Thursday Christmas Weekday
Mass Readings
First Reading – 1 Jn 3:11-21
Beloved: This is the message you have heard from the beginning: we should love one another, unlike Cain who belonged to the Evil One and slaughtered his brother. Why did he slaughter him? Because his own works were evil, and those of his brother righteous. Do not be amazed, then, brothers and sisters, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers. Whoever does not love remains in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him. The way we came to know love was that He laid down his life for us; so we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If someone who has worldly means sees a brother in need and refuses him compassion, how can the love of God remain in him? Children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth. Now this is how we shall know that we belong to the truth and reassure our hearts before Him in whatever our hearts condemn, for God is greater than our hearts and knows everything. Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence in God.
Responsorial Psalm – Ps 100:1b-2, 3, 4, 5 (R. 2a)
R. Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.
Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands;
serve the LORD with gladness;
come before Him with joyful song. R.
Know that the LORD is God;
He made us, His we are;
His people, the flock He tends. R.
Enter His gates with thanksgiving,
His courts with praise;
Give thanks to Him; bless His name. R.
The LORD is good:
the LORD, whose kindness endures forever,
and His faithfulness, to all generations. R.
Gospel – Jn 1:43-51
Jesus decided to go to Galilee, and he found Philip. And Jesus said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the town of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one about whom Moses wrote in the law, and also the prophets, Jesus, son of Joseph, from Nazareth.” But Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him and said of him, “Here is a true child of Israel. There is no duplicity in him.” Nathanael said to Him, “How do You know me?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.” Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this.” And He said to him, “Amen, amen, I say to you, you will see the sky opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
Featured Saints
St. John Neumann, bishop (†1860). Memorial in the USA. Redemptorist religious, Bishop of Philadelphia. He provided aid to poor immigrants, and a Christian education to children.
St. Charles of St. Andrew Houben, priest (†1893). Dutch Passionist religious, missionary in Ireland; zealous minister of the Sacrament of Confession.
St. Emiliana, virgin (†sixth century). Paternal aunt of St. Gregory the Great; she died in Rome.
St. Genoveva Torres Morales, virgin (†1956). Foundress of the Institute of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Holy Angels in Zaragoza, Spain.
Blessed Maria Repetto, virgin (†1890). Religious of the Sisters of Our Lady of the Refuge on Mount Calvary in Genoa, Italy, she was outstanding in comforting the afflicted, particularly remembered for her devoted care of epidemic victims.
Blessed Marcelina Darowska, religious (†1911). After the death of her husband and firstborn son, she consecrated herself to God and founded the Congregation of the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Jazlowice, Ukraine, for the education of youth.
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