Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Parish

1626 Oak Street

Melbourne, FL   32901

(321) 723-3636 (Phone) • (321) 951-8029 (Fax)

Texts of Sacred Scripture for Vigil and Funeral Mass 

First Reading—Old Testament Readings

 A Reading from the Book of Wisdom (3:1-6, 9)

The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them.  They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead; and their passing away was thought an affliction and their going forth from us, utter destruction.  But they are in peace.  For if before people they be punished, yet is their hope full of immortality; Chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed, because God tried them and found them worthy of himself.  As gold in the furnace, he proved them, and as sacrificial offerings he took them to himself.  Those who trust in him shall understand truth, and the faithful shall abide with him in love:  Because grace and mercy are with his holy ones, and care is with his elect.

A Reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah (25:6, 7-9)

On this mountain the Lord of hosts will provide for all peoples a feast of rich foods.  On this mountain he will destroy the veil that covers all peoples, the web that is woven over all nations; he will destroy death forever.  The Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; the reproach of his people he will remove from the whole earth; for the Lord has spoken.  On that day it will be said:  “Behold our God, to whom we looked to save us!  This is the Lord for whom we looked; let us rejoice and be glad that he has saved us.

A Reading from the Prophet Isaiah (43:1-7)

But now, thus, says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, and formed you O Israel: Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name:  you are mine.  When you pass through the water, I will be with you; in the rivers you shall not drown.  When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned; the flames shall not consume you.  For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.  Because you are precious in my eyes and glorious and because I love you.  I give people in return for you and peoples in exchange for your life.  Fear not, for I am with you; bring back my sons from afar, and my daughters from the ends of the earth.  Everyone who is named mine, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.

A Reading from Ecclesiastes (3:1-12)

There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens.  A time to be born and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to uproot the plant.  A time to kill and a time to heal; a time to tear down and a time to build.  A time to weep and a time to laugh; A time to mourn and a time to dance.  A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather them; A time to embrace and a time to be far from embraces.  A time to seek and a time to lose; A time to keep and a time to cast away.  A time to rend and a time to sew; A time to be silent and a time to speak.  A time to love and a time to hate; A time of war and a time of peace.

What advantage have workers from their toil?  I have considered the task which God has appointed for people to be busied about.  He has made everything appropriate to time, and has put the timeless into their hearts, without anyone ever discovering, from beginning to end, the work which God has done.

A Reading from the Book of Lamentations (3:17-18, 22-26)

My soul is deprived of peace, I have forgotten what happiness is; I tell myself my future is lost, all that I hope for from the Lord.

The favors of the Lord are not exhausted, His mercies are not spent; They are renewed each morning, so great is His faithfulness.  My portion is the Lord, says my soul; therefore will I hope in Him.

Good is the Lord to one who waits for Him, to the soul that seeks Him; It is good to hope in silence for the saving help of the Lord.

A Reading from the Second Book of Maccabees (12:43-46)

Judas (the ruler of Israel) then took up a collection among all his soldiers, amounting to two thousand silver drachmas, which he sent to Jerusalem to provide for an expiatory sacrifice.  In doing this, he acted in a very excellent and noble way, inasmuch as he had the resurrection of the dead in view; for if he were not expecting the fallen to rise again, it would have been useless and foolish to pray for them in death.  But if he did this with a view to the splendid reward that awaits those who had gone to rest in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought.  Thus he made atonement for the dead that they might be freed from this sin.

A Reading from the Book of Proverbs (31:10-31)

When one finds a worthy wife, her value is far beyond pearls.  Her husband, entrusting his heart to her, has an unfailing prize.  She brings him good, and not evil all the days of her life.  She obtains wool and flax and makes cloth with skillful hands.  Like merchant ships, she secures her provisions from afar.  She rises while it is still night and distributes food to her household.  She picks out a field to purchase; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.  She is girt about with strength, and sturdy are her arms.  She enjoys the success of her dealings; at night her lamp is undimmed.  She puts her hands to the distaff and her fingers ply the spindle.  She reaches out her hands to the poor, and extends her arms to the needy.  She fears not the snow for her household; all her charges are doubly clothed.  She makes her own coverlets; fine linen and purple are her clothing.  Her husband is prominent at the city gates as he sits with the elders of the land.  She makes garments and sells them, and stocks the merchants with belts.  She is clothed with strength and dignity and she laughs at the days to come.  She open her mouth in wisdom and on her tongue is kindly counsel.  She watches the conduct of her household and eats not her food in idleness.  Her children rise up and praise her; her husband, too, extols her:  “Many are the women of proven worth, but you have excelled them all.”  Charm is deceptive and beauty fleeting; the woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.  Give her a reward of her labors and let her works praise her at the city gates.

Second Reading—New Testament Readings

A Reading from the Letter of Paul to the Romans (6:3-4, 8-9)

Are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?  We were indeed buried with Him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life.  If, then, we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him.  We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has power over Him.

A Reading from the Letter of Paul to the Romans (8:31-35; 37-39)

If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare his own Son but handed him over for us all, how will he not also give us everything else along with him?  Who will bring a charge against God’s chosen ones?  It is God who acquits us.  Who will condemn?  It is Christ Jesus who died, rather, was raised, who also is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us.

