Friday of the Thirty-Second Week in Ordinary Time (I)

Official Translation

Reading 1 – Wisdom 13.1-9

Empty are all humans
in whom there is no knowledge of God,
who by these good things that are seen
could not understand HIM WHO IS
nor by attending to the works
have acknowledged who the workman is,
but have imagined either
the fire or the wind or the swift air
or the circle of the stars or the great water
or the sun and moon
to be the gods that rule the world.

If they, being delighted by their beauty,
took them to be gods:
let them know how much more beautiful
is their Lord than they,
for the first author of beauty made all those things.

Or if they admired their power and their effects,
let them understand by them,
that he who made them is mightier than they,
for by the greatness and the beauty of the creature,
their Creator may be seen,
and so be known.

Yet as for these, they are less to be blamed,
for they perhaps err, seeking God,
and desirous to find him.
For being conversant among his works, they search,
and they are persuaded
that the things are good which are seen.

But then again they are not to be pardoned.
For if they were able to know so much
as to make a judgment of the world,
how did they not more easily find out its Lord?

Responsorial – Psalm 19.2-3, 4-5ab Resp. 2a

R. The heavens show forth the glory of God.

The heavens show forth the glory of God,
and the firmament declares the work of his hands.
Day to day utters speech,
and night to night shows knowledge.

R. The heavens show forth the glory of God.

There are no speeches nor languages,
in which their voices are not heard.
Their sound has gone forth through all the earth,
and their words unto the ends of the world.

R. The heavens show forth the glory of God.

Gospel – Luke 17.26-37

Jesus said to his disciples:
“As it came to pass in the days of Noah, so it will also be in the days of the Son of human:
They ate; they drank; they married; they were given in marriage,
until the day that Noah went into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.

Likewise it came to pass, in the days of Lot:
They ate; they drank; they bought; they sold; they planted; they built.
Then on the day Lot left Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.

Accordingly, it will be so on the day when the Son of human is revealed.
On that day, there will be someone on the house and their goods in the house.
Let them not go down to get them.
And it is the same with someone in the field: they should not turn around to go back.
Remember Lot's wife!
If someone seeks to preserve their life, they will lose it, and anyone who loses it will produce it.

I say to you, on that night there shall be two upon one bed:
the one guy will be taken, and the other guy will be left.
Two will be together grinding grains:
the one lady will be taken and the other lady will be left.”
And answering they said to him: “Where, Lord?”
And he said to them, “Wherever the body is, the vultures gather there.”