Daily Mass Readings for October 01, 2024: Gospel — Lc 9, 51-56

¹ After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day he was born. ² Job spoke up and said: ³ “Let the day on which I was born perish, and the night that said, ‘A man has been conceived!’ 1 1 :¹ Then Zophar the Naamathite spoke up and said: ² “Should not this abundance of words be answered, or should this talkative man be vindicated? ³ Should people remain silent at your idle talk, and should no one rebuke you when you mock? ⁴ For you have said, ‘My teaching is flawless, and I am pure in your sight.’ ⁵ But if only God would speak, if only he would open his lips against you ⁶ and reveal to you the secrets of wisdom— for true wisdom has two sides— so that you would know that God has forgiven some of your sins. ⁷ “Can you discover the essence of God? Can you find out the perfection of the Almighty? ⁸ It is higher than the heavens—what can you do? It is deeper than Sheol—what can you know? ⁹ Its measure is longer than the earth and broader than the sea. 1 ⁰ If he comes by and confines you and convenes a court, then who can prevent him? 1 ¹ For he knows deceitful men; when he sees evil, will he not consider it? 1 ² But an empty man will become wise, when a wild donkey’s colt is born a human being. 1 ³ “As for you, if you prove faithful, and if you stretch out your hands toward him, 1 ⁴ if iniquity is in your hand—put it far away, and do not let evil reside in your tents. 1 ⁵ For then you will lift up your face without blemish; you will be securely established and will not fear. 1 ⁶ For you will forget your trouble; you will remember it like water that has flowed away. 1 ⁷ And life will be brighter than the noonday; though there be darkness, it will be like the morning. 1 ⁸ And you will be secure because there is hope; you will be protected and will take your rest in safety. 1 ⁹ You will lie down with no one to make you afraid, and many will seek your favor. 2 ⁰ But the eyes of the wicked fail, and escape eludes them; their one hope is to breathe their last.” 1 2 :¹ Then Job answered: ² “Without a doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you. ³ I also have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know such things as these? ⁴ I am a laughingstock to my friends, I, who called on God and whom he answered— a righteous and blameless man is a laughingstock! ⁵ For calamity, there is derision (according to the ideas of the fortunate)— a fate for those whose feet slip. ⁶ But the tents of robbers are peaceful, and those who provoke God are confident— who carry their god in their hands. ⁷ “But now, ask the animals and they will teach you, or the birds of the sky and they will tell you. ⁸ Or speak to the earth and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea declare to you. ⁹ Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? 1 ⁰ In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all the human race. 1 ¹ Does not the ear test words, as the tongue tastes food? 1 ² Is not wisdom found among the aged? Does not long life bring understanding? 1 ³ With God are wisdom and power; counsel and understanding are his. 1 ⁴ If he tears down, it cannot be rebuilt; if he imprisons a person, there is no escape. 1 ⁵ If he holds back the waters, then they dry up; if he releases them, they destroy the land. 1 ⁶ With him are strength and prudence; both the one who goes astray and the one who misleads are his. 1 ⁷ He leads counselors away stripped and makes judges into fools. 1 ⁸ He loosens the bonds of kings and binds a loincloth around their waist. 1 ⁹ He leads priests away stripped and overthrows the potentates. 2 ⁰ He deprives the trusted advisers of speech and takes away the discernment of elders. 2 ¹ He pours contempt on noblemen and disarms the powerful. 2 ² He reveals the deep things of darkness and brings deep shadows into the light. 2 ³ He makes nations great and destroys them; he extends the boundaries of nations and disperses them. 2 ⁴ He deprives the leaders of the earth of their understanding; he makes them wander in a trackless desert waste. 2 ⁵ They grope about in darkness without light; he makes them stagger like drunkards. 1 3 :¹ “Indeed, my eyes have seen all this; my ears have heard and understood it. ² What you know, I know also; I am not inferior to you! ³ But I wish to speak to the Almighty, and I desire to argue my case with God. ⁴ But you, however, are inventors of lies; all of you are worthless physicians! ⁵ If only you would keep completely silent! For you, that would be wisdom. ⁶ Listen now to my argument, and be attentive to my lips’ contentions. ⁷ Will you speak wickedly on God’s behalf? Will you speak deceitfully for him? ⁸ Will you show him partiality? Will you argue the case for God? ⁹ Would it turn out well if he would examine you? Or as one deceives a man would you deceive him? 1 ⁰ He would certainly rebuke you if you secretly showed partiality. 