DAILY READINGS & REFLECTION

DECEMBER 16, 2022

FRIDAY OF THE THIRD WEEK IN ADVENT

FIRST READING

ISAIAH 56:1-3, 6-8

1 Thus says the Lord: "Keep justice, and do righteousness, for soon my salvation will come, and my deliverance be revealed.2 Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds it fast, who keeps the sabbath, not profaning it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil." 3 Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say, "The Lord will surely separate me from his people"; and let not the eunuch say, "Behold, I am a dry tree." 6 "And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, every one who keeps the sabbath, and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant - 7 these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples. 8 Thus says the Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered."

The Word of the Lord
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RESPONSORIAL PSALM

PSALMS 66(67):2-3, 5, 7-8

Response: O God, let all the nations praise thee!

May God be gracious to us and bless us
and make his face to shine upon us,
that thy way may be known upon earth,
thy saving power among all nations.

R. O God, let all the nations praise thee!

Let the nations be glad and sing for joy,
for thou dost judge the peoples with equity
and guide the nations upon earth.

R. O God, let all the nations praise thee!

GOSPEL

I will make them joyful in my house of prayer for all peoples

JOHN 5:33-36

33 You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. 34 Not that the testimony which I receive is from man; but I say this that you may be saved. 35 He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. 36 But the testimony which I have is greater than that of John; for the works which the Father has granted me to accomplish, these very works which I am doing, bear me witness that the Father has sent me.

The Gospel of the Lord
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REFLECTION

DAILY QUOTE FROM THE EARLY CHURCH FATHERS

The prophets and apostles are lamps of God, by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.

"All people are lamps because they can both be lighted and extinguished... Only [Christ] is not a lamp. For he is not lighted and extinguished, because "as the Father has life in himself, so he has given to the Son to have life in himself." Therefore, the apostles, too, are lamps. And they give thanks because they both have been kindled by the light of truth and burn with the Spirit of love, and the oil of Gods grace is available to them. If they were not lamps, the Lord would not say to them, "You are the light of the world" (Matthew 5:14). For after he said, "You are the light of the world," he shows that they should not think they were such a light as that of which it is said, "It was the true light that enlightens everyone who comes into this world."

(excerpt from TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 23.3.1.2)
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Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)
The Revised Standard Version of the Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1965, 1966 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.