Tuesday of the 2nd Week of Advent
Optional memorial of St. Nicholas, bishop († 350). Bishop of Myra, in present-day Turkey. He was renowned for his miracles and is recognized as the patron Saint of Russia. His relics were carried to Bari (Italy) and for this reason, he is also known as St. Nicholas of Bari.
See also:
Mass Readings
First Reading – Is 40:1-11
Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her service is at an end, her guilt is expiated; Indeed, she has received from the hand of the LORD double for all her sins. A voice cries out: In the desert prepare the way of the LORD! Make straight in the wasteland a highway for our God! Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill shall be made low; The rugged land shall be made a plain, the rough country, a broad valley. Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken. A voice says, “Cry out!” I answer, “What shall I cry out?” “All flesh is grass, and all their glory like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower wilts, when the breath of the LORD blows upon it. So then, the people is the grass. Though the grass withers and the flower wilts, the word of our God stands forever.” Go up onto a high mountain, Zion, herald of glad tidings; Cry out at the top of your voice, Jerusalem, herald of good news! Fear not to cry out and say to the cities of Judah: Here is your God! Here comes with power the Lord GOD, who rules by His strong arm; Here is His reward with Him, His recompense before Him. Like a shepherd He feeds His flock; in His arms He gathers the lambs, carrying them in His bosom, and leading the ewes with care.
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 96:1-2, 3 and 10ac, 11-12, 13 (R. see Isaiah 40:10ab))
R. The Lord our God comes with power.
Sing to the LORD a new song;
sing to the LORD, all you lands.
Sing to the LORD; bless His name;
announce His salvation, day after day. R.
Tell His glory among the nations;
among all peoples, His wondrous deeds.
Say among the nations: The LORD is king;
He governs the peoples with equity. R.
Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice;
let the sea and what fills it resound;
let the plains be joyful and all that is in them!
Then let all the trees of the forest rejoice. R.
They shall exult before the LORD, for He comes;
for He comes to rule the earth.
He shall rule the world with justice
and the peoples with His constancy. R.
Gospel – Mt 18:12-14
Jesus said to His disciples: “What is your opinion? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine in the hills and go in search of the stray? And if he finds it, amen, I say to you, he rejoices more over it than over the ninety-nine that did not stray. In just the same way, it is not the will of your heavenly Father that one of these little ones be lost.”
Featured Saints
St. Peter Pascual, bishop and martyr († 1300). Mercedarian religious, appointed Bishop of Jaen, Spain. He was captured by the Moors while visiting the faithful of his diocese and died in captivity in Granada.
St. Obitius, penitent († 1204). When close to death in battle, he experienced a a vision of hell , which convinced that he would have deserved condemnation if he had died on that occasion. Abandoning his military career, he became a Benedictine oblate in the monastery of Santa Giulia, in Brescia, Italy.
St. Joseph Nguyễn Duy Khang, martyr († 1861). Catechist and traveling companion of Bishop Jerome Hermosilla, in Vietnam. He was tortured and beheaded during the persecution of Emperor Tu Ðúc.
St. Dionysia, St. Majoricus, and companions, martyrs († 5th century). They were subjected to grievous tortures by the Arian king Hunneric. Majoricus, yet a child, was terrified in the face of torture, but was sustained by the words of his mother, Dionysia.
Blessed John Scheffler, Bishop and martyr († 1952). Hungarian born, he was appointed Bishop of Satu Mare, Romania. Under the atheist regime, he died in prison in Bucharest.
Blessed Luísa Maria Cañizares, virgin († 1936). A university professor from Valencia. During the Spanish Civil War she was arrested, and when she refused to renounce her Faith, she had her eyes and tongue torn out before being shot.
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