Liturgical Readings for : Monday, 4th December, 2023
Monday of the First Week of Advent
Isaiah is the great 8th Century B.C. prophet of the coming Messiah.
The Advent daily readings regularly reflect his texts.
Optional Memorial of St John Damascene, priest and doctor of the church
FIRST READING
A reading from the prophet Isaiah 2: 1-5
The Lord draws all nations together into the eternal peace of His kingdom.
The vision of Isaiah son of Amoz, concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
In the days to come the mountain of the Temple of the Lord shall tower above the mountains
and be lifted higher than the hills. All the nations will stream to it, peoples without number will come to it; and they will say:
‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the Temple of the God of Jacob
that he may teach us his ways
so that we may walk in his paths;
since the Law will go out from Zion,
and the oracle of the Lord from Jerusalem’.
He will wield authority over the nations
and adjudicate between many peoples;
these will hammer their swords into ploughshares, their spears into sickles.
Nation will not lift sword against nation, there will be no more training for war.
O House of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 121
Response I rejoiced when I heard them say: ‘Let us go to God’s house!
1. I rejoiced when I heard them say: ‘Let us go to God’s house’.
And now our feet are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem. Response
2. It is there that the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord.
For Israel’s law it is, there to praise the Lord’s name.
There were set the thrones of judgement of the house of David. Response
3. For the peace of Jerusalem pray: ‘Peace be to your homes!
May peace reign in your walls, in your palaces, peace!’ Response
4. For love of my brethren and friends I say: ‘Peace upon you!’
For love of the house of the Lord I will ask for your good. Response
Gospel Acclamation Ps 79
Alleluia, alleluia!
God of hosts, bring us back; let your face shine on us and we shall be saved.
Alleluia!
GOSPEL
The Lord be with you. And with your spirit
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew 8:5-11 Glory to you, O Lord.
Many will come from east and west to take their places in the kingdom of heaven.
When Jesus went into Capernaum a centurion came up and pleaded with him. ‘
Sir,’ he said ‘my servant is lying at home paralysed, and in great pain.‘
‘I will come myself and cure him’ said Jesus.
The centurion replied,
‘Sir, I am not worthy to have you under my roof; just give the word and my servant will be cured. For I am under authority myself, and have soldiers under me;
and I say to one man: Go, and he goes; to another: Come here, and he comes;
to my servant: Do this, and he does it.’
When Jesus heard this he was astonished and said to those following him,
‘I tell you solemnly, nowhere in Israel have I found faith like this.
And I tell you that many will come from east and west to take their places with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob at the feast in the kingdom of heaven’.
The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
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Scripture Reflection Monday, First Week of Advent Matthew 8:5-11
Today’s responsorial psalm is from a small collection of pilgrim psalms in the Book of Psalms, psalms prayed by pilgrims on their journey to Jerusalem and its Temple, the House of God. ‘I rejoiced when I heard them say, “Let us go to God’s house”’. There is a great sense of expectant longing in these pilgrim psalms for the meeting with the Lord that awaits the pilgrim in the Temple, where it was believed that God had chosen to dwell. That sense of expectant longing is very much the mood of Advent. Advent is the season that calls out to us to be pilgrims once more. For us Christians, it is Jesus who is now the House of God, the one in and through whom God has chosen to dwell. Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us. In Advent we are journeying with expectant longing towards the celebration of the birth of Jesus, Emmanuel. At a deeper level, we are journeying towards what Jesus in the gospel reading calls the feast in the kingdom of God, that banquet of eternal life at which many will be present from north, south, east and west, alongside the great patriarchs of Israel. We are called to make this journey with the same attitude of expectant longing shown by the Roman centurion in today’s gospel reading, when he said to Jesus, ‘Just give the word and my servant will be healed’. As we continue on our pilgrim way, we are invited to keep on entrusting ourselves to the Lord’s word, in that same spirit of hopeful faith shown by the centurion.
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