1 ¹ Would not his splendor terrify you and the fear he inspires fall on you? 1 ² Your maxims are proverbs of ashes; your defenses are defenses of clay. 1 ³ “Refrain from talking with me so that I may speak; then let come to me what may. 1 ⁴ Why do I put myself in peril, and take my life in my hands? 1 ⁵ Even if he slays me, I will hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face. 1 ⁶ Moreover, this will become my deliverance, for no godless person would come before him. 1 ⁷ Listen carefully to my words; let your ears be attentive to my explanation. 1 ⁸ See now, I have prepared my case; I know that I am right. 1 ⁹ Who will contend with me? If anyone can, I will be silent and die. 2 ⁰ Only in two things spare me, O God, and then I will not hide from your face: 2 ¹ Remove your hand far from me and stop making me afraid with your terror. 2 ² Then call, and I will answer, or I will speak, and you respond to me. 2 ³ How many are my iniquities and sins? Show me my transgression and my sin. 2 ⁴ Why do you hide your face and regard me as your enemy? 2 ⁵ Do you wish to torment a windblown leaf and chase after dry chaff? 2 ⁶ For you write down bitter things against me and cause me to inherit the sins of my youth. 2 ⁷ And you put my feet in the stocks and you watch all my movements; you put marks on the soles of my feet. 2 ⁸ So I waste away like something rotten, like a garment eaten by moths. 1 4 :¹ “Man, born of woman, lives but a few days, and they are full of trouble. ² He grows up like a flower and then withers away; he flees like a shadow and does not remain. ³ Do you fix your eye on such a one? And do you bring me before you for judgment? ⁴ Who can make a clean thing come from an unclean? No one! ⁵ Since man’s days are determined, the number of his months is under your control; you have set his limit, and he cannot pass it. ⁶ Look away from him and let him desist, until he fulfills his time like a hired man. ⁷ “But there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not fail. ⁸ Although its roots may grow old in the ground and its stump begins to die in the soil, ⁹ at the scent of water it will flourish and put forth shoots like a new plant. 1 ⁰ But man dies and is powerless; he expires—and where is he? 1 ¹ As water disappears from the sea, or a river drains away and dries up, 1 ² so man lies down and does not rise; until the heavens are no more, they will not awake nor arise from their sleep. 1 ³ “O that you would hide me in Sheol, and conceal me till your anger has passed! O that you would set me a time and then remember me! 1 ⁴ If a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait until my release comes. 1 ⁵ You will call and I—I will answer you; you will long for the creature you have made. 1 ⁶ “Surely now you count my steps; then you would not mark my sin. 1 ⁷ My offenses would be sealed up in a bag; you would cover over my sin. 1 ⁸ But as a mountain falls away and crumbles, and as a rock will be removed from its place, 1 ⁹ as water wears away stones, and torrents wash away the soil, so you destroy man’s hope. 2 ⁰ You overpower him once for all, and he departs; you change his appearance and send him away. 2 ¹ If his sons are honored, he does not know it; if they are brought low, he does not see it. 2 ² His flesh only has pain for him, and he mourns for himself.” 1 5 :¹ Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered: ² “Does a wise man answer with blustery knowledge, or fill his belly with the east wind? ³ Does he argue with useless talk, with words that have no value in them? ⁴ But you even break off piety and hinder meditation before God. ⁵ Your sin inspires your mouth; you choose the language of the crafty. ⁶ Your own mouth condemns you, not I; your own lips testify against you. ⁷ “Were you the first man ever born? Were you brought forth before the hills? ⁸ Do you listen in on God’s secret council? Do you limit wisdom to yourself? ⁹ What do you know that we don’t know? What do you understand that we don’t understand? 1 ⁰ The gray-haired and the aged are on our side, men far older than your father. 1 ¹ Are God’s consolations too trivial for you, or a word spoken in gentleness to you? 1 ² Why has your heart carried you away, and why do your eyes flash, 1 ³ when you turn your rage against God and allow such words to escape from your mouth? 1 ⁴ What is man that he should be pure, or one born of woman, that he should be righteous? 1 ⁵ If God places no trust in his holy ones, if even the heavens are not pure in his eyes, 1 ⁶ how much less man, who is abominable and corrupt, who drinks in evil like water! 