First Reading: Sirach 5:1-8
Do not rely on your wealth or say, “I have enough.” Do not follow your inclination and strength in pursuing the desires of your heart. Do not say, “Who can have power over me?” for the Lord will surely punish you. Do not say, “I have sinned, yet nothing has happened to me,” for the Lord bides his time.
Do not be so confident of forgiveness that you add sin upon sin. Do not say, “His mercy is great; he will forgive the multitude of my sins,” for both mercy and wrath are with him, and his anger rests on sinners.
Do not delay turning back to the Lord, and do not postpone it day after day; for suddenly the wrath of the Lord will come upon you, and at the time of punishment you will perish. Do not rely on dishonest wealth, for it will not benefit you on the day of calamity.
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 1:1-4, 6
Response: Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.
Blessed the one who does not follow the counsel of the wicked, nor walk in the way of sinners, nor sit 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.
Alleluia: 1 Thessalonians 2:13
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: Mark 9:41-50
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 it 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.”
