A Catholic guide for saints, prayer, and practical devotional reading.
Cecilia. Ordinary Time. A clean reading layout for church, prayer, or preparation.
The Roman Catholic readings for this date are shown below on-site. Use plain reading mode if you want clearer modern wording, or switch back to the original Douay-Rheims wording at any time.
On-site scripture text: Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition. Plain mode is a built-in reading aid that modernizes older wording for easier understanding while keeping the same Roman Catholic reading references for the day.
1 Maccabees 6:1-13
Read this as the first big movement of the day. Notice what God is doing, who is speaking, and what part of the story or teaching should stay with you.
Full on-site text is not available for this reference yet, so use the reference above and the official link below.
Psalm 9:2-3, 4, 6, 16, 19
The psalm is meant to be prayed, not rushed. If the wording feels older, focus on the main movement of the prayer: trust, praise, sorrow, gratitude, or hope.
2I will give praise to you, OH Lord, with all my heart: I will relate all your wonders.
3I will be glad and rejoice in you: I will sing to your name, OH you most high.
4When my enemy shall be turned back: they shall be weakened and perish before your face.
6You have rebuked the Gentiles, and the evil one has perished: you have blotted out their name forever and ever.
16I will rejoice in your salvation: the Gentiles have stuck fast in the destruction which they have prepared. Their foot has been taken in the very snare which they hid.
19For the poor man shall not be forgotten to the end: the patience of the poor shall not perish forever.
Luke 20:27-40
The Gospel is the center of the reading set. Pay close attention to what Jesus says, what Jesus does, and what response he is asking for.
27And there came to him some of the Sadducees, who deny that there is any resurrection, and they asked him,
28Saying: Master, Moses wrote to us, If any man's brother die, having a wife, and he leave no children, that his brother should take her to wife, and raise up offspring to his brother.
29There were therefore seven brothers and sisters: and the first took a wife, and died without children.
30And the next took her to wife, and he also died childless.
31And the third took her. And in like manner all the seven, and they left no children, and died.
32Last of all the woman died also.
33In the resurrection therefore, whose wife of them shall she be? For all the seven had her to wife.
34And Jesus said to them: The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage:
35But those who shall be accounted worthy of that world, and of the resurrection from the dead, shall neither be married, nor take wives.
36Neither can they die any more: for they are equal to the angels, and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection.
37Now that the dead rise again, Moses also showed, at the bush, when he called the Lord, The God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob;
38For he is not the God of the dead, but of the living: for all live to him.
39And some of the teachers of the law answering, said to him: Master, you have said well.
40And after that they durst not ask him any more questions.
This page uses the Catholic Readings API for the day's references and liturgical celebration data, while the on-site scripture text is rendered from the public-domain Douay-Rheims Bible distributed through the Open Bibles project.