Mass Readings
Liturgical Readings for : Saturday, 21st December, 2024Léachtaí Gaeilge
Next Sunday’s Readings
– Octave day 5 before Christmas –
Just as Elizabeth is honoured by a visit from the Mother of her Lord.
Our Advent joys arise from Christ’s coming among us.
Memorial of St Peter Canisius, Jesuit priest and doctor of the Church, revivalist and catechist, d. 1555
FIRST READING
A reading from the Song of Songs 2:8-14
See how my beloved comes leaping over the mountains.
I hear my Beloved. See how he comes leaping on the mountains, bounding over the hills.
My Beloved is like a gazelle, like a young stag.
My Beloved lifts up his voice, he says to me,
‘Come then, my love, my lovely one, come:
For see, winter is past, the rains are over and gone.
The flowers appear on the earth. The season of glad songs has come,
the cooing of the turtledove is heard in our land.
The fig tree is forming its first figs and the blossoming vines give out their fragrance.
Come then, my love, my lovely one, come.
My dove, hiding in the clefts of the rock, in the coverts of the cliff,
show me your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet and your face is beautiful.’
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
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Alternative FIRST READING
A reading from the book of the Prophet Zephaniah 3:14-18
The Lord, the king of Israel, is in your midst.
Shout for joy, daughter of Zion, Israel, shout aloud!
Rejoice, exult with all your heart, daughter of Jerusalem!
The Lord has repealed your sentence; he has driven your enemies away.
The Lord, the king of Israel, is in your midst;
you have no more evil to fear.
When that day comes, word will come to Jerusalem:
Zion, have no fear, do not let your hands fall limp.
The Lord your God is in your midst, a victorious warrior.
He will exult with joy over you, he will renew you by his love;
he will dance with shouts of joy for you as on a day of festival.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
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Responsorial Psalm Ps 32:2-3, 11-12, 20-21 Rv 1,3.
Response Ring out your joy to the Lord, O you just;
O sing to him a song that is new.
1. Give thanks to the Lord upon the harp, with a ten-stringed lute sing him songs.
O sing him a song that is new, play loudly, with all your skill. Response
2. His own designs shall stand for ever, the plans of his heart from age to age.
They are happy, whose God is the Lord, the people he has chosen as his own. Response
3. Our soul is waiting for the Lord. The Lord is our help and our shield.
In him do our hearts find joy. We trust in his holy name. Response
Gospel Acclamation
Alleluia, alleluia!
O Key of David, who opens the gates of the eternal kingdom,
come to liberate from prison, the captive who lives in darkness.
Alleluia!
or
Alleluia, alleluia!
O Emmanuel, our king and lawgiver, come and save us, Lord our God.
Alleluia!
GOSPEL
The Lord be with you. And with your spirit
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke 1: 39-45 Glory to you, O Lord.
Why should I be honoured with a visit from the mother of my Lord?
She gave a loud cry and said,
‘Of all women you are the most blessed, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
Why should I be honoured with a visit from the mother of my Lord?
For the moment your greeting reached my ears, the child in my womb leapt for joy.
Yes, blessed is she who believed that the promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled.’
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Gospel Reflection 21 Dec. Luke 1:39-45
I am often struck by the way people greet each other here before Mass begins. It is very obvious that people are glad to see one another and if some are missing, others ask about them and wonder how they are. The way we greet people, welcome them, can bring a blessing to them. In today’s gospel reading, the way Mary and Elizabeth greeted one another was a source of blessing for them both. Upon arriving at Elizabeth’s home in the hill country of Judah, Mary, we are told, greeted Elizabeth and, because of Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. It would be wonderful if we could all greet others in ways that brought the Holy Spirit to life in them.
Not only was Mary’s greeting of Elizabeth a source of blessing for her, but Elizabeth’s subsequent greeting of Mary was a source of blessing for Mary. In greeting Mary, Elizabeth declares her the most blessed of all woman, because of the special child she was carrying in her womb, and also because she had believed the word of promise that the Lord had spoken to her through the angel Gabriel.
If you read on, we discover that Elizabeth’s way of greeting Mary inspired Mary to pray her great prayer, the Magnificat (tomorrow’s gospel reading). Here was a meeting between two women which brought each of them closer to the Lord. There is a pattern here for all of us. Our calling is to be present to others, to greet others, in a way that brings them closer to the Lord and creates a space for the Lord to come alive more fully within them.
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The Scripture Readings are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, published 1966 by Darton, Longman and Todd Ltd and used with the permission of the publishers. http://dltbooks.com/
The Scripture Reflection is made available with our thanks from Fr Martin Hogan’s book Reflections on the Weekday Readings : The Word is Near to You, on your lips and in your heart published by Messenger Publications 2022/23, c/f www.messenger.ie/bookshop/
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