Second
Sunday of Advent
 |
| "The Voice in the Desert" -- by James Tissot |
FIRST
READING: Isaiah
40:1-5, 9-11
1
Be comforted, be comforted, my people, saith your God.
2
Speak ye to the heart of Jerusalem, and call to her: for her evil is
come to an end, her iniquity is forgiven: she hath received of the
hand of the Lord double for all her sins.
3
The voice of one crying in the desert: Prepare ye the way of the
Lord, make straight in the wilderness the paths of our God.
4
Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be
made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough ways
plain.
5
And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh together
shall see, that the mouth of the Lord hath spoken.
9
Get thee up upon a high mountain, thou that bringest good tidings to
Sion: lift up thy voice with strength, thou that bringest good
tidings to Jerusalem: lift it up, fear not. Say to the cities of
Juda: Behold your God:
10
Behold the Lord God shall come with strength, and his arm shall rule:
Behold his reward is with him and his work is before him.
11
He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather together the
lambs with his arm, and shall take them up in his bosom, and he
himself shall carry them that are with young.
PSALM:
Psalms 85:9-14
9
I will hear what the Lord God will speak in me: for he will speak
peace unto his people: And unto his saints: and unto them that are
converted to the heart.
10
Surely his salvation is near to them that fear him: that glory may
dwell in our land.
11
Mercy and truth have met each other: justice and peace have kissed.
12
Truth is sprung out of the earth: and justice hath looked down from
heaven.
13
For the Lord will give goodness: and our earth shall yield her fruit.
14
Justice shall walk before him: and shall set his steps in the way.
SECOND
READING: 2
Peter 3:8-14
8
But of this one thing be not ignorant, my beloved, that one day with
the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
9
The Lord delayeth not his promise, as some imagine, but dealeth
patiently for your sake, not willing that any should perish, but that
all should return to penance.
10
But the day of the Lord shall come as a thief, in which the heavens
shall pass away with great violence, and the elements shall be melted
with heat, and the earth and the works which are in it, shall be
burnt up.
11
Seeing then that all these things are to be dissolved, what manner of
people ought you to be in holy conversation and godliness?
12
Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of the Lord, by
which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements
shall melt with the burning heat?
13
But we look for new heavens and a new earth according to his
promises, in which justice dwelleth.
14
Wherefore, dearly beloved, waiting for these things, be diligent that
you may be found before him unspotted and blameless in peace.
GOSPEL:
Mark
1:1-8
1
The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
2
As it is written in Isaias the prophet: Behold I send my angel before
thy face, who shall prepare the way before thee.
3
A voice of one crying in the desert: Prepare ye the way of the Lord,
make straight his paths.
4
John was in the desert baptizing, and preaching the baptism of
penance, unto remission of sins.
5
And there went out to him all the country of Judea, and all they of
Jerusalem, and were baptized by him in the river of Jordan,
confessing their sins.
6
And John was clothed with camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about
his loins; and he ate locusts and wild honey.
7
And he preached, saying: There cometh after me one mightier than I,
the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and loose.
8
I have baptized you with water; but he shall baptize you with the
Holy Ghost.
