First Reading

Letter of Saint James (Jas 5: 1-6)

Behold, the wages you withheld from the workers who harvested your fields are crying aloud and their cries of have reached the ears of the Lord.

Come now, you rich, weep and wail over your impending miseries.
Your wealth has rotted away, your clothes have become moth-eaten,
your gold and silver have corroded,
and that corrosion will be a testimony against you;
it will devour your flesh like a fire.
You have stored up treasure for the last days.
Behold, the wages you withheld from the workers
who harvested your fields are crying aloud;
and the cries of the harvesters
have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.
You have lived on earth in luxury and pleasure;
you have fattened your hearts for the day of slaughter.
You have condemned;
you have murdered the righteous one;
he offers you no resistance.

— The word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm

Ps 49: 14-15ab, 15cd-16, 17-18, 19-20

Blessed are the poor in spirit; the Kingdom of heaven is theirs!

This is the way of those whose trust is folly,
the end of those contented with their lot:
Like sheep they are herded into the nether world;
death is their shepherd and the upright rule over them.

Quickly their form is consumed;
the nether world is their palace.
But God will redeem me
from the power of the nether world by receiving me.

Fear not when a man grows rich,
when the wealth of his house becomes great,
For when he dies, he shall take none of it;
his wealth shall not follow him down.

Though in his lifetime he counted himself blessed,
“They will praise you for doing well for yourself,”
He shall join the circle of his forebears
who shall never more see light.

Gospel

Alleluia, alleluia.

Receive the word of God, not as the word of men, but as it truly is, the word of God.

Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark (Mk 9: 41-50)

It is better for you to enter into life maimed than with two hands to go into Gehenna.

Jesus said to his disciples:

“Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink
because you belong to Christ,
amen, I say to you, will surely not lose his reward.

Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin,
it would be better for him if a great millstone
were put around his neck
and he were thrown into the sea.
If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off.
It is better for you to enter into life maimed
than with two hands to go into Gehenna,
into the unquenchable fire.
And if your foot causes you to sin, cut if off.
It is better for you to enter into life crippled
than with two feet to be thrown into Gehenna.
And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out.
Better for you to enter into the Kingdom of God with one eye
than with two eyes to be thrown into Gehenna,
where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.

Everyone will be salted with fire.
Salt is good, but if salt becomes insipid,
with what will you restore its flavor?
Keep salt in yourselves and you will have peace with one another.”

— The Gospel of the Lord.

First Reading

Letter of Saint James (Jas 4: 13-17)

You have no idea what your life will be like tomorrow.

Beloved:
Come now, you who say,

“Today or tomorrow we shall go into such and such a town,
spend a year there doing business, and make a profit” –

you have no idea what your life will be like tomorrow.
You are a puff of smoke that appears briefly and then disappears.
Instead you should say,

“If the Lord wills it, we shall live to do this or that.”

But now you are boasting in your arrogance.
All such boasting is evil.
So for one who knows the right thing to do
and does not do it, it is a sin.

— The word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm

Ps 49: 2-3, 6-7, 8-10, 11

Blessed are the poor in spirit; the Kingdom of heaven is theirs!

Hear this, all you peoples;
hearken, all who dwell in the world,
Of lowly birth or high degree,
rich and poor alike.

Why should I fear in evil days
when my wicked ensnarers ring me round?
They trust in their wealth;
the abundance of their riches is their boast.

Yet in no way can a man redeem himself,
or pay his own ransom to God;
Too high is the price to redeem one's life; he would never have enough
to remain alive always and not see destruction.

For he can see that wise men die,
and likewise the senseless and the stupid pass away,
leaving to others their wealth.

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 Mark (Mk 9: 38-40)

For whoever is not against us is for us.

John said to Jesus,

“Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name,
and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow us.”

Jesus replied,

“Do not prevent him.
There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name
who can at the same time speak ill of me.
For whoever is not against us is for us.”

— The Gospel of the Lord.

First Reading

Letter of Saint James (Jas 4: 1-10)

You ask but do not receive, because you ask wrongly.

Beloved:
Where do the wars and where do the conflicts among you come from?
Is it not from your passions that make war within your members?
You covet but do not possess.
You kill and envy but you cannot obtain;
you fight and wage war.
You do not possess because you do not ask.
You ask but do not receive, because you ask wrongly,
to spend it on your passions.
Adulterers!
Do you not know that to be a lover of the world means enmity with God?
Therefore, whoever wants to be a lover of the world
makes himself an enemy of God.
Or do you suppose that the Scripture speaks without meaning when it says,
The spirit that he has made to dwell in us tends toward jealousy?
But he bestows a greater grace; therefore, it says:
God resists the proud,
but gives grace to the humble.

So submit yourselves to God.
Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you.
Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.
Cleanse your hands, you sinners,
and purify your hearts, you of two minds.
Begin to lament, to mourn, to weep.
Let your laughter be turned into mourning
and your joy into dejection.
Humble yourselves before the Lord
and he will exalt you.

— The word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm

Ps 55: 7-8, 9-10a, 10b-11a, 23

Throw your cares on the Lord, and he will support you.

And I say, “Had I but wings like a dove,
I would fly away and be at rest.
Far away I would flee;
I would lodge in the wilderness.”

“I would wait for him who saves me
from the violent storm and the tempest.”
Engulf them, O Lord; divide their counsels.

In the city I see violence and strife,
day and night they prowl about upon its walls.

Cast your care upon the LORD,
and he will support you;
never will he permit the just man to be disturbed.

Gospel

Alleluia, alleluia.

May I never boast except in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world.

Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark (Mk 9: 30-37)

The Son of Man is to be handed over. If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all.

Jesus and his disciples left from there and began a journey through Galilee,
but he did not wish anyone to know about it.
He was teaching his disciples and telling them,

“The Son of Man is to be handed over to men
and they will kill him,
and three days after his death the Son of Man will rise.”

But they did not understand the saying,
and they were afraid to question him.

They came to Capernaum and, once inside the house,
he began to ask them,

“What were you arguing about on the way?”

But they remained silent.
For they had been discussing among themselves on the way
who was the greatest.
Then he sat down, called the Twelve, and said to them,

“If anyone wishes to be first,
he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.”

Taking a child, he placed it in their midst,
and putting his arms around it, he said to them,

“Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me;
and whoever receives me,
receives not me but the One who sent me.”

— The Gospel of the Lord.