Sunday Catholic Mass Readings For December 15, 2013

"John sends disciples to Jesus" -- Franz Karl Eduard von Gebhardt

Third Sunday of Advent

FIRST READING: Isaiah 35: 1 - 6, 10

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1 The land that was desolate and impassable shall be glad, and the wilderness shall rejoice, and shall flourish like the lily.

2 It shall bud forth and blossom, and shall rejoice with joy and praise: the glory of Libanus is given to it: the beauty of Carmel, and Saron, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the beauty of our God.

3 Strengthen ye the feeble hands, and confirm the weak knees.

4 Say to the fainthearted: Take courage, and fear not: behold your God will bring the revenge of recompense: God himself will come and will save you.

5 Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.

6 Then shall the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall be free: for waters are broken out in the desert, and streams in the wilderness.

10 And the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and shall come into Sion with praise, and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.

PSALM: Psalms 146: 6 - 10

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6 Who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all things that are in them.

7 Who keepeth truth for ever: who executeth judgment for them that suffer wrong: who giveth food to the hungry. The Lord looseth them that are fettered:

8 The Lord enlighteneth the blind. The Lord lifteth up them that are cast down: the Lord loveth the just.

9 The Lord keepeth the strangers, he will support the fatherless and the widow: and the ways of sinners he will destroy.

10 The Lord shall reign for ever: thy God, O Sion, unto generation and generation.

SECOND READING: James 5: 7 - 10

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7 Be patient therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth: patiently bearing till he receive the early and latter rain.

8 Be you therefore also patient, and strengthen your hearts: for the coming of the Lord is at hand.

9 Grudge not, brethren, one against another, that you may not be judged. Behold the judge standeth before the door.

10 Take, my brethren, for an example of suffering evil, of labour and patience, the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord.

GOSPEL: Matthew 11: 2 - 11

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2 Now when John had heard in prison the works of Christ: sending two of his disciples he said to him:

3 Art thou he that art to come, or look we for another?

4 And Jesus making answer said to them: Go and relate to John what you have heard and seen.

5 The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead rise again, the poor have the gospel preached to them.

6 And blessed is he that shall not be scandalized in me.

7 And when they went their way, Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John: What went you out into the desert to see? a reed shaken with the wind?

8 But what went you out to see? a man clothed in soft garments? Behold they that are clothed in soft garments, are in the houses of kings.

9 But what went you out to see? a prophet? yea I tell you, and more than a prophet.

10 For this is he of whom it is written: Behold I send my angel before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee.

11 Amen I say to you, there hath not risen among them that are born of women a greater than John the Baptist: yet he that is the lesser in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

Catholic Mass Readings For Saturday, December 14, 2013

"The Transfiguration" -- by James Tissot

Memorial of Saint John of the Cross, Priest and Doctor of the Church

FIRST READING: Sirach 48: 1 - 4, 9 - 11

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1 And Elijah the prophet stood up, as a fire, and his word burnt like a torch.

2 He brought a famine upon them, and they that provoked him in their envy, were reduced to a small number, for they could not endure the commandments of the Lord.

3 By the word of the Lord he shut up the heaven, and he brought down fire from heaven thrice.

4 Thus was Elijah magnified in his wondrous works. And who can glory like to thee?

9 Who wast taken up in a whirlwind of fire, in a chariot of fiery horses.

10 Who art registered in the judgments of times to appease the wrath of the Lord, to reconcile the heart of the father to the son, and to restore the tribes of Jacob.

11 Blessed are they that saw thee, and were honoured with thy friendship.

PSALM: Psalms 80: 2 - 3, 15 - 16, 18 - 19

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2 Give ear, O thou that rulest Israel: thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep. Thou that sittest upon the cherubims, shine forth

3 Before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasses. Stir up thy might, and come to save us.

15 Turn again, O God of hosts, look down from heaven, and see, and visit this vineyard:

16 And perfect the same which thy right hand hath planted: and upon the son of man whom thou hast confirmed for thyself.

18 Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand: and upon the son of man whom thou hast confirmed for thyself.