1 ⁷ I will explain to you; listen to me, and what I have seen, I will declare, 1 ⁸ what wise men declare, hiding nothing, from the tradition of their ancestors, 1 ⁹ to whom alone the land was given when no foreigner passed among them. 2 ⁰ All his days the wicked man suffers torment, throughout the number of the years that are stored up for the tyrant. 2 ¹ Terrifying sounds fill his ears; in a time of peace marauders attack him. 2 ² He does not expect to escape from darkness; he is marked for the sword; 2 ³ he wanders about—food for vultures— he knows that the day of darkness is at hand. 2 ⁴ Distress and anguish terrify him; they prevail against him like a king ready to launch an attack, 2 ⁵ for he stretches out his hand against God, and vaunts himself against the Almighty, 2 ⁶ defiantly charging against him with a thick, strong shield! 2 ⁷ Because he covered his face with fat and made his hips bulge with fat, 2 ⁸ he lived in ruined towns and in houses where no one lives, where they are ready to crumble into heaps. 2 ⁹ He will not grow rich, and his wealth will not endure, nor will his possessions spread over the land. 3 ⁰ He will not escape the darkness; a flame will wither his shoots, and he will depart by the breath of God’s mouth. 3 ¹ Let him not trust in what is worthless, deceiving himself; for worthlessness will be his reward. 3 ² Before his time he will be paid in full, and his branches will not flourish. 3 ³ Like a vine he will let his sour grapes fall, and like an olive tree he will shed his blossoms. 3 ⁴ For the company of the godless is barren, and fire consumes the tents of those who accept bribes. 3 ⁵ They conceive trouble and bring forth evil; their belly prepares deception.” 1 6 :¹ Then Job replied: ² “I have heard many things like these before. What miserable comforters are you all! ³ Will there be an end to your windy words? Or what provokes you that you answer? ⁴ I also could speak like you, if you were in my place; I could pile up words against you, and I could shake my head at you. ⁵ But I would strengthen you with my words; comfort from my lips would bring you relief. ⁶ “But if I speak, my pain is not relieved, and if I refrain from speaking, how much of it goes away? ⁷ Surely now he has worn me out; you have devastated my entire household. ⁸ You have seized me, and it has become a witness; my leanness has risen up against me and testifies against me. ⁹ His anger has torn me and persecuted me; he has gnashed at me with his teeth; my adversary locks his eyes on me. 1 ⁰ People have opened their mouths against me; they have struck my cheek in scorn; they unite together against me. 1 ¹ God abandons me to evil men, and throws me into the hands of wicked men. 1 ² I was in peace, and he has shattered me. He has seized me by the neck and crushed me. He has made me his target; 1 ³ his archers surround me. Without pity he pierces my kidneys and pours out my gall on the ground. 1 ⁴ He breaks through against me, time and time again; he rushes against me like a warrior. 1 ⁵ I have sewed sackcloth on my skin and buried my horn in the dust; 1 ⁶ my face is reddened because of weeping, and on my eyelids there is a deep darkness, 1 ⁷ although there is no violence in my hands and my prayer is pure. 1 ⁸ “O earth, do not cover my blood, nor let there be a secret place for my cry. 1 ⁹ Even now my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high. 2 ⁰ My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God; 2 ¹ and he contends with God on behalf of man as a man pleads for his friend. 2 ² For the years that lie ahead are few, and then I will go on the way of no return. 1 7 :¹ My spirit is broken, my days have faded out; the grave awaits me. ² Surely mockery is with me; my eyes must dwell on their hostility. ³ Set my pledge beside you. Who else will put up security for me? ⁴ Because you have closed their minds to understanding, therefore you will not exalt them. ⁵ If a man denounces his friends for personal gain, the eyes of his children will fail. ⁶ He has made me a byword to people; I am the one in whose face they spit. ⁷ My eyes have grown dim with grief; my whole frame is but a shadow. ⁸ Upright men are appalled at this; the innocent man is troubled with the godless. ⁹ But the righteous man holds to his way, and the one with clean hands grows stronger. 1 ⁰ “But turn, all of you, and come now! I will not find a wise man among you. 1 ¹ My days have passed; my plans are shattered, even the desires of my heart. 1 ² These men change night into day; they say, ‘The light is near in the face of darkness.’ 