2 Maccabees 12:43-46
A reading form the second book of Maccabees
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.
The Word of the Lord
Old Testament Reading #7