19 And we depart not from thee, thou shalt quicken us: and we will call upon thy name.

GOSPEL: Matthew 17: 10 - 13

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10 And his disciples asked him, saying: Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?

11 But he answering, said to them: Elijah indeed shall come, and restore all things.

12 But I say to you, that Elijah is already come, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they had a mind. So also the Son of man shall suffer from them.

13 Then the disciples understood, that he had spoken to them of John the Baptist.

Catholic Mass Readings For Friday, December 13, 2013

Memorial of Saint Lucy, Virgin and Martyr

FIRST READING: Isaiah 48: 17 - 19

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17 Thus saith the Lord thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am the Lord thy God that teach thee profitable things, that govern thee in the way that thou walkest.

18 O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments: thy peace had been as a river, and thy justice as the waves of the sea,

19 And thy seed had been as the sand, and the offspring of thy bowels like the gravel thereof: his name should not have perished, nor have been destroyed from before my face.

PSALM: Psalms 1: 1 - 4, 6

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1 Blessed is the man who hath not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the chair of pestilence.

2 But his will is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he shall meditate day and night.

3 And he shall be like a tree which is planted near the running waters, which shall bring forth its fruit, in due season. And his leaf shall not fall off: and all whatsoever he shall do shall prosper.

4 Not so the wicked, not so: but like the dust, which the wind driveth from the face of the earth.

6 For the Lord knoweth the way of the just: and the way of the wicked shall perish.

GOSPEL: Matthew 11: 16 - 19

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16 But whereunto shall I esteem this generation to be like? It is like to children sitting in the market place.

17 Who crying to their companions say: We have piped to you, and you have not danced: we have lamented, and you have not mourned.

18 For John came neither eating nor drinking; and they say: He hath a devil.

19 The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say: Behold a man that is a glutton and a wine drinker, a friend of publicans and sinners. And wisdom is justified by her children.

Catholic Mass Readings For Thursday, December 12, 2013

Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

FIRST READING: Zechariah 2: 14 - 17 OR Revelation 11: 19 -- 12: 1 - 6, 10

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14 Sing praise, and rejoice, O daughter of Sion: for behold I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee: saith the Lord.

15 And many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and they shall be my people, and I will dwell in the midst of thee: and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me to thee.

16 And the Lord shall possess Juda his portion in the sanctified land: and he shall yet choose Jerusalem.

17 Let all flesh be silent at the presence of the Lord: for he is risen up out of his. holy habitation.

OR

19 And the temple of God was opened in heaven: and the ark of his testament was seen in his temple, and there were lightnings, and voices, and an earthquake, and great hail.

1 And a great sign appeared in heaven: A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars:

2 And being with child, she cried travailing in birth, and was in pain to be delivered.

3 And there was seen another sign in heaven: and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads, and ten horns: and on his head seven diadems:

4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to be delivered; that, when she should be delivered, he might devour her son.

5 And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with an iron rod: and her son was taken up to God, and to his throne.

6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she had a place prepared by God, that there they should feed her a thousand two hundred sixty days.

10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying: Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: because the accuser of our brethren is cast forth, who accused them before our God day and night.

PSALM: Judith 13: 18 - 19

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18 Blessed art thou, O daughter, by the Lord the most high God, above all women upon the earth. Blessed be the Lord who made heaven and earth.

19 Because he hath so magnified thy name this day, that thy praise shall not depart out of the mouth of men who shall be mindful of the power of the Lord for ever.

GOSPEL: Luke 1: 26 - 38

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26 And in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee, called Nazareth,

27 To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.

28 And the angel being come in, said unto her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.

29 Who having heard, was troubled at his saying, and thought with herself what manner of salutation this should be.

30 And the angel said to her: Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God.

31 Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a son; and thou shalt call his name Jesus.

32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the most High; and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father; and he shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever.

33 And of his kingdom there shall be no end.

34 And Mary said to the angel: How shall this be done, because I know not man?

35 And the angel answering, said to her: The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the most High shall overshadow thee. And therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

36 And behold thy cousin Elizabeth, she also hath conceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month with her that is called barren:

37 Because no word shall be impossible with God.

38 And Mary said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.