
Reading I Jl 1:13-15; 2:1-2
Gird yourselves and weep, O priests!
wail, O ministers of the altar!
Come, spend the night in sackcloth,
O ministers of my God!
The house of your God is deprived
of offering and libation.
Proclaim a fast,
call an assembly;
Gather the elders,
all who dwell in the land,
Into the house of the LORD, your God,
and cry to the LORD!
Alas, the day!
for near is the day of the LORD,
and it comes as ruin from the Almighty.
Blow the trumpet in Zion,
sound the alarm on my holy mountain!
Let all who dwell in the land tremble,
for the day of the LORD is coming;
Yes, it is near, a day of darkness and
of gloom,
a day of clouds and somberness!
Like dawn spreading over the mountains,
a people numerous and mighty!
Their like has not been from of old,
nor will it be after them,
even to the years of distant generations.
Responsorial Psalm 9:2-3, 6
and 16, 8-9
R.
(9) The Lord will judge the world with justice.
I will give thanks to you, O LORD, with
all my heart;
I will declare all your wondrous deeds.
I will be glad and exult in you;
I will sing praise to your name, Most High.
R.
The Lord will judge the world with justice.
You rebuked the nations and destroyed
the wicked;
their name you blotted out forever and ever.
The nations are sunk in the pit they
have made;
in the snare they set, their foot is caught.
R.
The Lord will judge the world with justice.
But the LORD sits enthroned forever;
he has set up his throne for judgment.
He judges the world with justice;
he governs the peoples with equity.
R.
The Lord will judge the world with justice.
Alleluia Jn 12:31b-32
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The prince of this world will now be
cast out,
and when I am lifted up from the earth
I will draw all to myself, says the
Lord.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel Lk 11:15-26
When Jesus had driven out a demon, some
of the crowd said:
“By the power of Beelzebul, the prince
of demons,
he drives out demons.”
Others, to test him, asked him for a
sign from heaven.
But he knew their thoughts and said to
them,
“Every kingdom divided against itself
will be laid waste
and house will fall against house.
And if Satan is divided against himself,
how will his kingdom stand?
For you say that it is by Beelzebul that
I drive out demons.
If I, then, drive out demons by
Beelzebul,
by whom do your own people drive them
out?
Therefore they will be your judges.
But if it is by the finger of God that I
drive out demons,
then the Kingdom of God has come upon
you.
When a strong man fully armed guards his
palace,
his possessions are safe.
But when one stronger than he attacks
and overcomes him,
he takes away the armor on which he
relied
and distributes the spoils.
Whoever is not with me is against me,
and whoever does not gather with me scatters.
“When an unclean spirit goes out of
someone,
it roams through arid regions searching
for rest
but, finding none, it says,
‘I shall return to my home from which I
came.’
But upon returning, it finds it swept
clean and put in order.
Then it goes and brings back seven other
spirits
more wicked than itself who move in and
dwell there,
and the last condition of that man is
worse than the first.”