Monday 15 December 2014 Monday of the 3rd week of Advent Readings at Mass ________ Entrance Antiphon Cf. Jer 31: 10; Is 35: 4 Hear the word of the Lord, O nations; declare it to the distant lands: Behold, our Saviour will come; you need no longer fear. ________ Collect Incline a merciful ear to our cry, we pray, O Lord, and, casting light on the darkness of our hearts, visit us with the grace of your Son. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. ________ First reading Numbers 24:2-7,15-17 Raising his eyes Balaam saw Israel, encamped by tribes; the spirit of God came on him and he declaimed his poem. He said: ‘The oracle of Balaam son of Beor, the oracle of the man with far-seeing eyes, the oracle of one who hears the word of God. He sees what Shaddai makes him see, receives the divine answer, and his eyes are opened. How fair are your tents, O Jacob! How fair your dwellings, Israel! Like valleys that stretch afar, like gardens by the banks of a river, like aloes planted by the Lord, like cedars beside the waters! A hero arises from their stock, he reigns over countless peoples. His king is greater than Agag, his majesty is exalted.’ Then Balaam declaimed his poem again. He said: ‘The oracle of Balaam son of Beor, the oracle of the man with far-seeing eyes, the oracle of one who hears the word of God, of one who knows the knowledge of the Most High. He sees what Shaddai makes him see, receives the divine answer, and his eyes are opened. I see him – but not in the present, I behold him – but not close at hand: a star from Jacob takes the leadership, a sceptre arises from Israel.’ ________ Psalm Psalm 24:4-6,7-9 Lord, make me know your ways. Lord, make me know your ways. Lord, teach me your paths. Make me walk in your truth, and teach me: for you are God my saviour. Lord, make me know your ways. In you I hope all day long because of your goodness, O Lord. Remember your mercy, Lord, and the love you have shown from of old. Do not remember the sins of my youth. In your love remember me. Lord, make me know your ways. The Lord is good and upright. He shows the path to those who stray, He guides the humble in the right path, He teaches his way to the poor. Lord, make me know your ways. ________ Gospel Acclamation Alleluia, alleluia! The Lord will come, go out to meet him. Great is his beginning and his reign will have no end. Alleluia! Or Ps84:8 Alleluia, alleluia! Let us see, O Lord, your mercy and give us your saving help. Alleluia! ________ Gospel Matthew 21:23-27 Jesus had gone into the Temple and was teaching, when the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him and said, ‘What authority have you for acting like this? And who gave you this authority?’ ‘And I’ replied Jesus ‘will ask you a question, only one; if you tell me the answer to it, I will then tell you my authority for acting like this. John’s baptism: where did it come from: heaven or man?’ And they argued it out this way among themselves, ‘If we say from heaven, he will retort, “Then why did you refuse to believe him?”; but if we say from man, we have the people to fear, for they all hold that John was a prophet.’ So their reply to Jesus was, ‘We do not know.’ And he retorted, ‘Nor will I tell you my authority for acting like this.’ ________ Prayer over the Offerings Accept, we pray, O Lord, these offerings we make, gathered from among your gifts to us, and may what you grant us to celebrate devoutly here below gain for us the prize of eternal redemption. Through Christ our Lord. ________ Communion Antiphon Cf. Ps 105: 4-5; Is 38: 3 Come, O Lord, visit us in peace, that we may rejoice before you with a blameless heart. ________ Prayer after Communion May these mysteries, O Lord, in which we have participated, profit us, we pray, for even now, as we walk amid passing things, you teach us by them to love the things of heaven and hold fast to what endures. Through Christ our Lord. Copyright © 1996-2014 Universalis Publishing Limited: see universalis. Scripture readings from the Jerusalem Bible are published and copyright © 1966, 1967 and 1968 by Darton, Longman & Todd, Ltd and Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc, and used by permission of the publishers. Text of the Psalms: Copyright © 1963, The Grail (England). Used with permission of A.P. Watt Ltd. All rights reserved. The readings on this page are from the Jerusalem Bible, which is used at Mass in most of the English-speaking world. The New American Bible readings, which are used at Mass in the United States, cannot be shown here for copyright reasons. Purchases You can remove all the above limitations by buying the Universalis content, either all at once or one month at a time. This will give you: – A wider range of translations. – A wider range of dates. – Independence from the Internet. One month’s worth of Universalis content costs $1.28. To find out more, tap inside this box.
Posted on: Sun, 14 Dec 2014 21:17:27 +0000