First Reading

The beginning of the Book of Genesis (Gn 4: 1-15, 25)

Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and killed him.

The man had relations with his wife Eve,
and she conceived and bore Cain, saying,

“I have produced a man with the help of the LORD.”

Next she bore his brother Abel.
Abel became a keeper of flocks, and Cain a tiller of the soil.
In the course of time Cain brought an offering to the LORD
from the fruit of the soil,
while Abel, for his part,
brought one of the best firstlings of his flock.
The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering,
but on Cain and his offering he did not.
Cain greatly resented this and was crestfallen.

So the LORD said to Cain:

“Why are you so resentful and crestfallen.
If you do well, you can hold up your head;
but if not, sin is a demon lurking at the door:
his urge is toward you, yet you can be his master.”

Cain said to his brother Abel,

“Let us go out in the field.”

When they were in the field,
Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

Then the LORD asked Cain,

“Where is your brother Abel?”

He answered,

“I do not know.
Am I my brother’s keeper?”

The LORD then said:

“What have you done!
Listen: your brother’s blood cries out to me from the soil!
Therefore you shall be banned from the soil
that opened its mouth to receive
your brother’s blood from your hand.
If you till the soil, it shall no longer give you its produce.
You shall become a restless wanderer on the earth.”

Cain said to the LORD:

“My punishment is too great to bear.
Since you have now banished me from the soil,
and I must avoid your presence
and become a restless wanderer on the earth,
anyone may kill me at sight.”

“Not so!” the LORD said to him.

“If anyone kills Cain, Cain shall be avenged sevenfold.”

So the LORD put a mark on Cain, lest anyone should kill him at sight.

Adam again had relations with his wife,
and she gave birth to a son whom she called Seth.

“God has granted me more offspring in place of Abel,”

she said,

“because Cain slew him.”

— The word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm (Ps 50: 1 and 8, 16bc-17, 20-21)

Offer to God a sacrifice of praise.

God the LORD has spoken and summoned the earth,
from the rising of the sun to its setting.
“Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you,
for your burnt offerings are before me always.”

“Why do you recite my statutes,
and profess my covenant with your mouth
Though you hate discipline
and cast my words behind you?”

“You sit speaking against your brother;
against your mother’s son you spread rumors.
When you do these things, shall I be deaf to it?
Or do you think that I am like yourself?
I will correct you by drawing them up before your eyes.”

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.

Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark (Mk 8: 11-13)

Why does this generation seek a sign?

The Pharisees came forward and began to argue with Jesus,
seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him.
He sighed from the depth of his spirit and said,

“Why does this generation seek a sign?
Amen, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.”

Then he left them, got into the boat again,
and went off to the other shore.

— The Gospel of the Lord.

First Reading

The Book of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 17: 5-8)

Cursed is the one who trusts in human beings. Blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD.

Thus says the LORD:
Cursed is the one who trusts in human beings,
who seeks his strength in flesh,
whose heart turns away from the LORD.
He is like a barren bush in the desert
that enjoys no change of season,
but stands in a lava waste,
a salt and empty earth.
Blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD,
whose hope is the LORD.
He is like a tree planted beside the waters
that stretches out its roots to the stream:
it fears not the heat when it comes;
its leaves stay green;
in the year of drought it shows no distress,
but still bears fruit.

— The word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 1: 1-2, 3, 4 & 6

Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.

Blessed the man who follows not
the counsel of the wicked,
nor walks in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the company of the insolent,
but delights in the law of the LORD
and meditates on his law day and night.

He is like a tree
planted near running water,
that yields its fruit in due season,
and whose leaves never fade.
Whatever he does, prospers.

Not so the wicked, not so;
they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
For the LORD watches over the way of the just,
but the way of the wicked vanishes.

Second Reading

First Letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 15: 12, 16-20)

If Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain.

Brothers and sisters:
If Christ is preached as raised from the dead,
how can some among you say there is no resurrection of the dead?
If the dead are not raised, neither has Christ been raised,
and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain;
you are still in your sins.
Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
If for this life only we have hoped in Christ,
we are the most pitiable people of all.

But now Christ has been raised from the dead,
the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

— The word of the Lord.

Gospel

Alleluia, alleluia.

Rejoice and be glad; your reward will be great in heaven.

Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke (Luke 6: 17, 20-26)

Blessed are you who are poor. Woe to you who are rich.

Jesus came down with the Twelve
and stood on a stretch of level ground
with a great crowd of his disciples
and a large number of the people
from all Judea and Jerusalem
and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon.
And raising his eyes toward his disciples he said:

“Blessed are you who are poor,
for the kingdom of God is yours.
Blessed are you who are now hungry,
for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who are now weeping,
for you will laugh.
Blessed are you when people hate you,
and when they exclude and insult you,
and denounce your name as evil
on account of the Son of Man.
Rejoice and leap for joy on that day!
Behold, your reward will be great in heaven.
For their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way.

But woe to you who are rich,
for you have received your consolation.
Woe to you who are filled now,
for you will be hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now,
for you will grieve and weep.
Woe to you when all speak well of you,
for their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way.”

— The Gospel of the Lord.