1 ³ If I hope for the grave to be my home, if I spread out my bed in darkness, 1 ⁴ if I cry out to corruption, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’ 1 ⁵ where then is my hope? And my hope, who sees it? 1 ⁶ Will it go down to the barred gates of death? Will we descend together into the dust?” 2 0 :¹ Then Zophar the Naamathite answered: ² “This is why my troubled thoughts bring me back— because of my feelings within me. ³ When I hear a reproof that dishonors me, then my understanding prompts me to answer. ⁴ “Surely you know that it has been from old, ever since humankind was placed on the earth, ⁵ that the elation of the wicked is brief, the joy of the godless lasts but a moment. ⁶ Even though his stature reaches to the heavens and his head touches the clouds, ⁷ he will perish forever, like his own excrement; those who used to see him will say, ‘Where is he?’ ⁸ Like a dream he flies away, never again to be found, and like a vision of the night he is put to flight. ⁹ People who had seen him will not see him again, and the place where he was will recognize him no longer. 1 ⁰ His sons must recompense the poor; his own hands must return his wealth. 1 ¹ His bones were full of his youthful vigor, but that vigor will lie down with him in the dust. 1 ² “If evil is sweet in his mouth and he hides it under his tongue, 1 ³ if he retains it for himself and does not let it go, and holds it fast in his mouth, 1 ⁴ his food is turned sour in his stomach; it becomes the venom of serpents within him. 1 ⁵ The wealth that he consumed he vomits up, God will make him throw it out of his stomach. 1 ⁶ He sucks the poison of serpents; the fangs of a viper kill him. 1 ⁷ He will not look on the streams, the rivers that are the torrents of honey and butter. 1 ⁸ He gives back the ill-gotten gain without assimilating it; he will not enjoy the wealth from his commerce. 1 ⁹ For he has oppressed the poor and abandoned them; he has seized a house which he did not build. 2 ⁰ For he knows no satisfaction in his appetite; he does not let anything he desires escape. 2 ¹ Nothing is left for him to devour; that is why his prosperity does not last. 2 ² In the fullness of his sufficiency, distress overtakes him. The full force of misery will come upon him. 2 ³ While he is filling his belly, God sends his burning anger against him and rains down his blows upon him. 2 ⁴ If he flees from an iron weapon, then an arrow from a bronze bow pierces him. 2 ⁵ When he pulls it out and it comes out of his back, the gleaming point out of his liver, terrors come over him. 2 ⁶ Total darkness waits to receive his treasures; a fire that has not been kindled will consume him and devour what is left in his tent. 2 ⁷ The heavens reveal his iniquity; the earth rises up against him. 2 ⁸ A flood will carry off his house, rushing waters on the day of God’s wrath. 2 ⁹ Such is the lot God allots the wicked, and the heritage of his appointment from God.” 2 1 :¹ Then Job answered: ² “Listen carefully to my words; let this be the consolation you offer me. ³ Bear with me and I will speak, and after I have spoken you may mock. ⁴ Is my complaint against a man? If so, why should I not be impatient? ⁵ Look at me and be appalled; put your hands over your mouths. ⁶ For, when I think about this, I am terrified and my body feels a shudder. ⁷ “Why do the wicked go on living, grow old, even increase in power? ⁸ Their children are firmly established in their presence, their offspring before their eyes. ⁹ Their houses are safe and without fear; and no rod of punishment from God is upon them. 1 ⁰ Their bulls breed without fail; their cows calve and do not miscarry. 1 ¹ They allow their children to run like a flock; their little ones dance about. 1 ² They sing to the accompaniment of tambourine and harp, and make merry to the sound of the flute. 1 ³ They live out their years in prosperity and go down to the grave in peace. 1 ⁴ So they say to God, ‘Turn away from us! We do not want to know your ways. 1 ⁵ Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him? What would we gain if we were to pray to him?’ 1 ⁶ But their prosperity is not their own doing. The counsel of the wicked is far from me! 1 ⁷ “How often is the lamp of the wicked extinguished? How often does their misfortune come upon them? How often does God apportion pain to them in his anger? 1 ⁸ How often are they like straw before the wind and like chaff swept away by a whirlwind? 1 ⁹ You may say, ‘God stores up a man’s punishment for his children!’ Instead let him repay the man himself so that he may be humbled! 2 ⁰ Let his own eyes see his destruction; let him drink of the anger of the Almighty. 2 ¹ For what is his interest in his home after his death, when the number of his months has been broken off? 2 ² Can anyone teach God knowledge, since he judges those that are on high? 2 ³ “One man dies in his full vigor, completely secure and prosperous, 2 ⁴ his body well nourished, and the marrow of his bones moist. 2 ⁵ And another man dies in bitterness of soul, never having tasted anything good. 2 ⁶ Together they lie down in the dust, and worms cover over them both. 2 ⁷ “Yes, I know what you are thinking, the schemes by which you would wrong me. 2 ⁸ For you say, ‘Where now is the nobleman’s house, and where are the tents in which the wicked lived?’ 