Saturday of the Second Week of Advent

Official Translation

Reading 1 – Sirach 48.1-4, 9-11

Elijah the prophet arose like a fire,
And his word burned like a torch:
He brought a famine upon them,
and by his zeal made them few in number.
By the word of the Lord he shut up the heaven:
Thrice did he thus bring down fire.
How you are glorified, O Elijah, in your wondrous deeds!
And who shall have glory like yours?

You were taken up in a tempest of fire,
In a chariot of fiery horses:
It is written that you are destined in time to come
to pacify anger before the day of the Lord,
to turn the heart of the father to the son,
and to restore the tribes of Jacob.
Blessed are they that saw you,
and they that have been beautified with love.

Responsorial – Psalm 80.2ac+3b, 15-16, 18-19 Resp. 4

R. Turn us back, O God, and cause your face to shine on us, and we shall be saved.

Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,
You who dwell among the cherubim, shine forth.
Stir up your strength.

R. Turn us back, O God, and cause your face to shine on us, and we shall be saved.

Return, we beseech you, O God of Hosts.
Look down from heaven and see,
Visit this vine and the vineyard
which your right hand has planted,
the son whom you made strong for yourself.

R. Turn us back, O God, and cause your face to shine on us, and we shall be saved.

Let your hand be upon the human of your right hand,
upon the son of human whom you made strong for yourself.
So we will not withdraw from you;
Enliven us and we will call upon your name.

R. Turn us back, O God, and cause your face to shine on us, and we shall be saved.

Gospel – Matthew 17.9a, 10-13

As they were coming down from the mountain, his disciples asked Jesus, saying,
“Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”
Jesus answered them, “Elijah indeed comes first, and will restore all things,
but I tell you that Elijah has come already, and they did not recognize him,
but did to him whatever they wanted to.
Even so the Son of Human will also suffer by them.”
Then the disciples understood that he spoke to them of John the Baptist.