4th Sunday of Advent
Mass Readings
First Reading – Mi 5:1-4a
Thus says the LORD: You, Bethlehem-Ephrathah too small to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel; whose origin is from of old, from ancient times. Therefore the Lord will give them up, until the time when she who is to give birth has borne, and the rest of his kindred shall return to the children of Israel. He shall stand firm and shepherd his flock by the strength of the LORD, in the majestic name of the LORD, his God; and they shall remain, for now his greatness shall reach to the ends of the earth; he shall be peace.
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 80:2-3, 15-16, 18-19. (R.4)
R. Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved.
Give thanks to the LORD on the harp;
with the ten-stringed lyre chant his praises.
Sing to him a new song;
pluck the strings skillfully, with shouts of gladness. R.
But the plan of the LORD stands forever;
the design of his heart, through all generations.
Blessed the nation whose God is the LORD,
the people he has chosen for his own inheritance. R.
Our soul waits for the LORD,
who is our help and our shield,
For in him our hearts rejoice;
in his holy name we trust. R.
Second Reading – Heb 10:5-10
Brothers and sisters: When Christ came into the world, he said: “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; in holocausts and sin offerings you took no delight. Then I said, ‘As is written of me in the scroll, behold, I come to do your will, O God.’“ First he says, “Sacrifices and offerings, holocausts and sin offerings, you neither desired nor delighted in.” These are offered according to the law. Then he says,: Behold, I come to do your will.” He takes away the first to establish the second. By this “will,” we have been consecrated through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Gospel – Lk 1:39-45
Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.”
Featured Saints
St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, virgin (†1917). (USA: Celebrated as Memorial on Nov. 13) Foundress of the Institute of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Of Italian origin, she died in the United States, where she had cared for immigrants with outstanding charity
St. Hungerus, bishop (†866). Zealous pastor of the Diocese of Utrecht, Holland, at a time of upheaval due to Norman invasions.
St. Chaeremon, Bishop of Nilopolis (Egypt), and companions martyrs (†250). They received the crown of martyrdom while the persecution of the Emperor Decius was raging.
St. Ischyrion, martyr (†250). In Alexandria under Emperor Decius, after despising the cruelties heaped upon him to force him to sacrifice to idols, he was finally put to death, impaled by a sharp stake.
Blessed Thomas Holland, priest and martyr (†1642). Jesuit, executed by hanging in the time of Charles I, for exercising his priestly ministry in England.
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