First Reading

Tobit 3:1-11a, 16-17a

1Then Tobit sighed, and he began to pray with tears, 2saying, “O Lord, you are just and all your judgments are just, and all your ways are mercy, and truth, and judgment. 3And now, O Lord, remember me, and do not take vengeance for my sins, and do not call to mind my offenses, nor those of my parents. 4For we have not obeyed your precepts, and so we have been handed over to plundering and to captivity, and to death, and to mockery, and as a disgrace before all the nations, among which you have dispersed us. 5And now, O Lord, great are your judgments. For we have not acted according to your precepts, and we have not walked sincerely before you. 6And now, O Lord, do with me according to your will, and order my spirit to be received in peace. For it is more expedient for me to die, than to live.” 7And so, on the same day, it happened that Sarah, the daughter of Raguel, in Rages, a city of the Medes, also heard a reproach from one of her father’s servant maids. 8For she had been given to seven husbands, and a demon named Asmodeus had killed them, as soon as they had approached her. 9Therefore, when she corrected the maid for her fault, she answered her, saying, “May we never see son or daughter from you upon the earth, you murderess of your husbands. 10Would you also kill me, just as you have already killed seven husbands?” At these words, she proceeded to an upper room of her house. And for three days and three nights, she did not eat or drink. 11But, continuing in prayer with tears, she beseeched God, so that he would liberate her from this reproach. 12And it happened on the third day, while she was completing her prayer, blessing the Lord, 13that she said: “Blessed is your name, O God of our fathers, who, though you had been angry, will show mercy. And in time of tribulation, you dismiss the sins of those who call upon you. 14To you, O Lord, I turn my face; to you, I direct my eyes. 15I beg you, O Lord, that you may absolve me from the chains of this reproach, or at least take me away from the earth. 16You know, O Lord, that I have never coveted a husband, and I have preserved my soul clean from all impure desire.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 24

2In you, my God, I trust. Let me not be put to shame. 3And do not let my enemies laugh at me. For all who remain with you will not be confounded. 4May all those who act unjustly over nothing be confounded. O Lord, demonstrate your ways to me, and teach me your paths. 5Direct me in your truth, and teach me. For you are God, my Savior, and I remain with you all day long. 6O Lord, remember your compassion and your mercies, which are from ages past. 7Do not remember the offenses of my youth and my ignorances. Remember me according to your mercy, because of your goodness, O Lord. 8The Lord is sweet and righteous. Because of this, he will grant a law to those who fall short in the way. 9He will direct the mild in judgment. He will teach the meek his ways.

Gospel

Mark 12:18-27

18And the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, approached him. And they questioned him, saying: 19“Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if any man’s brother will have died and left behind a wife, and not have left behind sons, his brother should take his wife to himself and should raise up offspring for his brother. 20So then, there were seven brothers. And the first took a wife, and he died without leaving behind offspring. 21And the second took her, and he died. And neither did he leave behind offspring. And the third acted similarly. 22And in like manner, each of the seven received her and did not leave behind offspring. Last of all, the woman also died. 23Therefore, in the resurrection, when they will rise again, to which of them will she be a wife? For each of the seven had her as wife.” 24And Jesus responded by saying to them: “But have you not gone astray, by knowing neither the scriptures, nor the power of God? 25For when they will be resurrected from the dead, they shall neither marry, nor be given in marriage, but they are like the Angels in heaven. 26But concerning the dead who rise again, have you not read in the book of Moses, how God spoke to him from the bush, saying: ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?’ 27He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. Therefore, you have gone far astray.”