2 ⁹ Have you never questioned those who travel the roads? Do you not recognize their accounts— 3 ⁰ that the evil man is spared from the day of his misfortune, that he is delivered from the day of God’s wrath? 3 ¹ No one denounces his conduct to his face; no one repays him for what he has done. 3 ² And when he is carried to the tombs and watch is kept over the funeral mound, 3 ³ the clods of the torrent valley are sweet to him; behind him everybody follows in procession, and before him goes a countless throng. 3 ⁴ So how can you console me with your futile words? Nothing is left of your answers but deception!” 2 2 :¹ Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered: ² “Is it to God that a strong man is of benefit? Is it to him that even a wise man is profitable? ³ Is it of any special benefit to the Almighty that you should be righteous, or is it any gain to him that you make your ways blameless? ⁴ Is it because of your piety that he rebukes you and goes to judgment with you? ⁵ Is not your wickedness great and is there no end to your iniquity? ⁶ “For you took pledges from your brothers for no reason, and you stripped the clothing from the naked. ⁷ You gave the weary no water to drink and from the hungry you withheld food. ⁸ Although you were a powerful man, owning land, an honored man living on it, ⁹ you sent widows away empty-handed, and the arms of the orphans you crushed. 1 ⁰ That is why snares surround you, and why sudden fear terrifies you, 1 ¹ why it is so dark you cannot see, and why a flood of water covers you. 1 ² “Is not God on high in heaven? And see the lofty stars, how high they are! 1 ³ But you have said, ‘What does God know? Does he judge through such deep darkness? 1 ⁴ Thick clouds are a veil for him, so he does not see us, as he goes back and forth in the vault of heaven.’ 1 ⁵ Will you keep to the old path that evil men have walked— 1 ⁶ men who were carried off before their time, when the flood was poured out on their foundations? 1 ⁷ They were saying to God, ‘Turn away from us,’ and, ‘What can the Almighty do to us?’ 1 ⁸ But it was he who filled their houses with good things— yet the counsel of the wicked was far from me. 1 ⁹ The righteous see their destruction and rejoice; the innocent mock them scornfully, saying, 2 ⁰ ‘Surely our enemies are destroyed, and fire consumes their wealth.’ 2 ¹ “Reconcile yourself with God, and be at peace with him; in this way your prosperity will be good. 2 ² Accept instruction from his mouth and store up his words in your heart. 2 ³ If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up; if you remove wicked behavior far from your tent, 2 ⁴ and throw your gold in the dust— your gold of Ophir among the rocks in the ravines— 2 ⁵ then the Almighty himself will be your gold, and the choicest silver for you. 2 ⁶ Surely then you will delight yourself in the Almighty and will lift up your face toward God. 2 ⁷ You will pray to him, and he will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows to him. 2 ⁸ Whatever you decide on a matter, it will be established for you, and light will shine on your ways. 2 ⁹ When people are brought low and you say, ‘Lift them up!’ then he will save the downcast; 3 ⁰ he will deliver even someone who is not innocent, who will escape through the cleanness of your hands.” 2 3 :¹ Then Job answered: ² “Even today my complaint is still bitter; his hand is heavy despite my groaning. ³ O that I knew where I might find him, that I could come to his place of residence! ⁴ I would lay out my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments. ⁵ I would know with what words he would answer me and understand what he would say to me. ⁶ Would he contend with me with great power? No, he would only pay attention to me. ⁷ There an upright person could present his case before him, and I would be delivered forever from my judge. ⁸ “If I go to the east, he is not there, and to the west, yet I do not perceive him. ⁹ In the north when he is at work, I do not see him; when he turns to the south, I see no trace of him. 1 ⁰ But he knows the pathway that I take; if he tested me, I would come forth like gold. 1 ¹ My feet have followed his steps closely; I have kept to his way and have not turned aside. 1 ² I have not departed from the commands of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my allotted portion. 1 ³ But he is unchangeable, and who can change him? Whatever he has desired, he does. 1 ⁴ For he fulfills his decree against me, and many such things are his plans. 1 ⁵ That is why I am terrified in his presence; when I consider, I am afraid because of him. 1 ⁶ Indeed, God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me. 1 ⁷ Yet I have not been silent because of the darkness, because of the thick darkness that covered my face.