December 20, Monday FOURTH WEEK OF ADVENT The two beautiful texts of today correspond to each other as promise and fulfillment of the promise. The child to be born of a young maiden as a sign of Israel’s salvation probably spoke directly of a son to be born to a king; yet, […]
Category Archives: Daily Readings
December 19, Sunday FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT Our world is full of humble, ordinary people living in obscure hamlets, and yet some people like these have changed the course of the world. Within the history of the Church we are shown today the first person coming from such an ordinary milieu who by a […]
December 18, Saturday THIRD WEEK OF ADVENT When the kings of God’s people had not fulfilled their mission of guiding the people to God, the prophet Jeremiah announces that God would do away with them and become himself the shepherd of his people. But he will make this new beginning through a man, a […]
December 17, Friday THIRD WEEK OF ADVENT The liturgical readings of today call our attention to Christ in his human reality: human like us in everything – except for sin, clarifies St. Paul – a descendant of sinners, who, as Church Fathers stress, are even singled out in Matthew’s family tree of Christ. He […]
December 16, Thursday THIRD WEEK OF ADVENT The first reading speaks of the future glory of Jerusalem, God’s people. She had deserted God like an unfaithful bride, and God had apparently abandoned her for a while in the exile. Now he is ready to take her back and renew his covenant with her; she […]
December 15, Wednesday THIRD WEEK OF ADVENT People and events are agents of salvation: heaven and earth cooperate, but ultimately it is God who saves through people. In the first reading, through the prophet, God addresses Cyrus the Great, who let the Jews return from exile. He was an instrument of God to bring […]
December 14, Tuesday THIRD WEEK OF ADVENT God had spoken continually to his people in words and deeds, yet they did not listen. But among them a remnant of poor people will return to God. With them, all the pagan, sinful nations will come to serve God. Sinners who recognize their poverty, are perhaps more […]
December 13, Monday THIRD WEEK OF ADVENT “We want to be liberated from those illusions, frustrations, injustices and repression to which the modern world has subjected us in violation of its promises – this is what the young are saying, the disinherited, the automatons of modern technology: we want to be free persons, real […]
December 12, Sunday THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT On this Third Sunday of Advent the liturgy speaks to us, people who are too often so sad, of God as the Lord of the dance: the Lord is happy to come among us: he will dance with shouts of joy for you as on a day of […]
December 11, Saturday SECOND WEEK OF ADVENT In the Old Testament, the prophet Elijah is the “prophet of fire,” a fiery, zealous personality who makes fire come down on the enemies of God. He wanted to prepare the hearts of the people to accept God. In the New Testament, the “prophet of fire,” the […]