SATURDAY OF THE FIRST WEEK OF ADVENT


Antiphon
Cf. Ps 85 (84): 9

How worthy is the Lamb who was slain.
to receive power and divinity,
and wisdom and strength and honor.
To him belong glory and power for ever and ever.

Collect

Almighty ever-living God,
whose will is to restore all things
in your beloved Son, the King of the universe,
grant, we pray,
that the whole creation, set free from slavery,
may render your majesty service
and ceaselessly proclaim your praise.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, forever and ever.

Amen.



Saturday of the First Week of Advent

Reading
IS 30:19-21, 23-26

Thus says the Lord GOD,
the Holy One of Israel:
O people of Zion, who dwell in Jerusalem,
no more will you weep;
He will be gracious to you when you cry out,
as soon as he hears he will answer you.
The Lord will give you the bread you need
and the water for which you thirst.
No longer will your Teacher hide himself,
but with your own eyes you shall see your Teacher,
While from behind, a voice shall sound in your ears:
"This is the way; walk in it,"
when you would turn to the right or to the left.

He will give rain for the seed
that you sow in the ground,
And the wheat that the soil produces
will be rich and abundant.
On that day your flock will be given pasture
and the lamb will graze in spacious meadows;
The oxen and the asses that till the ground
will eat silage tossed to them
with shovel and pitchfork.
Upon every high mountain and lofty hill
there will be streams of running water.
On the day of the great slaughter,
when the towers fall,
The light of the moon will be like that of the sun
and the light of the sun will be seven times greater
like the light of seven days.
On the day the LORD binds up the wounds of his people,
he will heal the bruises left by his blows.


Responsorial Psalm
PS 147:1-2, 3-4, 5-6

R. Blessed are all who wait for the Lord.

Praise the LORD, for he is good;
sing praise to our God, for he is gracious;
it is fitting to praise him.
The LORD rebuilds Jerusalem;
the dispersed of Israel he gathers.

R. Blessed are all who wait for the Lord.

He heals the brokenhearted
and binds up their wounds.
He tells the number of the stars;
he calls each by name.

R. Blessed are all who wait for the Lord.

Great is our LORD and mighty in power:
to his wisdom there is no limit.
The LORD sustains the lowly;
the wicked he casts to the ground.

R. Blessed are all who wait for the Lord.


Alleluia
IS 33:22

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

The LORD is our Judge, our Lawgiver, our King;
he it is who will save us.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.


Gospel
MT 9:35–10:1, 5A, 6-8

Jesus went around to all the towns and villages,
teaching in their synagogues,
proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom,
and curing every disease and illness.
At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them
because they were troubled and abandoned,
like sheep without a shepherd.

Then he said to his disciples,

"The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few;
so ask the master of the harvest
to send out laborers for his harvest."

Then he summoned his Twelve disciples
and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out
and to cure every disease and every illness.

Jesus sent out these Twelve after instructing them thus,

"Go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
As you go, make this proclamation: 'The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.'
Cure the sick, raise the dead,
cleanse lepers, drive out demons.
Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give."



December 9

Saint Juan Diego (1474 - 1548)

Thousands of people gathered in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe July 31, 2002, for the canonization of Juan Diego, to whom the Blessed Mother appeared in the 16th century. Pope John Paul II celebrated the ceremony at which the poor Indian peasant became the Church’s first saint indigenous to the Americas. The Holy Father called the new saint “a simple, humble Indian” who accepted Christianity without giving up his identity as an Indian. “In praising the Indian Juan Diego, I want to express to all of you the closeness of the Church and the pope, embracing you with love and encouraging you to overcome with hope the difficult times you are going through,” John Paul said. Among the thousands present for the event were members of Mexico’s 64 indigenous groups.

First called Cuauhtlatohuac (“The eagle who speaks”), Juan Diego’s name is forever linked with Our Lady of Guadalupe because it was to him that she first appeared at Tepeyac hill on December 9, 1531. The most famous part of his story is told in connection with the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12. After the roses gathered in his tilma were transformed into the miraculous image of Our Lady, however, little more is said about Juan Diego. In time he lived near the shrine constructed at Tepeyac, revered as a holy, unselfish, 
and compassionate catechist who taught by word and especially by example.

