4th Day after the Octave of Christmas

Official Translation

Reading 1 – 1 John 3.11-21

Beloved:
This is the message
which you heard from the beginning:
that we should love one another;
unlike Cain, who was of the evil one,
and killed his brother.
Why did he kill him?
Because his works were evil,
and his brother’s righteous.
Do not be surprised, my brothers,
if the world hates you.
We know that we have passed
out of death into life,
because we love the brothers.
He who does not love his brother
remains in death.
Whoever hates his brother is a murderer,
and you know that no murderer
has eternal life remaining in him.
By this we know love:
he laid down his life for us.
So we ought to lay down our lives
for the brothers.

Whoever has the world’s goods,
and sees his brother in need,
and closes his heart of compassion against him,
how does the love of God remain in him?
My little children,
Let us not love in word only,
nor with the tongue only,
but in deed and truth.

By this we know that we are of the truth,
and persuade our hearts before him,
because if our heart condemns us,
God is greater than our heart,
and knows all things.
Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us,
we have confidence in God;

Responsorial – Psalm 100.1b-2, 3, 4, 5 Resp. 2a

R. Shout for joy to the Lord, all you lands!

Shout for joy to the Lord, all you lands!
Serve the Lord with gladness.
Come before his presence with singing.

R. Shout for joy to the Lord, all you lands!

Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who has made us, and we are his.
We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

R. Shout for joy to the Lord, all you lands!

Enter into his gates with thanksgiving,
into his courts with praise.
Give thanks to him, and bless his name.

R. Shout for joy to the Lord, all you lands!

For the Lord is good.
His loving kindness endures forever,
his faithfulness to all generations.

R. Shout for joy to the Lord, all you lands!

Gospel – John 1.43-51

Jesus was determined to go out to Galilee,
and he found Philip.
Jesus said to him, “Follow me.”
Now Philip was from Bethsaida,
the city of Andrew and Peter.
Philip found Nathanael, and said to him,
“We have found him of whom Moses in the law,
and the prophets, wrote:
Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”
Nathanael said to him,
“Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?”
Philip said to him, “Come and see.”

Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him,
and said about him, “Behold, a true Israelite,
in whom there is no deceit!”
Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?”
Jesus answered him,
“Before Philip called you,
when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.”
Nathanael answered him,
“Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are King of Israel!”
Jesus answered him, “Do you believe because I told you,
‘I saw you underneath the fig tree,’ ?
You will see greater things than these!”
He said to him, “Amen, Amen, I say to you,
hereafter you will see heaven opened,
and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Human.”