READINGS

FIRST READING                1 Kings 17:10-16

‘Jar of meal shall not be spent, jug of oil shall not be emptied’
Elijah the Prophet went off to Sidon. And when he reached the city gate, there was a
widow gathering sticks; addressing her he said, ‘Please bring me a little water in a
vessel for me to drink.’ She was setting off to bring it when he called after her. ‘Please’
he said ‘bring me a scrap of bread in your hand.’ ‘As the Lord your God lives,’ she
replied ‘I have no baked bread, but only a handful of meal in a jar and a little oil in a
jug; I am just gathering a stick or two to go and prepare this for myself and my son to
eat, and then we shall die.’ But Elijah said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, go and do as you
have said; but first make a little scone of it for me and bring it to me, and then make
some for yourself and for your son. For thus the Lord speaks, the God of Israel:

“Jar of meal shall not be spent,
jug of oil shall not be emptied,
before the day when the Lord sends
rain on the face of the earth.”’

The woman went and did as Elijah told her and they ate the food, she, himself and her
son. The jar of meal was not spent nor the jug of oil emptied, just as the Lord
had foretold through Elijah.

Responsorial Psalm                  Psalm 145(146):7-10

R. Praise the Lord, my soul!

The LORD keeps faith forever,
secures justice for the oppressed,
gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets captives free.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul!

The LORD gives sight to the blind;
the LORD raises up those who were bowed down.
The LORD loves the just;
the LORD protects strangers.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul!

The fatherless and the widow he sustains,
but the way of the wicked he thwarts.
The LORD shall reign forever;
your God, O Zion, through all generations. Alleluia.
R. Praise the Lord, my soul!

SECOND READING           Hebrews 9:24-28

Christ, our high priest, has done away with sin by sacrificing himself
It is not as though Christ had entered a man-made sanctuary which was only modelled
on the real one; but it was heaven itself, so that he could appear in the actual presence
of God on our behalf. And he does not have to offer himself again and again, like the
high priest going into the sanctuary year after year with the blood that is not his own,
or else he would have had to suffer over and over again since the world began. Instead
of that, he has made his appearance once and for all, now at the end of the last age, to
do away with sin by sacrificing himself. Since men only die once, and after that comes
judgement, so Christ, too, offers himself only once to take the faults of many on
himself, and when he appears a second time, it will not be to deal with sin but to
reward with salvation those who are waiting for him.

Gospel Acclamation                Rev  2:10

Alleluia, alleluia!
Even if you have to die, says the Lord,
keep faithful, and I will give you
the crown of life.
Alleluia!

GOSPEL                          Mark 12:38-44

This poor widow has put in more than all
In his teaching Jesus said, ‘Beware of the scribes who like to walk about in long
robes, to be greeted obsequiously in the market squares, to take the front seats in
the synagogues and the places of honour at banquets; these are the men who
swallow the property of widows, while making a show of lengthy prayers. The
more severe will be the sentence they receive.’
He sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into
the treasury, and many of the rich put in a great deal. A poor widow came and put
in two small coins, the equivalent of a penny. Then he called his disciples and
said to them, ‘I tell you solemnly, this poor widow has put more in than all who
have contributed to the treasury; for they have all put in money they had over,
but she from the little she had has put in everything she possessed, all she had
to live on.’