THE DAILY GOSPEL AND READINGS 16 DECEMBER 2022

/ Michael J. Cunningham / Leave a comment

Friday of the Third Week in Advent

Lectionary: 191

Reading 1

Is 56:1-3a, 6-8

Thus says the LORD:
Observe what is right, do what is just;
for my salvation is about to come,
my justice, about to be revealed.
Blessed is the man who does this,
the son of man who holds to it;
Who keeps the sabbath free from profanation,
and his hand from any evildoing.
Let not the foreigner say,
when he would join himself to the LORD,
“The LORD will surely exclude me from his people.”

The foreigners who join themselves to the LORD,
ministering to him,
Loving the name of the LORD,
and becoming his servants–
All who keep the sabbath free from profanation
and hold to my covenant,
Them I will bring to my holy mountain
and make joyful in my house of prayer;
Their burnt offerings and sacrifices
will be acceptable on my altar,
For my house shall be called
a house of prayer for all peoples.
Thus says the Lord GOD,
who gathers the dispersed of Israel:
Others will I gather to him
besides those already gathered.

Responsorial Psalm

Ps 67:2-3, 5, 7-8

R. (4) O God, let all the nations praise you!
May God have pity on us and bless us;
may he let his face shine upon us.
So may your way be known upon earth;
among all nations, your salvation.
R. O God, let all the nations praise you!
May the nations be glad and exult
because you rule the peoples in equity;
the nations on the earth you guide.
R. O God, let all the nations praise you!
The earth has yielded its fruits;
God, our God, has blessed us.
May God bless us,
and may all the ends of the earth fear him!
R. O God, let all the nations praise you!

Alleluia

R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Come, Lord, bring us your peace
that we may rejoice before you with a perfect heart.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel

Jn 5:33-36

Jesus said to the Jews:
“You sent emissaries to John, and he testified to the truth.
I do not accept testimony from a human being,
but I say this so that you may be saved.
John was a burning and shining lamp,
and for a while you were content to rejoice in his light.
But I have testimony greater than John’s.
The works that the Father gave me to accomplish,
these works that I perform testify on my behalf
that the Father has sent me.”

The River

/ Michael J. Cunningham / Leave a comment

The River

THIS RIVER, a river called Wye,

Starts up here in the mountains and hills,

So clean and cold on a wintry day,

As it leans into and rushes to a Celtic birthplace. 

The place of me. 

This river moves always at the same pace,

The grade of the land unchanging,

Only resistance giving a differing opinion ,

As rocks and drops and barriers amplify its face. 

Trout and herons delight in its purity,

Each seeing something different to dance and dart over,

And walkers with their dogs tread alongside,

Unseeing the others perspective, 

Yet somehow, co-residing with them 

Seeing this now, before the water reaches my birthplace,

I suddenly feel strangely eternal, 

Looking at the river which started before I did,

And all the others who preceded me, and followed. 

This eternal river, before and after,

Without beginning, or so it seems,

Does not imbibe hope but rather suggests.

That what will be, will, in fact be,

And any oxygen, or goodness, or freshness I contain must always be shared. 

Willing or not, it is all I have to give,

So this river runs eternal. 

Poem and Image Copyright 2022 Michael J. Cunningham

THE DAILY GOSPEL AND READINGS 15 DECEMBER 2022

/ Michael J. Cunningham / Leave a comment

Thursday of the Third Week in Advent

Lectionary: 190

Reading I

Is 54:1-10

    Raise a glad cry, you barren one who did not bear,
        Break forth in jubilant song, you who were not in labor,
    For more numerous are the children of the deserted wife
        than the children of her who has a husband,
        says the Lord.
    Enlarge the space for your tent,
        spread out your tent cloths unsparingly;
        lengthen your ropes and make firm your stakes.
    For you shall spread abroad to the right and to the left;
        your descendants shall dispossess the nations
        and shall people the desolate cities.

    Fear not, you shall not be put to shame;
        you need not blush, for you shall not be disgraced.
    The shame of your youth you shall forget,
        the reproach of your widowhood no longer remember.
    For he who has become your husband is your Maker;
        his name is the Lord of hosts;
    Your redeemer is the Holy One of Israel,
        called God of all the earth.
    The Lord calls you back,
        like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit,
    A wife married in youth and then cast off,
        says your God.
    For a brief moment I abandoned you,
        but with great tenderness I will take you back.
    In an outburst of wrath, for a moment
        I hid my face from you;
    But with enduring love I take pity on you,
        says the Lord, your redeemer.

    This is for me like the days of Noah,
        when I swore that the waters of Noah
        should never again deluge the earth;
    So I have sworn not to be angry with you,
        or to rebuke you.
    Though the mountains leave their place
        and the hills be shaken,
    My love shall never leave you
        nor my covenant of peace be shaken,
        says the Lord, who has mercy on you.

Responsorial Psalm

30:2 and 4, 5-6, 11-12a and 13b

R.    (2a) I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.
I will extol you, O Lord, for you drew me clear
    and did not let my enemies rejoice over me.
O Lord, you brought me up from the nether world;
    you preserved me from among those going down into the pit.
R.    I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.
Sing praise to the Lord, you his faithful ones,
    and give thanks to his holy name.
For his anger lasts but a moment;
    a lifetime, his good will.
At nightfall, weeping enters in,
    but with the dawn, rejoicing.
R.    I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.
“Hear, O Lord, and have pity on me;
    O Lord, be my helper.”
You changed my mourning into dancing;
    O Lord, my God, forever will I give you thanks.
R.    I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me.

Alleluia

Luke 3:4, 6

R.    Alleluia, alleluia.
Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths:
All flesh shall see the salvation of God.
R.    Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel

Lk 7:24-30

When the messengers of John the Baptist had left,
Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John. 
“What did you go out to the desert to see  a reed swayed by the wind? 
Then what did you go out to see? 
Someone dressed in fine garments? 
Those who dress luxuriously and live sumptuously
are found in royal palaces. 
Then what did you go out to see? 
A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 
This is the one about whom Scripture says:

    Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
    he will prepare your way before you.

I tell you,
among those born of women, no one is greater than John;
yet the least in the Kingdom of God is greater than he.”
(All the people who listened, including the tax collectors,
who were baptized with the baptism of John,
acknowledged the righteousness of God;
but the Pharisees and scholars of the law,
who were not baptized by him,
rejected the plan of God for themselves.)