December
10, 2015
Thursday
of the Second Week of Advent
Saint
of the Day: Saint Eulalia, Virgin and Martyr (304)
Reading 1
13I
am the LORD, your God, who
grasp your right hand; It
is I who say to you, Fear not, I
will help you.” 14Fear
not, O worm Jacob, O
maggot Israel; I
will help you, says the LORD; your
redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.[1]
15I
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. 16When
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.
17The
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.
18I
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.
19I
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, 20that
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.
Responsorial Psalm
R.
(8) The Lord is gracious and merciful; slow to anger, and of great kindness.
1I
will extol you, O my God and King, and
I will bless your name forever and ever.
9The
LORD is good to all and
compassionate toward all His works.
R.
The Lord is gracious and merciful; slow to anger, and of great kindness.
10Let
all your works give you thanks, O LORD, and
let your faithful ones bless you.
11Let
them discourse of the glory of your Kingdom and
speak of your might.
R.
The Lord is gracious and merciful; slow to anger, and of great kindness.
12Let
them make known to men your might and
the glorious splendor of your Kingdom. 13aYour
Kingdom is a Kingdom for all ages, 13band
your dominion endures through all generations.
R.
The Lord is gracious and merciful; slow to anger, and of great kindness.
Alleluia
see Isaiah 45:8
R.
Alleluia, alleluia.
Let
the clouds rain down the Just One, and the earth bring forth a Savior.
R.
Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
11Jesus
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.[2]
12From
the days of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of heaven suffers violence,
and the violent are taking it by force.[3] 13All
the prophets and the law prophesied up to the time of John.[4] 14And
if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah, the one who is to come. 15Whoever
has ears ought to hear.”
Notes on Readings:
[1] Isaiah
41:14 - Redeemer: in Hebrew, goel, one who frees another from slavery and
avenges his sufferings; compare with
Leviticus 25:48; Deuteronomy 19:6, 12.
[2] Matthew
11:11 - John's preeminent greatness lies in his function of announcing the
imminence of the kingdom (Matthew 3:1). But to be in the kingdom is so great a privilege that the least who has it is
greater than the Baptist.
[3] Matthew
11:12 - The meaning of this difficult saying is probably that the opponents of
Jesus are trying to prevent people from accepting the kingdom and to snatch it
away from those who have received it.
[4] Matthew
11:13 - All the prophets and the law: Matthew inverts the usual order,
"law and prophets," and says that both have prophesied. This emphasis
on the prophetic character of the law points to its fulfillment in the teaching
of Jesus and to the transitory nature of some of its commandments (see the footnote on Matthew 5:17-20).
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Dear Humanity,
I personally encourage everyone to emulate JESUS' values on LOVE, FAITH, HOPE
and CHARITY, as the humanity has been a failure; which resulted to the more than two (2) years of pandemic and its after-effects on economy, not only here in the Philippines but worldwide.
And the saddest part of it, is that, it affected the POOREST of the POOR to even extremely be more poorer, in exchange of the affluent to be more richer.
Thank you and may GOD bless you and the whole family to have an enjoyed life's journey at home, Church, schools/universities, corporate commitments, public and places of interest.