First Reading

The Book of Job (Jb 9: 1-12, 14-16)

 How can a man be justified before God?

Job answered his friends and said:

“I know well that it is so;
but how can a man be justified before God?
Should one wish to contend with him,
he could not answer him once in a thousand times.
God is wise in heart and mighty in strength;
who has withstood him and remained unscathed?

He removes the mountains before they know it;
he overturns them in his anger.
He shakes the earth out of its place,
and the pillars beneath it tremble.
He commands the sun, and it rises not;
he seals up the stars.

He alone stretches out the heavens
and treads upon the crests of the sea.
He made the Bear and Orion,
the Pleiades and the constellations of the south;
He does great things past finding out,
marvelous things beyond reckoning.

Should he come near me, I see him not;
should he pass by, I am not aware of him;
Should he seize me forcibly, who can say him nay?
Who can say to him, ‘What are you doing?’

How much less shall I give him any answer,
or choose out arguments against him!
Even though I were right, I could not answer him,
but should rather beg for what was due me.
If I appealed to him and he answered my call,
I could not believe that he would hearken to my words.”

— The word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm

Ps 88: 10bc-11, 12-13, 14-15

Let my prayer come before you, Lord.

Daily I call upon you, O LORD;
to you I stretch out my hands.
Will you work wonders for the dead?
Will the shades arise to give you thanks?

Do they declare your mercy in the grave,
your faithfulness among those who have perished?
Are your wonders made known in the darkness,
or your justice in the land of oblivion?

But I, O LORD, cry out to you;
with my morning prayer I wait upon you.
Why, O LORD, do you reject me;
why hide from me your face?

Gospel

Alleluia, alleluia.

I consider all things so much rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in him.

Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke (Lk 9: 57-62)

I will follow you wherever you go.

As Jesus and his disciples were proceeding
on their journey, someone said to him,

“I will follow you wherever you go.”

Jesus answered him,

“Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests,
but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.”

And to another he said,

“Follow me.”

But he replied,

“Lord, let me go first and bury my father.”

But he answered him,

“Let the dead bury their dead.
But you, go and proclaim the Kingdom of God.”

And another said,

“I will follow you, Lord,
but first let me say farewell to my family at home.”

Jesus answered him,

“No one who sets a hand to the plow
and looks to what was left behind is fit for the Kingdom of God.”

— The Gospel of the Lord.

First Reading

The Book of Job (Jb 9: 1-12, 14-16)

How can a man be justified before God?

Job answered his friends and said:

“I know well that it is so;
but how can a man be justified before God?
Should one wish to contend with him,
he could not answer him once in a thousand times.
God is wise in heart and mighty in strength;
who has withstood him and remained unscathed?

He removes the mountains before they know it;
he overturns them in his anger.
He shakes the earth out of its place,
and the pillars beneath it tremble.
He commands the sun, and it rises not;
he seals up the stars.

He alone stretches out the heavens
and treads upon the crests of the sea.
He made the Bear and Orion,
the Pleiades and the constellations of the south;
He does great things past finding out,
marvelous things beyond reckoning.

Should he come near me, I see him not;
should he pass by, I am not aware of him;
Should he seize me forcibly, who can say him nay?
Who can say to him, ‘What are you doing?’

How much less shall I give him any answer,
or choose out arguments against him!
Even though I were right, I could not answer him,
but should rather beg for what was due me.
If I appealed to him and he answered my call,
I could not believe that he would hearken to my words.”

— The word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm

Ps 88: 10bc-11, 12-13, 14-15

Let my prayer come before you, Lord.

Daily I call upon you, O LORD;
to you I stretch out my hands.
Will you work wonders for the dead?
Will the shades arise to give you thanks?

Do they declare your mercy in the grave,
your faithfulness among those who have perished?
Are your wonders made known in the darkness,
or your justice in the land of oblivion?

But I, O LORD, cry out to you;
with my morning prayer I wait upon you.
Why, O LORD, do you reject me;
why hide from me your face?

Gospel

Alleluia, alleluia.

Bless the LORD, all you angels, you ministers, who do his will.

Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew (Mt 18: 1-5, 10)

Their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father.

The disciples approached Jesus and said,

“Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?”

He called a child over, placed it in their midst, and said,

“Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children,
you will not enter the Kingdom of heaven.
Whoever humbles himself like this child
is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.
And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me.

See that you do not despise one of these little ones,
for I say to you that their angels in heaven
always look upon the face of my heavenly Father.”

— The Gospel of the Lord.

First Reading

The Book of Job (Jb 3: 1-3, 11-17, 20-23)

Why is light given to the toilers?

Job opened his mouth and cursed his day.
Job spoke out and said:

“Perish the day on which I was born,
the night when they said, ‘The child is a boy!’

Why did I not perish at birth,
come forth from the womb and expire?
Or why was I not buried away like an untimely birth,
like babes that have never seen the light?
Wherefore did the knees receive me?
or why did I suck at the breasts?

For then I should have lain down and been tranquil;
had I slept, I should then have been at rest
With kings and counselors of the earth
who built where now there are ruins
Or with princes who had gold
and filled their houses with silver.

There the wicked cease from troubling,
there the weary are at rest.

Why is light given to the toilers,
and life to the bitter in spirit?
They wait for death and it comes not;
they search for it rather than for hidden treasures,
Rejoice in it exultingly,
and are glad when they reach the grave:
Those whose path is hidden from them,
and whom God has hemmed in!”

— The word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm

Ps 88: 2-3, 4-5, 6, 7-8

Let my prayer come before you, Lord.

O LORD, my God, by day I cry out;
at night I clamor in your presence.
Let my prayer come before you;
incline your ear to my call for help.

For my soul is surfeited with troubles
and my life draws near to the nether world.
I am numbered with those who go down into the pit;
I am a man without strength.

My couch is among the dead,
like the slain who lie in the grave,
Whom you remember no longer
and who are cut off from your care.

You have plunged me into the bottom of the pit,
into the dark abyss.
Upon me your wrath lies heavy,
and with all your billows you overwhelm me.

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: 51-56)

Jesus resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem.

When the days for Jesus to be taken up were fulfilled,
he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem,
and he sent messengers ahead of him.
On the way they entered a Samaritan village
to prepare for his reception there,
but they would not welcome him
because the destination of his journey was Jerusalem.
When the disciples James and John saw this they asked,

“Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven
to consume them?”

Jesus turned and rebuked them,
and they journeyed to another village.

— The Gospel of the Lord.