You have rebelled against the Lord of heaven.
You had the vessels of his temple brought before you,
so that you and your nobles, your wives and your entertainers,
might drink wine from them;
and you praised the gods of silver and gold,
bronze and iron, wood and stone,
that neither see nor hear nor have intelligence.
But the God in whose hand is your life breath
and the whole course of your life, you did not glorify.
By him were the wrist and hand sent, and the writing set down.

This is the writing that was inscribed:
MENE, TEKEL, and PERES.
These words mean:
MENE, God has numbered your kingdom and put an end to it;
TEKEL, you have been weighed on the scales and found wanting;
PERES, your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”

— The word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm

Dn 3: 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67

Give glory and eternal praise to him.

“Sun and moon, bless the Lord;
praise and exalt him above all forever.”

“Stars of heaven, bless the Lord;
praise and exalt him above all forever.”

“Every shower and dew, bless the Lord;
praise and exalt him above all forever.”

“All you winds, bless the Lord;
praise and exalt him above all forever.”

“Fire and heat, bless the Lord;
praise and exalt him above all forever.”

“Cold and chill, bless the Lord;
praise and exalt him above all forever.”

Gospel

Alleluia, alleluia.

Remain faithful until death, And I will give you the crown of life.

Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke (Lk 21: 12-19)

You will be hated by all because of my name,but not a hair on your head will be destroyed.

Jesus said to the crowd:

“They will seize and persecute you,
they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons,
and they will have you led before kings and governors
because of my name.
It will lead to your giving testimony.
Remember, you are not to prepare your defense beforehand,
for I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking
that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute.
You will even be handed over by parents,
brothers, relatives, and friends,
and they will put some of you to death.
You will be hated by all because of my name,
but not a hair on your head will be destroyed.
By your perseverance you will secure your lives.”

— The Gospel of the Lord.

First Reading

Book of Daniel (Dn 2: 31-45)

The last kingdom that shall never be destroyed, shall break in pieces all others, and it shall stand forever.

Daniel said to Nebuchadnezzar:

“In your vision, O king, you saw a statue,
very large and exceedingly bright,
terrifying in appearance as it stood before you.
The head of the statue was pure gold,
its chest and arms were silver,
its belly and thighs bronze, the legs iron,
its feet partly iron and partly tile.
While you looked at the statue,
a stone which was hewn from a mountain
without a hand being put to it,
struck its iron and tile feet, breaking them in pieces.
The iron, tile, bronze, silver, and gold all crumbled at once,
fine as the chaff on the threshing floor in summer,
and the wind blew them away without leaving a trace.
But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain
and filled the whole earth.

This was the dream;
the interpretation we shall also give in the king’s presence.
You, O king, are the king of kings;
to you the God of heaven
has given dominion and strength, power and glory;
men, wild beasts, and birds of the air, wherever they may dwell,
he has handed over to you, making you ruler over them all;
you are the head of gold.
Another kingdom shall take your place, inferior to yours,
then a third kingdom, of bronze,
which shall rule over the whole earth.
There shall be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron;
it shall break in pieces and subdue all these others,
just as iron breaks in pieces and crushes everything else.
The feet and toes you saw, partly of potter’s tile and partly of iron,
mean that it shall be a divided kingdom,
but yet have some of the hardness of iron.
As you saw the iron mixed with clay tile,
and the toes partly iron and partly tile,
the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile.
The iron mixed with clay tile
means that they shall seal their alliances by intermarriage,
but they shall not stay united, any more than iron mixes with clay.
In the lifetime of those kings
the God of heaven will set up a kingdom
that shall never be destroyed or delivered up to another people;
rather, it shall break in pieces all these kingdoms
and put an end to them, and it shall stand forever.
That is the meaning of the stone you saw hewn from the mountain
without a hand being put to it,
which broke in pieces the tile, iron, bronze, silver, and gold.
The great God has revealed to the king what shall be in the future;
this is exactly what you dreamed, and its meaning is sure.”

— The word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm

Dn 3: 57, 58, 59, 60, 61

Give glory and eternal praise to him.

“Bless the Lord, all you works of the Lord,
praise and exalt him above all forever.”

“Angels of the Lord, bless the Lord,
praise and exalt him above all forever.”

“You heavens, bless the Lord,
praise and exalt him above all forever.”