What will separate us from the love of Christ?  Will anguish or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril of the sword?  No, in all these things we conquer overwhelming through him who loved us.  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor present things nor future things nor powers nor height nor depth nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Reading from the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians (15:51-57)

Behold, I tell you a mystery.  We shall not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed, in an instant, in the blink of an eye, at the last trumpet.  For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed.  For that which is corruptible must clothe itself with incorruptibility, and that which is mortal must clothe itself with immortality.  And when that which is corruptible clothes itself with incorruptibility and that which is mortal clothes itself with immortality, then the word that is written shall come about:

 “Death is swallowed up in victory, Where, O death, is your victory?

Where, O death, is your sting?”

 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.  But thanks be to God who gave us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

A Reading from the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians (13:4-13)

Love is patient, love is kind.  It is not jealous, love is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth.  It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never fails.  If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing.  For we know partially and we prophesy partially, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.

When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became an adult, I put aside childish things.  At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face.  At present I know partially; then I shall know fully as I am fully known.  So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

A Reading from St. Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians (4:13-18)

We do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, about those who have fallen asleep, so that you may not grieve like the rest who have no hope.  For if we believe that Jesus died and rose, so too will God, through Jesus, bring with him those who have fallen asleep.  Indeed, we tell you this, on the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will surely not precede those who have fallen asleep.  For the Lord himself, with a word of command, with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God, will come down from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first.  Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.  Thus we shall always be with the Lord.  Therefore, console one another with these words.

A Reading from St. Paul’s 2nd Letter to Timothy (4:6-9)

For I am already being poured out like a libation, and the time of my departure is at hand.  I have competed well, I have finished the race; I have kept the faith.  From now on the crown of righteousness awaits me, which the Lord, the just judge, will award me on that day, and not only to me, but to all who have longed for His appearance.

A Reading from the Book of Revelations (21:1-7, 14:13)

I saw a new heaven and a new earth.  The former heaven and the former earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.  I also saw the holy city, a new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.  I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,

 “Behold, God’s dwelling is with the human race.  He will dwell with them and they will be His people and God himself will always be with them as their God.  He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more death or mourning, wailing or pain, for the old order has passed away.”

 The one who sat on the throne said,

“Behold I make all things new.  I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.  To the thirsty I will give a gift from the spring of life giving water.  The victor will inherit these gifts, and I shall be his God, and he will be my son.”

I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this:  Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on."  "Yes," said the Spirit, "let them find rest from their labors, their works accompany them.

A Reading from the Letter to John (4:16-21)

We have come to know and to believe in the love God has for us.  God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.  Our love is brought to perfection in this, that we should have confidence on the day of judgment; for our relation to this world is just like his.  Love has no room for fear; rather, perfect love casts out all fear.  And since fear has to do with punishment, love is not yet perfect in one who is afraid.  We, for our part, love because he first loved us.  If anyone says “My love is fixed on God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar.  One who has no love for the brother he has seen cannot love the God he has not seen.  This commandment we have from him is this:  whoever loves God must also love his brother.

A Reading from the Second Letter of Paul to the Corinthians (2 Cor 5:1,6-10)

We know that if our earthly dwelling, a tent, should be destroyed, we have a building from God, a dwelling not made with hands, eternal in heaven.

So we are always courageous, although we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight.  Yet we are courageous, and we would rather leave the body and go home to the Lord.  Therefore, we aspire to please him, whether we are at home or away.  For we must appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each one may receive recompense, according to what he did in the body, whether good of evil. 

A Reading from the Letter of Paul to the Philippians (3:20-21)

Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we also await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.  He will change our lowly body to conform with his glorified body by the power that enables him also to bring all things into subjection to himself.

 Scripture Readings for Young Persons

A Reading from the Book of Wisdom (4:7-15)

The good person, though he or she dies early, will be at rest.  For the age that is honorable comes not with the passing of time, nor can it be measured in terms of years.  Rather, understanding is the hoary crown for men, and an unsullied life, the attainment of old age; but understanding merits old age for anyone, and a blameless life is as good as old age.

There were some who pleased God and were loved by Him, and while they were living among sinners they were taken up.  They were taken up so that evil might not change their understanding or deceit fool their souls.

Being perfected in a short time, they fulfilled long years; for their souls were pleasing to the Lord, therefore, he took them quickly from the midst of wickedness.  But the people saw and did not understand, nor take it to heart, because grace and mercy are with his holy ones and his care is with his elect.

A Reading from the first letter of St. John (3:1-2)

See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God.  Yet so we are.  The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.  Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed.  We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

A Reading from the First Letter of Paul to the Thessalonians (1Thess.4:13-18)

My friends, we want you to understand how it will be for those followers who have already died.  Then you won’t grieve over them and be like people who don’t have any hope.  We believe that Jesus died and was raised to life.  We also believe that when God brings Jesus back again, he will bring with him all who had faith in Jesus before they died.  Encourage each other with these words.