December 23

Official Translation

Reading 1 – Malachi 3.1-4, 23-24

Thus says the Lord God:
“Behold, I send my messenger,
and he will prepare the way before me;
and the Lord, whom you seek,
will suddenly come to his temple;
and the messenger of the covenant,
whom you desire,
behold, he comes!” says the Lord of Hosts.
“But who can endure the day of his coming?
And who will stand when he appears?
For he is like a refiner’s fire,
and like the fuller’s lye;
and he will sit refining and purifying silver,
and he will purify the sons of Levi,
and refine them like gold and silver;
and they shall offer to the Lord,
sacrifices of righteousness.
Then the sacrifices of Judah and Jerusalem
will be pleasant to the Lord,
as in the days of old, and as in ancient years.

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet
before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes.
He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children,
and the hearts of the children to their fathers,
lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.”

Responsorial – Psalm 25.4-5ab, 8-9, 10+14, Resp. (see Luke 21.28)

R. Lift up your heads and look, because your redemption is near.

Show me your ways, O Lord.
Teach me your paths.
Guide me in your truth, and teach me,
For you are the God of my salvation,

R. Lift up your heads and look, because your redemption is near.

Good and upright is the Lord,
therefore he will instruct sinners in the way.
He will guide the humble in justice.
He will teach the humble his way.

R. Lift up your heads and look, because your redemption is near.

All the paths of the Lord are loving kindness and truth
toward such as keep his covenant and his commandments.
The friendship of the Lord is with those who fear him.
He will teach them his covenant.

R. Lift up your heads and look, because your redemption is near.

Gospel – Luke 1.57-66

Now the time
when Elizabeth would give birth had arrived,
and she gave birth to a son.
Her neighbors and her relatives heard
that the Lord had magnified his mercy towards her,
and they rejoiced with her.
On the eighth day,
they came to circumcise the child;
and they would have called him Zachariah,
after the name of the father.
His mother answered,
“Not so; he will be called John.”
They said to her,
“There is no one among your relatives
who is called by this name.”
They made signs to his father,
what he would have him called.
He asked for a writing tablet, and wrote,
“His name is John.”
They all were amazed.
His mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue freed,
and he spoke, blessing God.
Fear came on all who lived around them,
and all these sayings were talked about
throughout all the hill country of Judea.
All who heard them laid them up in their heart, saying,
“What then will this child be?”
The hand of the Lord was with him.