A reading from the Book of Wisdom.3: 1- 6, 9

The souls of the virtuous are in the hands of God:
   no torment will ever touch them.
In the eyes of the unwise, they did appear to die,
   their going looked like a disaster,
   their leaving us, like annihilation;
   but they are in peace.

If they experienced punishment as men see it,
   their hope was rich with immortality.
Slight was their affliction, great will their blessings be.

God has put them to the test
   and proved them worthy to be with him:
   he has tested them like gold in a furnace,
   and accepted them as a holocaust.

They who trust in him will understand the truth,
   those who are faithful will live with him in love;
   for grace and mercy await those he has chosen.

The word of the Lord. All: Thanks be to God.

Please repeat after the cantor:

All : My shepherd is the Lord; nothing indeed shall I want. (Music: CWB 590)

A reading from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Romans.      8: 31-35, 37-39

With God on our side who can be against us?  Since God did not spare his own Son, but gave him up to benefit us all, we may be certain, after such a gift, that he will not refuse anything he can give.  Could anyone accuse those that God has chosen? When God acquits, could anyone condemn? Could Christ Jesus? No! He not only died for us - he rose from the dead, and there at God's right hand he stands and pleads for us.
Nothing therefore can come between us and the love of Christ, even if we are troubled or worried, or being persecuted, or lacking food or clothes, or being threatened or even attacked. These are the trials through which we triumph, by the power of him who loved us.  For I am certain of this: neither death nor life, no angel, no prince, nothing that exists, nothing still to come, not any power, or height or depth, nor any created thing, can ever come between us and the love of God made visible in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The word of the Lord. All:  Thanks be to God.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

This is the will of my Father, says the Lord:
all who believe in the Son will have eternal life
and I will raise them up on the last day.
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.