1ST READING
To
welcome the Messiah into our lives, we have to be purified. This is
what Malachi is telling us in the First Reading today. Are you ready to
welcome the Messiah into your heart, mind and soul? Have you been
purified enough through repentance and conversion to receive the Lord
into your life? This is a useful starting point for personal reflection
during this season of the Church.
Malachi 3:1-4, 23-24
1 Thus
says the Lord God: Lo, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way
before me; and suddenly there will come to the temple the Lord whom you seek, and the messenger of the covenant whom you desire. Yes, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. 2 But
who will endure the day of his coming? And who can stand when he
appears? For he is like the refiner’s fire, or like the fuller’s lye. 3 He will sit refining and purifying silver, and he
will purify the sons of Levi, refining them like gold or like silver that they may offer due sacrifice to the Lord. 4 Then the sacrifice of Judah and Jerusalem will please the Lord, as in days of old, as in years gone by. 23 Lo, I will send you Elijah, the prophet, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and terrible day, 24 to
turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the
children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with doom.
P S A L M
Psalm 25:4-5, 8-9, 10, 14
R: Lift up your heads and see; your redemption is near at hand.
4 Your ways, O Lord, make known to me; teach me your paths, 5 guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my savior. (R) 8 Good and upright is the Lord; thus he shows sinners the way. 9 He guides the humble to justice, he teaches the humble his way. (R) 10 All the paths of the Lord are kindness and constancy toward those who keep his covenant and his decrees. 14 The friendship of the Lord is with those who fear him, and his covenant, for their instruction. (R)
GOSPEL
The
unusual name that Zechariah gives his son is a sign that there is
something out of the ordinary happening here. Everyone expected a
different name, but God had told Zechariah otherwise and he was not
going to question God a second time. Once was enough for him. Hopefully
once is enough for us as
well. When we sin and discover the awful effects that our sins have
caused, let us be so repulsed that we avoid that sin in the future.
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION
O King of all nations and keystone of the Church: come and save man, whom you formed from the dust!
Luke 1:57-66
57 When the time arrived for Elizabeth to have her child she gave birth to a son. 58 Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy toward her, and they rejoiced with her. 59 When they came on the eighth day to circumcise the child, they were going to call him Zechariah after his father, 60 but his mother said in reply, “No. He will be called
John.” 61 But they answered her, “There is no one among your relatives who has this name.” 62 So they made signs, asking his father what he wished him to be called. 63 He asked for a tablet and wrote, “John is his name,” and all were amazed. 64 Immediately his mouth was opened, his tongue freed, and he spoke blessing God. 65 Then fear came upon all their neighbors, and all these
matters were discussed throughout the hill country of Judea. 66 All
who heard these things took them to heart, saying, “What, then, will
this child be?” For surely the hand of the Lord was with him.
think: Are you ready to welcome the Messiah into your heart, mind and soul?
T O D A Y’S BLESSING LIST
Thank You Lord for: __________________
____________________________________
God’s special verse/thought for me today_
_____________________________________
READ THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR Nahum 1-3
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