“All you waters above the heavens, bless the Lord,
praise and exalt him above all forever.”

“All you hosts of the Lord, bless the Lord;
praise and exalt him above all forever.”

Gospel

Alleluia, alleluia.

Remain faithful until death, And I will give you the crown of life.

Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke (Lk 21: 5-11)

There will not be left a stone upon another stone.

While some people were speaking about
how the temple was adorned with costly stones and votive offerings,
Jesus said,

“All that you see here –
the days will come when there will not be left
a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down.”

Then they asked him,

“Teacher, when will this happen?
And what sign will there be when all these things are about to happen?”

He answered,

“See that you not be deceived,

for many will come in my name, saying,

‘I am he,’

and

‘The time has come.’

Do not follow them!
When you hear of wars and insurrections,
do not be terrified; for such things must happen first,
but it will not immediately be the end.”

Then he said to them,

“Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.
There will be powerful earthquakes, famines, and plagues
from place to place;
and awesome sights and mighty signs will come from the sky.”

— The Gospel of the Lord.

First Reading

Book of Daniel (Dn 1: 1-6, 8-20)

None was found equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.

In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah,
King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came
and laid siege to Jerusalem.
The Lord handed over to him Jehoiakim, king of Judah,
and some of the vessels of the temple of God;
he carried them off to the land of Shinar,
and placed the vessels in the temple treasury of his god.

The king told Ashpenaz, his chief chamberlain,
to bring in some of the children of Israel of royal blood
and of the nobility, young men without any defect,
handsome, intelligent and wise,
quick to learn, and prudent in judgment,
such as could take their place in the king’s palace;
they were to be taught the language and literature of the Chaldeans;
after three years’ training they were to enter the king’s service.
The king allotted them a daily portion of food and wine
from the royal table.
Among these were men of Judah: Daniel, Hananiah,
Mishael, and Azariah.

But Daniel was resolved not to defile himself
with the king’s food or wine;
so he begged the chief chamberlain to spare him this defilement.
Though God had given Daniel the favor and sympathy
of the chief chamberlain, he nevertheless said to Daniel,

“I am afraid of my lord the king;
it is he who allotted your food and drink.
If he sees that you look wretched
by comparison with the other young men of your age,
you will endanger my life with the king.”

Then Daniel said to the steward whom the chief chamberlain
had put in charge of Daniel, Hananiah,
Mishael, and Azariah,

“Please test your servants for ten days.
Give us vegetables to eat and water to drink.
Then see how we look in comparison with the other young men
who eat from the royal table,
and treat your servants according to what you see.”

He acceded to this request, and tested them for ten days;
after ten days they looked healthier and better fed
than any of the young men who ate from the royal table.
So the steward continued to take away
the food and wine they were to receive, and gave them vegetables.
To these four young men God gave knowledge and proficiency
in all literature and science,
and to Daniel the understanding of all visions and dreams.
At the end of the time the king had specified for their preparation,
the chief chamberlain brought them before Nebuchadnezzar.
When the king had spoken with all of them,
none was found equal to Daniel, Hananiah,
Mishael, and Azariah;
and so they entered the king’s service.
In any question of wisdom or prudence which the king put to them,
he found them ten times better
than all the magicians and enchanters in his kingdom.

— The word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm

Dn 3: 52, 53, 54, 55, 56

Glory and praise for ever!

“Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of our fathers,
praiseworthy and exalted above all forever;
And blessed is your holy and glorious name,
praiseworthy and exalted above all for all ages.”

“Blessed are you in the temple of your holy glory,
praiseworthy and glorious above all forever.”

“Blessed are you on the throne of your Kingdom,
praiseworthy and exalted above all forever.”

“Blessed are you who look into the depths
from your throne upon the cherubim,
praiseworthy and exalted above all forever.”

“Blessed are you in the firmament of heaven,
praiseworthy and glorious forever.”

Gospel

Alleluia, alleluia.

Stay awake! For you do not know when the Son of Man will come.

Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke (Lk 21: 1-4)

Jesus noticed a poor widow putting in two small coins.

When Jesus looked up he saw some wealthy people
putting their offerings into the treasury
and he noticed a poor widow putting in two small coins.
He said,

“I tell you truly,
this poor widow put in more than all the rest;
for those others have all made offerings from their surplus wealth,
but she, from her poverty, has offered her whole livelihood.”

— The Gospel of the Lord.