| First Readings –Readings from the Old Testament |
1) A Reading from the Prophet Daniel (12,1-3)
I, Daniel, was doing penance when I received this message from the Lord: “At that time Michael will stand up, the great prince who mounts guard over your people.There is going to be a time of great distress, unparalleled since nations first came into existence.When that time comes, your own people will be spared, all those whose names are found written in the Book.Of those who lie sleeping in the dust of the earth many will awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting disgrace.The learned will shine as brightly as the vault of heaven, and those who have instructed many in virtue, as bright as the stars for all eternity”.
This is the Word of the Lord
2) A Reading from the second book of Maccabees (12,4345)
Judas,the leader of the Jews, took a collection from the people individually, amounting to nearly two thousand drachmae, and sent it to Jerusalem to have a sacrifice for sin offered, an altogether fine and noble action, in which he took full account of the resurrection. For if he had not expected the fallen to rise it would have been superfluous and foolish to pray for the dead, whereas if he had in view the splendid recompense reserved for those who make a pious end, the thought was holy and devout.This was why he had this atonement sacrifice offered for the dead, so that they might be released from their sin.
This is the Word of the Lord
3) A Reading from the Prophet Isaiah (25,6-9)
On this mountain, the Lord of hosts will prepare for all peoples a banquet of rich food.On this mountain He will remove the mourning veil covering all peoples, and the shroud enwrapping all nations, He will destroy death for ever. The Lord will wipe away the tears from every cheek; he will take away his people’s shame everywhere on earth, for the Lord has said so. That day, it will be said: See, this is our God in whom we hoped for salvation; the Lord is the one in whom we hoped. We exult and rejoice that he has saved us.
This is the Word of the Lord
| Second Readings –Readings from the New Testament |
4) A reading from the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans (5,17-21)
If it is certain that death reigned over everyone as the consequence of one man’s fall, it is even more certain that one man, Jesus Christ, will cause everyone to reign in life who received the free gift that he does not deserve, of being made righteous. Again, as one man’s fall brought condemnation on everyone, so the good act of one man brings everyone life and makes them justified. As by one man’s disobedience many will be made sinners, so by one man’s obedience many will be made righteous. When law came, it was to multiply the opportunities of falling, but however great the number of sins committed, grace was even greater; and so, just as sin reigned wherever there was death, so grace will reign to bring eternal life thanks to the righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ our Lord.
This is the Word of the Lord
5) A reading from the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans
When we were baptised in Christ Jesus, we were baptised in his death; in other words, when we were baptised we went into the tomb with him and joined him in death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the Father’s glory, we too might live a new life. If in union with Christ we have imitated his death, we shall also imitate him in his resurrection. We must realise that our former selves have been crucified with him to destroy this sinful body and to free us from the slavery of sin. When a man dies, of course, he has finished with sin.But we believe that having died with Christ we shall return to life with him; Christ, as we know, having been raised from the dead will never die again.Death has no power over him any more.
This is the Word of the Lord
6) A reading from the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans (8,31-33,37-39)
If God is for us, who can be against us?
Since God did not spare his own Son, but gave him up to benefit us all, we may be certain, after such a gift, that he will not refuse anything he can give. Could anyone accuse those that God has chosen? When God acquits, could anyone condemn? Could Jesus Christ? No! He not only died for us – he rose from the dead, and there at God’s right hand he stands and pleads for us.What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? No! In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor anything that exists, nor anything still to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God made visible in Christ Jesus our Lord.
This is the Word of the Lord
7) A reading from the First Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians (15,20-28)
Christ has risen from the dead, the first-fruits of all who have fallen asleep. Death came through one man and in the same way the resurrection of the dead has come through one man. Just as all die in Adam, so all will be brought to life in Christ; but all of them in their proper order; Christ as the first-fruits and then, after the coming of Christ, those who belong to him. After that will come the end, when he hands over the Kingdom to God the Father. For he must be King until he has put all his enemies under his feet and the last of the enemies to be destroyed is death, for everything is to be put under his feet. Though when it is said that everything is subjected, this clearly cannot include the One who subjected everything to him. And when everything is subjected to him, then the Son himself will be subject in his turn to the one who subjected all things to him, so that God may be all in all.
This is the Word of the Lord
8. A Reading from the First Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians (15,51-57)
I will tell you something that has been secret: that we are not all going to die, but we shall all be changed. This will be instantaneous, in the twinkling of an eye, when the last trumpet sounds. It will sound, and the dead will be raised, imperishable, and we shall be changed as well, because our present perishable nature must put on imperishability and this mortal nature must put on immortality.
When this perishable nature has put on imperishability, and when this mortal nature has put on immortality, then the words of Scripture will come true:
Death is swallowed up in victory.
Death where is your victory?
Death where is your sting? Now the sting of sin is death, and sin gets its power from the Law.
So let us thank God for giving us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
This is the Word of the Lord
9) A Reading from the Second Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians (4,14-5,1)
We know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus, and bring us with you into his presence. Yes, everything is for your sake, so that grace, as it extends to more and more people, may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.
So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, because we look not at what can be seen, but what cannot be seen is eternal.
For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
This is the Word of the Lord
10) A reading from the Second Letter of St. Paul to the Corinthians (5,1.6-10)
We know that when the tent we live in on earth is folded up, there is a house built by God for us, an everlasting home not made of human hands, in the heavens.
We are always full of confidence, then, when we remember that to live in the body means to be exiled from the Lord, going as we do by faith and not by sight – we are full of confidence, I say, and actually want to be exiled from the body and make our home with the Lord. Whether we are living in the body or exiled from it, we are intent on pleasing him. For all the truth about us will be brought out in the law court of Christ, and each of us will get what he deserves for the things he did in the body, good or bad.
This is the Word of the Lord
11) A reading from the Letter of St. Paul to the Philippians (3,20-21)
For us, our homeland is in heaven, and from heaven comes the Saviour we are waiting for, the Lord Jesus Christ, and he will transfigure these wretched bodies of ours into copies of his glorious body. He will do that by the same power with which he can subdue the whole universe.
This is the Word of the Lord
12) A Reading from the first letter of St. Paul to the Thessalonians (4,13-18)
We want you to be quite certain, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, to make sure that you do not grieve about them like the other people who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again, and that it will be the same for those who have died in Jesus: God will bring them with him.We can tell you this from the Lord’s own teaching that any of us who are left alive until the Lord’s coming will not have any advantage over those who have died. At the trumpet of God, the voice of the archangel will call out the command and the first to rise, and those of us who are still alive will be taken up in the clouds, together with them, to meet the Lord in the air. So we shall stay with the lord forever. With such thoughts as these you should comfort one another.
This is the Word of he Lord
13) A reading from the Book of revelation (14,3)
I, John, heard a voice from heaven say to me, “Write down: happy are those die in the Lord! Happy indeed, the Spirit says: now they can rest for ever after their work, since their good deeds go with them”.
This is the Word of the Lord
