December 20

Official Translation

Reading 1 – Isaiah 7.10-14

The Lord spoke again to Ahaz, saying,
“Ask a sign of the Lord your God;
whether from the deep or the height above.”
But Ahaz said,
“I will not ask; I will not tempt the Lord.”
Isaiah said,
“Listen now, house of David.
Is it not enough for you to try the patience of humans,
that you will try the patience of my God also?
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign:
Behold, the virgin will conceive, and bear a son,
and shall name him Emmanuel.

Responsorial - Psalm 24:1-2, 3-4ab, 5-6 Resp. (see 7c and 10b)

R. The Lord will enter; he is the king of glory.

The earth is the Lord’s, with its fullness;
the world, and those who dwell therein.
For he has founded it on the seas,
and established it on the waters.

R. The Lord will enter; he is the king of glory.

Who can ascend the Lord’s mountain?
Who can stand in his holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart;
who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood,

He shall receive a blessing from the Lord,
righteousness from the God of his salvation.
This is the nature of those who seek Him,
who seek the face of the God of Jacob.

R. The Lord will enter; he is the king of glory.

Gospel – Luke 1:26-38

The angel Gabriel was sent from God
to a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,
to a virgin pledged to be married
to a man whose name was Joseph,
of the house of David.
The virgin’s name was Mary.
Having come, the angel said to her,
“Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.”
But she was greatly troubled at the saying,
and considered what kind of greeting this might be.
The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary,
for you have found favor with God.
Behold, you will conceive in your womb,
and give birth to a son,
and will name him ‘Jesus.’
He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High.
The Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David,
and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever.
There will be no end to his Kingdom.”
Mary said to the angel, “How can this be,
since I do not have relations with a man?”
The angel answered her,
“The Holy Spirit will come on you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
Therefore also the one who is born from you
will be called holy, the Son of God.
Behold, Elizabeth, your relative,
also has conceived a son in her old age;
and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.
For God is not incapable of anything.”
Mary said, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord;
be it to me according to your word.”

Tuesday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time (II)

Official Translation

Reading 1 – Isaiah 7.1-9

In the days of Ahaz,
the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah,
king of Judah,
Rezin the king of Syria,
and Pekah the son of Remaliah,
king of Israel,
went up to Jerusalem to war against it,
but could not prevail against it.
It was said to the house of David,
“Aram is allied with Ephraim.”
His heart trembled,
and the heart of his people,
as the trees of the forest
tremble with the wind.

Then the Lord said to Isaiah,
“Go out now to meet Ahaz,
you, and Shearjashub your son,
at the end of the conduit of the upper pool,
on the highway of the fuller’s field.
Tell him, ‘Be careful, and keep calm.
Do not be afraid,
nor let your heart be faint
because of these two stumps of smoking torches,
for the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram,
and of the son of Remaliah.

Because Aram, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah,
have plotted evil against you, saying,
“Let us go up against Judah, and tear it apart,
and let us divide it among ourselves,
and set up a king within it,
even the son of Tabeel.”

This is what the Lord says:
“It shall not stand, nor shall it happen.”
For the head of Aram is Damascus,
and the head of Damascus is Rezin;
and within sixty-five years
Ephraim shall be broken in pieces,
so that it shall not be a people;
and the head of Ephraim is Samaria,
and the head of Samaria is Remaliah’s son.

If your faith is not firm,
you will not be firm.

Responsorial – Psalm 48.2-3a, 3b-4, 5-6, 7-8 Resp. 9d

R. God will establish his city forever.

Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised,
in the city of our God,
in his holy mountain, beautiful on the heights,
the joy of the whole earth.

R. God will establish his city forever.

Mount Zion, in the far north,
the city of the great King.
God has shown himself in her citadels
as a refuge.

R. God will establish his city forever.

For, behold, the kings assembled themselves,
they passed by together.
They saw it, then they were amazed.
They were dismayed; they hurried away.

R. God will establish his city forever.

Trembling took hold of them there,
pain, as of a woman in travail.
With the east wind,
you break the ships of Tarshish.

R. God will establish his city forever.

Gospel – Matthew 11.20-24

Jesus began to denounce
the cities in which
most of his mighty works had been done,
because they did not repent.
“Woe to you, Chorazin!
Woe to you, Bethsaida!
For if the mighty works had been done
in Tyre and Sidon which were done in you,
they would have repented long ago
in sackcloth and ashes.
But I tell you,
it will be more tolerable
for Tyre and Sidon
on the day of judgment than for you.

You, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven,
you will go down to Hades.
For if the mighty works
had been done in Sodom
which were done in you,
it would have remained until this day.
But I tell you that it will be
more tolerable for the land of Sodom,
on the day of judgment, than for you.”

Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord

Official Translation

Reading 1 – Isaiah 7.10-14, 8:10

The Lord spoke again to Ahaz, saying,
“Ask a sign of the Lord your God;
whether from the deep or the height above.”
But Ahaz said,
“I will not ask; I will not tempt the Lord.”
Isaiah said, “Listen now, house of David.
Is it not enough for you to try the patience of humans,
that you will try the patience of my God also?
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign:
Behold, the virgin will conceive, and bear a son,
and shall name him Emmanuel,
which means “God is with us!”

Responsorial – Psalm 40.7-8a, 8b-9, 10, 11 R. 8a+9a

Sacrifice and offering you did not desire.
You have opened my ears.
You have not required burnt offering and sin offering.
Then I said, “Behold, I have come.

R. Behold, I have come; I delight to do your will, my God.

It is written about me in the scroll:
“I delight to do your will, my God.
Yes, your law is within my heart.”

R. Behold, I have come; I delight to do your will, my God.

I have proclaimed glad news of righteousness in the great assembly.
Behold, you know I will not seal my lips, O Lord.

R. Behold, I have come; I delight to do your will, my God.

I have not hidden your righteousness within my heart.
I have declared your faithfulness and your salvation.
I have not concealed your loving kindness and your truth
from the great assembly.

R. Behold, I have come; I delight to do your will, my God.


Reading 2 – Hebrews 10.4-10

Brothers and sisters:
It is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats
would take away sins.
Therefore when Christ came into the world, he said,
“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but you prepared a body for me;
You had no pleasure in holocausts and sin offerings.
Then I said, as it is written in the scroll of the book,
“Behold, I have come to do your will, O God.”

He said before, “Sacrifices and offerings
holocausts and sin offerings
you neither desired nor had pleasure in.”
These are offered according to the law.
Then he said, “Behold, I have come to do your will.”
He takes away the first,
that he may establish the second,
by this will we have been sanctified
through the offering of
the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Gospel – Luke 1:26-38

The angel Gabriel was sent from God
to a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,
to a virgin pledged to be married
to a man whose name was Joseph,
of the house of David.
The virgin’s name was Mary.
Having come, the angel said to her,
“Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.”
But she was greatly troubled at the saying,
and considered what kind of greeting this might be.
The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary,
for you have found favor with God.
Behold, you will conceive in your womb,
and give birth to a son,
and will name him ‘Jesus.’
He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High.
The Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David,
and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever.
There will be no end to his Kingdom.”
Mary said to the angel, “How can this be,
since I do not have relations with a man?”
The angel answered her,
“The Holy Spirit will come on you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
Therefore also the one who is born from you
will be called holy, the Son of God.
Behold, Elizabeth, your relative,
also has conceived a son in her old age;
and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.
For God is not incapable of anything.”
Mary said, “Behold, the handmaid of the Lord;
be it to me according to your word.”
Then the angel departed from her.

December 20

Official Translation

Reading 1 – Isaiah 7.10-14

The Lord spoke again to Ahaz, saying,
“Ask a sign of the Lord your God;
whether from the deep or the height above.”
But Ahaz said,
“I will not ask; I will not tempt the Lord.”
Isaiah said,
“Listen now, house of David.
Is it not enough for you to try the patience of humans,
that you will try the patience of my God also?
Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign:
Behold, the virgin will conceive, and bear a son,
and shall name him Emmanuel.

Responsorial - Psalm 24:1-2, 3-4ab, 5-6 Resp. (see 7c and 10b)

R. The Lord will enter; he is the king of glory.

The earth is the Lord’s, with its fullness;
the world, and those who dwell therein.
For he has founded it on the seas,
and established it on the waters.

R. The Lord will enter; he is the king of glory.

Who can ascend the Lord’s mountain?
Who can stand in his holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart;
who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood,

He shall receive a blessing from the Lord,
righteousness from the God of his salvation.
This is the nature of those who seek Him,
who seek the face of the God of Jacob.

R. The Lord will enter; he is the king of glory.

Gospel – Luke 1:26-38

The angel Gabriel was sent from God
to a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,
to a virgin pledged to be married
to a man whose name was Joseph,
of the house of David.
The virgin’s name was Mary.
Having come, the angel said to her,
“Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.”
But she was greatly troubled at the saying,
and considered what kind of greeting this might be.
The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary,
for you have found favor with God.
Behold, you will conceive in your womb,
and give birth to a son,
and will name him ‘Jesus.’
He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High.
The Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David,
and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever.
There will be no end to his Kingdom.”
Mary said to the angel, “How can this be,
since I do not have relations with a man?”
The angel answered her,
“The Holy Spirit will come on you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
Therefore also the one who is born from you
will be called holy, the Son of God.
Behold, Elizabeth, your relative,
also has conceived a son in her old age;
and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.
For God is not incapable of anything.”
Mary said, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord;
be it to me according to your word.”