First Reading

Reading from the first letter of the apostle Saint John

1 John 4, 7-16

Beloved children: Let us love one another, because love comes from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. The love God has for us has been revealed in that he sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him.

Love consists in this: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us first and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

If God has loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love in us is made perfect.

This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: he has given us his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God.

And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love, and whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

Gospel

Reading from the holy gospel according to Saint John

John 11, 19-27

At that time, many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them over the death of their brother Lazarus. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will grant you whatever you ask.”

Jesus said to her: “Your brother will rise again.” Martha answered: “I know he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her: “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?” She replied: “Yes, Lord. I firmly believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.”