Let the clouds rain down the Just One, and the earth bring forth a Savior - Daily Bible Readings December 12,2013

1^ST READING

Isaiah is promising better times ahead for the Jews in exile. His promises must have seemed so far from reality that they would have been virtually impossible to believe. However, many Jews did believe! It is often true that we think the “grass is greener on the other side of the fence,” so to speak, and it may even be so. However, God is always with us where we are, and there is no point in trying to escape from reality.

Isaiah 41:13-20 (or Zechariah 2:14-17 or Revelation 11:19; 12:1-6, 10)

13 I am the Lord, your God, who grasp your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Fear not, I will help you.” 14 Fear not, O worm Jacob, O maggot Israel; I will help you, says the Lord; your redeemer is the Holy One of Israel. 15 I will make of you a threshing sledge, sharp, new, and double-edged, to thresh the mountains and crush them, to make the hills like chaff. 16 When you winnow them, the wind shall carry them off and the storm shall scatter them. But you shall rejoice in the Lord, and glory in the Holy One of Israel. 17 The afflicted and the needy seek water in vain, their tongues are parched with thirst. I, the Lord, will answer them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. 18 I will open up rivers on the bare heights, and fountains in the broad valleys; I will turn the desert into a marshland, and the dry ground into springs of water. 19 I will plant in the desert the cedar, acacia, myrtle, and olive; I will set in the wasteland the cypress, together with the plane tree and the pine, 20 that all may see and know, observe and understand, that the hand of the Lord has done this, the Holy One of Israel has created it.

P S A L M

Psalm 145:1, 9, 10-11, 12-13 (or Judith 13:18-19)

R: The Lord is gracious and merciful; slow to anger, and of great kindness.

1 I will extol you, O my God and King, and I will bless your name forever and ever. 9 The Lord is good to all and compassionate toward all his works. (R) 10 Let all your works give you thanks, O Lord, and let your faithful ones bless you. 11 Let them discourse of the glory of your Kingdom and speak of your might. (R) 12 Let them make known to men your might and the glorious splendor of your Kingdom. 13 Your Kingdom is a Kingdom for all ages, and your dominion endures through all generations. (R)

GOSPEL

Today is the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, patroness of the Americas. Of all the images of Mary that I have seen, it is the one I like the best. Let us pause a moment to pray for the Americas, home to about half of the world’s Catholics, as they honor the Blessed Virgin with Masses and processions. Let us seek not just to honor Mary but to follow her example of surrender to the will of God.

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION

Let the clouds rain down the Just One, and the earth bring forth a Savior.

Matthew 11:11-15 (or Luke 1:26-38 or Luke 1:39-47)

11 Jesus said to the crowds: “Amen, I say to you, among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. 12 From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent are taking it by force. 13 All the prophets and the law prophesied up to the time of John. 14 And if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah, the one who is to come. 15 Whoever has ears ought to hear.”

1-4

think:  Let us seek not just to honor Mary but to follow her example of surrender to the will of God.

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 Ecclesiastes 1-4