First Reading

Tobit 12:1, 5-15, 20

1Then Tobit called his son to him, and he said to him, “What are we able to give to this holy man, who accompanied you?” 2Tobias, answering, said to his father: “Father, what wages shall we give him? And what could be worthy of his benefits? 3He led me and he brought me back safely. He received the money from Gabael. He caused me to have my wife. And he confined the demon away from her. He caused joy to her parents. Myself, he rescued from being devoured by the fish. As for you, he also caused you to see the light of heaven. And so, we have been filled with all good things through him. What could we possibly give to him that would be worthy of these things? 4But I implore you, my father, to ask him if he would perhaps deign to take for himself half of all the things that have been brought.” 5And calling him, the father especially, and the son, they took him aside. And they began to petition him, so that he would deign to accept ownership of one half part of all things that they had brought. 6Then he said to them privately: “Bless the God of heaven, and confess to him in the sight of all who live, for he has acted in his mercy toward you. 7For it is good to conceal the secret of a king, just as it is also honorable to reveal and to confess the works of God. 8Prayer with fasting is good, and almsgiving is better than hiding away gold in storage. 9For almsgiving delivers from death, and the same is what purges sins and makes one able to find mercy and everlasting life. 10But those who commit sin and iniquity are enemies to their own soul. 11Therefore, I reveal the truth to you, and I will not hide the explanation from you. 12When you prayed with tears, and buried the dead, and left behind your dinner, and hid the dead by day in your house, and buried them by night: I offered your prayer to the Lord. 13And because you were acceptable to God, it was necessary for you to be tested by trials. 14And now, the Lord has sent me to cure you, and to free Sarah, your son’s wife, from the demon. 15For I am the Angel Raphael, one of seven, who stand before the Lord.” 16And when they had heard these things, they were troubled, and being seized with fear, they fell upon the ground on their face. 17And the Angel said to them: “Peace be to you. Fear not. 18For when I was with you, I was there by the will of God. Bless him, and sing to him. 19Indeed, I seemed to eat and drink with you, but I make use of an invisible food and drink, which cannot be seen by men. 20Therefore, it is time that I return to him who sent me. But as for you, bless God, and describe all his wonders.”

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 13

2For you scourge, and you save. You lead down to the grave, and you bring up again. And there is no one who can escape from your hand. 3Confess to the Lord, O sons of Israel, and praise him in the sight of the nations. 4For, indeed, he has dispersed you among the Gentiles, who are ignorant of him, that you may proclaim his wonders, and that you may cause them to know that there is no other almighty God, except him. 5He has chastised us because of our iniquities, and he will save us because of his mercy. 6Therefore, look upon what he has done for us, and, with fear and trembling, confess to him. And extol the King of all ages with your works. 7But as for me, I will confess him in the land of my captivity. For he has revealed his majesty within a sinful nation. 8And so, be converted, you sinners, and do justice in the presence of God, believing that he will act in his mercy toward you.

Gospel

Mark 12:38-44

38And he said to them in his doctrine: “Beware of the scribes, who prefer to walk in long robes and to be greeted in the marketplace, 39and to sit in the first chairs in the synagogues, and to have the first seats at feasts, 40who devour the houses of widows under the pretense of long prayers. These shall receive the more extensive judgment.” 41And Jesus, sitting opposite the offertory box, considered the way in which the crowd cast coins into the offertory, and that many of the wealthy cast in a great deal. 42But when one poor widow had arrived, she put in two small coins, which is a quarter. 43And calling together his disciples, he said to them: “Amen I say to you, that this poor widow has put in more than all those who contributed to the offertory. 44For they all gave from their abundance, yet truly, she gave from her scarcity, even all that she had, her entire living.”