During his 1990 pastoral visit to Mexico, Pope John Paul II confirmed the long-standing liturgical cult in honor of Juan Diego, beatifying him. Twelve years later he was proclaimed a saint.



O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will proclaim Your Praise!

Invitatory Psalm
Psalm 99 (100)

Let us adore the Lord, 
the King who is to come.

Rejoice in the Lord, all the earth,
and serve him with joy.
Exult as you enter his presence.

Let us adore the Lord, 
the King who is to come.

Know that the Lord is God.
He made us and we are his
– his people, the sheep of his flock.

Let us adore the Lord, 
the King who is to come.

Cry out his praises as you enter his gates,
fill his courtyards with songs.
Proclaim him and bless his name;
for the Lord is our delight.
His mercy lasts forever,
his faithfulness through all the ages.

Let us adore the Lord, 
the King who is to come.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.

Let us adore the Lord, 
the King who is to come.


Hymn

The Advent of our God
With eager prayers we greet
And singing haste up on the road
His glorious gift to meet.
The everlasting Son
Scorns not a Virgin’s womb;
That we from bondage may be won
He bears a bondsman’s doom.
Daughter of Zion, rise
To meet thy lowly King;
Let not thy stubborn heart despise
The peace he deigns to bring.
In clouds of awful light,
As Judge he comes again,
His scattered people to unite,
With them in heaven to reign.
Let evil flee away
Ere that dread hour shall dawn.
Let this old Adam day by day
God’s image still put on.
Praise to the Incarnate Son,
Who comes to set us free,
With God the Father, ever One,
To all eternity.


Psalm 104 (105)
The Lord is faithful to his promises

Sing to the Lord;
tell all his wonderful works.

Give thanks to the Lord and call upon his name;
proclaim his works among the peoples.
Sing and make music to him
and reflect on all the wonders he has performed.
Glory in his holy name,
let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.
Seek the Lord in his power,
always seek his face.
Remember the wonders he performed,
his miracles and the judgements he has uttered.
Seed of Abraham, his servants,
children of Jacob, his chosen ones.
The Lord himself is our God,
his rule extends over the whole earth.
He has always remembered his covenant,
that he made to last a thousand generations,
the agreement he made with Abraham,
the oath he swore to Isaac.
He made it a decree for Jacob,
an eternal covenant for Israel, saying
“I will give you Canaan
and measure it out as your inheritance.”
Although they were few in number,
a handful of wanderers,
although they were travelling from nation to nation,
from one kingdom to another,
he let no harm come to them,
he rebuked kings in their defence:
“do not touch my anointed ones,
do no harm to my prophets.”

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.

Sing to the Lord;
tell all his wonderful works.


Psalm 104 (105)

The Lord did not forget the just man who was sold as a slave:
he released him from the power of sinful men.

The Lord called down famine upon the land, he ground away every stick of bread.
He had sent a man to them, Joseph, and he was sold as a slave.
They confined his feet in fetters and put a ring around his neck –
until the Lord’s word came, the Lord spoke and justified him.
The king sent for him and released him – the ruler of the peoples set him free.
He set him to rule over his house, made him lord of all his possessions,
so that he could make the princes as wise as himself and teach wisdom to the elders.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.

The Lord did not forget the just man who was sold as a slave:
he released him from the power of sinful men.


Psalm 104 (105)

The Lord remembered his holy word,
and he brought out his people with joy.

And so Israel passed into Egypt
and Jacob lived in the country of Ham.
The Lord made his people grow enormously
and strengthened them against their enemies.
Then he turned the hearts of men against his chosen people,
so that they hated them and made plots against them.
He sent Moses, his servant,
and Aaron, whom he had chosen.
He made them prophecy
the signs and prodigies he would work in the land of Ham.
He sent shadows and darkness,
but they would not listen to his words.
He turned their rivers into blood,
killing all the fish.
Frogs ate up the earth,
even in the secret gardens of the palaces.
He summoned flies
and insects throughout the land.
He sent stones of hail and fire
to devastate their land.
He struck their vines and their fig-trees,
broke down the trees of their country.
He spoke, and locusts came,
and worms without number:
they ate all the grain of the land,
consumed all of the fruit.
He struck down the first-born of their land,
the flower of all their strength.
He led his people out with silver and gold;
not a single one of them stumbled.
Egypt rejoiced to see them go,
to see the last of the people they feared.
He sent a cloud to protect them,
and fire to light up their nights.
He led out his people in exultation,
his chosen ones in gladness.
He gave them the territory of the nations,
the fruits of the labours of the peoples.
All this he did
so that they would keep his decrees
and follow his laws.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end.
Amen.

