Saturday of the 33rd week of Ordinary Time

1And king Antiochus was traveling through the upper regions, and he heard that the city of Elymais in Persia was very noble and abundant in silver and gold, 2and that the temple in it was very opulent, and that there were, in that place, coverings of gold, and breastplates and shields, which Alexander, the son of Philip, king of Macedonia, who reigned first in Greece, had left behind. 3So he came and sought to seize the city and to pillage it. And he was not able, because this plan became known to those who were in the city. 4And they rose up in battle, and he fled away from there, and he departed with great sadness, and he returned into Babylon. 5And someone arrived to report to him in Persia, that those who were in the land of Judah were forced to flee the camp, 6and that Lysias went forth with a particularly strong army, and he was forced to flee before the face of the Jews, and that they were strengthened by the weapons, and resources, and many spoils which they seized from the camps they demolished, 7and that they had destroyed the abomination, which he had established on the altar that was in Jerusalem, and that the sanctuary, just as before, had been encircled with high walls, along with Bethzur, his city. 8And it happened that, when the king heard these words, he was terrified and very moved. And he fell down on his bed, and he fell into feebleness out of grief. For it had not happened to him as he had intended. 9And he was in that place through many days. For a great grief was renewed in him, and he concluded that he would die. 10And he called all his friends, and he said to them: “Sleep has withdrawn from my eyes, and I am declining, and my heart has collapsed out of anxiety. 11And I said in my heart: How much trouble has come to me, and what floods of sorrow there are, where I am now! I used to be cheerful and beloved in my power! 12Truly, now, I remember the evils that I did in Jerusalem, from which place I also took away all the spoils of gold and silver that were in it, and I sent to carry away the inhabitants of Judah without cause. 13Therefore, I know that it is because of this that these evils have found me. And behold, I perish with great sorrow in a foreign land.”

2I will confess to you, Lord, with my whole heart. I will recount all your wonders.

3I will rejoice and exult in you. I will sing a psalm to your name, O Most High.

4For my enemy will be turned back. They will be weakened and perish before your face.

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6You have rebuked the Gentiles, and the impious one has perished. You have deleted their name in eternity and for all generations.

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16I will exult in your salvation. The Gentiles have become trapped in the ruin that they made. Their foot has been caught in the same snare that they themselves had hidden.

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19For the poor will not be forgotten in the end. The patience of the poor will not perish in the end.

27Now some of the Sadducees, who deny that there is a resurrection, approached him. And they questioned him, 28saying: “Teacher, Moses wrote for us: If any man’s brother will have died, having a wife, and if he does not have any children, then his brother should take her as his wife, and he should raise up offspring for his brother. 29And so there were seven brothers. And the first took a wife, and he died without sons. 30And the next one married her, and he also died without a son. 31And the third married her, and similarly all seven, and none of them left behind any offspring, and they each died. 32Last of all, the woman also died. 33In the resurrection, then, whose wife will she be? For certainly all seven had her as a wife.” 34And so, Jesus said to them: “The children of this age marry and are given in marriage. 35Yet truly, those who shall be held worthy of that age, and of the resurrection from the dead, will neither be married, nor take wives. 36For they can no longer die. For they are equal to the Angels, and they are children of God, since they are children of the resurrection. 37For in truth, the dead do rise again, as Moses also showed beside the bush, when he called the Lord: ‘The God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ 38And so he is not the God of the dead, but of the living. For all are alive to him.” 39Then some of the scribes, in response, said to him, “Teacher, you have spoken well.” 40And they no longer dared to question him about anything.