Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

I, John, heard a voice that said:
“The two witnesses charged with prophesying,
    these are the two olive trees, the two lampstands,
who stand before the Lord of the earth.
    If anyone wants to harm them,
a fire springs from their mouth and devours their enemies;
yes, whoever wishes to harm them,
that is how he must die.
    These two witnesses have the power to shut the sky,
so that no rain may fall
during the days of their prophecy.
They also have the power to turn water into blood
and to strike the earth with every kind of plague,
as often as they wish.
    But when they have finished their testimony,
the Beast that rises from the abyss will make war on them,
will conquer them and put them to death.
    Their corpses will lie on the square of the great city,
which is called, figuratively, Sodom and Egypt,
where also their Lord was crucified.
    From all peoples, tribes, tongues, and nations,
people will look at their corpses for three and a half days,
without allowing them to be placed in a tomb.
    The inhabitants of the earth rejoice over this,
they are joyful, they exchange gifts;
for these two prophets had indeed caused much torment
to the inhabitants of the earth.
    But after those three and a half days,
a breath of life from God entered them:
they stood on their feet,
and great fear fell upon those who saw them.
    Then the two witnesses heard
a loud voice from heaven, saying to them:
“Come up here!”
And they went up to heaven in the cloud,
in the sight of their enemies.

       – The word of the Lord.

Blessed be the Lord, my rock!
He trains my hands for battle,
he prepares me for war.

He is my ally, my fortress,
my stronghold, my deliverer;
he is the shield who protects me,
he gives me authority over my people.

For you, I will sing a new song,
for you, I will play on the ten-stringed harp,
for you who grant victory to kings
and save David, your servant, from the deadly sword.

At that time,
    some Sadducees
– those who claim that there is no resurrection –
approached Jesus
    and questioned him:
“Teacher, Moses prescribed for us:
If a man has a brother
who dies leaving a wife but no child,
he must marry the widow
to raise up descendants for his brother.
    Now, there were seven brothers:
the first married and died without children;
    likewise the second, then the third married the widow,
and so all seven:
they died leaving no children.
    Finally, the woman also died.
    So at the resurrection,
that woman, whose wife will she be among them,
since all seven had her as wife?”

    Jesus answered them:
“The children of this world marry and are given in marriage.
    But those who are deemed worthy
to take part in the world to come
and in the resurrection from the dead
will neither marry nor be given in marriage,
    for they can no longer die:
they are like angels,
they are children of God
and children of the resurrection.
    That the dead are raised,
Moses himself makes known
in the story of the burning bush,
when he calls the Lord
the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.
    He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.
For all live for him.”
    Then some of the scribes replied, saying:
“Teacher, you have spoken well.”
    And they dared not ask him any more questions.

       – Let us acclaim the Word of God.