The Lord remembered his holy word,
and he brought out his people with joy.


The Lord proclaims his word to Jacob;
– to Israel, his laws and decrees.


First Reading
Isaiah 21:6-12

For this is what the Lord has said to me,
‘Go and post the watchman,
and let him report what he sees.
‘If he sees cavalry,
horsemen two by two,
men mounted on camels,
let him observe, closely observe.’
The look-out shouts,
‘On a watchtower, Lord,
I stand all day;
and at my post
I keep guard all night.’
Look, here come the cavalry,
horsemen two by two.
They spoke to me; they said,
‘Fallen, fallen is Babylon,
and all the images of her gods
are shattered on the ground.’
You who are threshed,
you who are winnowed,
what I have learnt
from the Lord of Hosts,
from the God of Israel,
I am telling you now.
Oracle on Edom:
Someone shouts to me from Seir,
‘Watchman, what time of night?
Watchman, what time of night?’
The watchman answers,
‘Morning is coming, then night again.
If you want to, why not ask,
turn round, come back?’


Responsory

The angel cried aloud, Babylon,
great Babylon is fallen.
And now I heard another voice from heaven say,
Come out of her, my people,
that you may not be involved in her guilt.

Her guilt mounts up to heaven:
the Lord has kept her sins in remembrance.
Come out of her, my people,
that you may not be involved in her guilt.


Second Reading
A treatise on the value of patience
by St Cyprian

What we do not see, we hope for

Patience is a precept for salvation given us by our Lord our teacher: 
Whoever endures to the end will be saved. And again:
If you persevere in my word, 
you will truly be my disciples; you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

Dear brethren, we must endure and persevere if we are to attain the truth and freedom we have been allowed to hope for; faith and hope are the very meaning of our being Christians, 
but if faith and hope are to bear their fruit, patience is necessary.

We do not seek glory now, in the present, but we look for future glory, as Saint Paul instructs us when he says: By hope we were saved. Now hope which is seen is not hope; how can a man hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it in patience. Patient waiting is necessary if we are to be perfected in what we have begun to be, and if we are to receive from God what we hope for and believe.

In another place the same Apostle instructs and teaches the just, and those active in good works, and those who store up for themselves treasures in heaven through the reward God gives them. They are to be patient also, for he says: Therefore while we have time, let us do good to all, but especially to those who are of the household of the faith.  But let us not grow weary in doing good, 
for we shall reap our reward in due season.

Paul warns us not to grow weary in good works through impatience,
not to be distracted or overcome by temptations and so give up in the midst of our pilgrimage of praise and glory, and allow our past good deeds to count for nothing because what was begun falls short of completion.

Finally the Apostle, speaking of charity, unites it with endurance and patience. Charity, he says, is always patient and kind; it is not jealous, is not boastful, is not given to anger, does not think evil, loves all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. He shows that charity can be steadfast and persevering because it has learned how to endure all things.

And in another place he says: 
Bear with one another lovingly, striving to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
He shows that neither unity nor peace can be maintained unless the brethren cherish each other with mutual forbearance and preserve the bond of harmony by means of patience.


Responsory

He will come in the end,
he will not deceive: wait,
he will surely come without delay.

Only a little while now,
a very little while,
and the One that is coming will have come.
Wait, he will surely come without delay.

Let us pray.

Lord, to free man from his sinful state
you sent your only Son into this world.
Grant to us who in faith and love wait for his coming
your gift of grace
and the reward of true freedom.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.

Let us praise the Lord.
– Thanks be to God.


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