First Reading

Reading from the book of Ecclesiastes

Ecclesiastes (Qoheleth) 1, 2-11

All things, absolutely all,
are a vain illusion.

What profit does a man gain
from all his labors on earth?
One generation passes and another comes,
but the earth remains forever.

The sun rises and sets;
it runs and reaches its place,
from where it rises again.
The wind blows toward the south and then turns toward the north,
and going round and round, it always returns to its circuit.
All the rivers flow into the sea, but the sea is never filled;
they return to the place from which they came
and then flow again.

Everything is difficult to understand: man never ceases to ponder,
the eyes never tire of seeing nor the ears of hearing.
What has existed before will exist again.
What has been done before will be done again.
There is nothing new under the sun.

If someone says of something: “Look, this is new,”
even that thing already existed in the ages before us.
No one remembers the ancients,
and the same will happen with those who come:
their successors will not remember them.

Gospel

Reading from the holy gospel according to Saint Luke

Luke 9, 7-9

At that time, King Herod heard of all the wonders that Jesus was doing and did not know what to think, because some said that John had risen from the dead; others, that Elijah had returned, and others, that one of the ancient prophets had come back to life.

But Herod said: “I had John beheaded. Who then is this of whom I hear such things?” And he was curious to see Jesus.