Saturday, March 23, 2024
Liturgical Season: 
Special Significance: 
Raising of Lazarus

Wis 11:22-26

22Indeed, before you the whole universe is like a grain from a balance,*

or a drop of morning dew come down upon the earth.o

23* But you have mercy on all, because you can do all things;

and you overlook sins for the sake of repentance.p

24For you love all things that are

and loathe nothing that you have made;

for you would not fashion what you hate.q

25How could a thing remain, unless you willed it;

or be preserved, had it not been called forth by you?r

26But you spare all things, because they are yours,

O Ruler and Lover of souls,s

Wis 12:1-15

1for your imperishable spirit is in all things!a

2Therefore you rebuke offenders little by little,

warn them, and remind them of the sins they are committing,

that they may abandon their wickedness and believe in you, Lord!

3For truly, the ancient inhabitants of your holy land,b

4whom you hated for deeds most odious—

works of sorcery and impious sacrifices;

5These merciless murderers of children,

devourers of human flesh,*

and initiates engaged in a blood ritual,

6and parents who took with their own hands defenseless lives,c

You willed to destroy by the hands of our ancestors,

7that the land that is dearest of all to you

might receive a worthy colony of God’s servants.d

8But even these you spared, since they were but mortals

and sent wasps as forerunners of your army

that they might exterminate them by degrees.e

9Not that you were without power to have the wicked vanquished in battle by the righteous,

or wiped out at once by terrible beasts or by one decisive word;f

10But condemning them by degrees, you gave them space for repentance.

You were not unaware that their origins were wicked

and their malice ingrained,g

And that their dispositions would never change;

11for they were a people accursed from the beginning.

Neither out of fear for anyone

did you grant release from their sins.h

12For who can say to you, “What have you done?”

or who can oppose your decree?

Or when peoples perish, who can challenge you, their maker;

or who can come into your presence to vindicate the unrighteous?i

13For neither is there any god besides you who have the care of all,

that you need show you have not unjustly condemned;j

14Nor can any king or prince confront you on behalf of those you have punished.k

15But as you are righteous, you govern all things righteously;

you regard it as unworthy of your power

to punish one who has incurred no blame.l

1 Cor 15:20-28

Christ the Firstfruits.* 20h But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits* of those who have fallen asleep. 21* For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead came also through a human being. 22For just as in Adam all die, so too in Christ shall all be brought to life,i 23but each one in proper order: Christ the firstfruits; then, at his coming, those who belong to Christ;j 24then comes the end,* when he hands over the kingdom to his God and Father, when he has destroyed every sovereignty and every authority and power.k 25For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.l 26* The last enemym to be destroyed is death, 27* for “he subjected everything under his feet.”n But when it says that everything has been subjected, it is clear that it excludes the one who subjected everything to him. 28When everything is subjected to him, then the Son himself will [also] be subjected to the one who subjected everything to him, so that God may be all in all.o

Jn 11:28-44

28When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary secretly, saying, “The teacher is here and is asking for you.” 29As soon as she heard this, she rose quickly and went to him. 30For Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still where Martha had met him. 31So when the Jews who were with her in the house comforting her saw Mary get up quickly and go out, they followed her, presuming that she was going to the tomb to weep there. 32When Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come with her weeping, he became perturbed* and deeply troubled, 34and said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Sir, come and see.” 35And Jesus wept.m 36So the Jews said, “See how he loved him.” 37But some of them said, “Could not the one who opened the eyes of the blind man have done something so that this man would not have died?”

38So Jesus, perturbed again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay across it. 39Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the dead man’s sister, said to him, “Lord, by now there will be a stench; he has been dead for four days.” 40Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?” 41So they took away the stone. And Jesus raised his eyes and said, “Father,* I thank you for hearing me. 42I know that you always hear me; but because of the crowd here I have said this, that they may believe that you sent me.”n 43And when he had said this, he cried out in a loud voice,* “Lazarus, come out!” 44The dead man came out, tied hand and foot with burial bands, and his face was wrapped in a cloth. So Jesus said to them, “Untie him and let him go.”