First Reading
Wisdom 18: 6- 9
18:6 For that night was known beforehand by our fathers, so that, knowing the truth of the oaths in which they had trusted, they might be more peaceful in their souls.
18:7 Yet your people received not only the salvation of the just, but also the destruction of the unjust.
18:8 For just as you wounded our adversaries, so also did you greatly esteem calling us forth.
18:9 For the just children of goodness were secretly offering sacrifice, and in agreement they administered the law of justice, so that both good and bad would be able to receive justice, and so that you might now approve of their chanting to the father.
Second Reading
Hebrews 11: 1- 2, 8- 19
11:1 Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not apparent.
11:2 For this reason, the ancients were given testimony.
11:8 By faith, the one called Abraham obeyed, going out to the place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.
11:9 By faith, he stayed in the Land of the Promise as if in a foreign land, dwelling in cottages, with Isaac and Jacob, co-heirs of the same promise.
11:10 For he was awaiting a city having firm foundations, whose designer and builder is God.
11:11 By faith also, Sarah herself, being barren, received the ability to conceive offspring, even though she was past that age in life. For she believed him to be faithful, who had promised.
11:12 Because of this, there were also born, from one who himself was as if dead, a mulititude like the stars of heaven, who are, like the sand of the seashore, innumerable.
11:13 All of these passed away, adhering to faith, not having received the promises, yet beholding them from afar and saluting them, and confessing themselves to be sojourners and guests upon the earth.
11:14 For those who speak in this way are themselves indicating that they seek a homeland.
11:15 And if, indeed, they had been mindful of the very place from which they departed, they certainly would have returned in time.
11:16 But now they hunger for a better place, that is, Heaven. For this reason, God is not ashamed to be called their God. For he has prepared a city for them.
11:17 By faith, Abraham, when he was tested, offered Isaac, so that he who had received the promises was offering up his only son.
11:18 To him, it was said, “Through Isaac, shall your offspring be summoned,”
11:19 indicating that God is even able to raise up from the dead. And thus, he also established him as a parable.
Gospel
Luke 12: 32- 48
12:32 Do not be afraid, little flock; for it has pleased your Father to give you the kingdom.
12:33 Sell what you possess, and give alms. Make for yourselves purses that will not wear out, a treasure that will not fall short, in heaven, where no thief approaches, and no moth corrupts.
12:34 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
12:35 Let your waists be girded, and let lamps be burning in your hands.
12:36 And let you yourselves be like men awaiting their lord, when he will return from the wedding; so that, when he arrives and knocks, they may open to him promptly.
12:37 Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when he returns, will find being vigilant. Amen I say to you, that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, while he, continuing on, will minister to them.
12:38 And if he will return in the second watch, or if in the third watch, and if he will find them to be so: then blessed are those servants.
12:39 But know this: that if the father of the family knew at what hour the thief would arrive, he would certainly stand watch, and he would not permit his house to be broken into.
12:40 You also must be prepared. For the Son of man will return at an hour that you will not realize.”
12:41 Then Peter said to him, “Lord, are you telling this parable to us, or also to everyone?”
12:42 So the Lord said: “Who do you think is the faithful and prudent steward, whom his Lord has appointed over his family, in order to give them their measure of wheat in due time?
12:43 Blessed is that servant if, when his Lord will return, he will find him acting in this manner.
12:44 Truly I say to you, that he will appoint him over all that he possesses.
12:45 But if that servant will have said in his heart, ‘My Lord has made a delay in his return,’ and if he has begun to strike the men and women servants, and to eat and drink, and to be inebriated,
12:46 then the Lord of that servant will return on a day which he hoped not, and at an hour which he knew not. And he will separate him, and he will place his portion with that of the unfaithful.
12:47 And that servant, who knew the will of his Lord, and who did not prepare and did not act according to his will, will be beaten many times over.
12:48 Yet he who did not know, and who acted in a way that deserves a beating, will be beaten fewer times. So then, of all to whom much has been given, much will be required. And of those to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be asked.