TODAY’S BIBLE READING I (ISAIAH 2:1-5)

First Sunday of Advent (Year A)

The Lord gathers all nations together into the eternal peace of God’s kingdom.

The vision of Isaiah son of Amoz, concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

In the days to come

the mountain of the Temple of the Lord

shall tower above the mountains

and be lifted higher than the hills.

All the nations will stream to it,

peoples without number will come to it, and they will say:

‘Come, let us go to the mountain of the Lord, to the Temple of the God of Jacob that he may teach us his ways so that we may walk in his paths; since the Law will go out from Zion, and the oracle of the Lord from Jerusalem.’

He will wield authority over the nations

and adjucate between many peoples;

these will hammer their swords into ploughshares,

their spears into sickles.

Nation will not lift sword against nation,

there will be no more training for war.

 

O House of Jacob, come,

let us walk in the light of the Lord.

 

V. The word of the Lord. R. Thanks be to God.

 

TODAY’S BIBLE READING I (ISAIAH 25:6-10)

(28. Sunday in Ordinary Time)

THE LORD WILL PREPARE A BANQUET, AND WILL WIPE AWAY TEARS FROM EVERY CHEEK.

And the Lord of hosts shall make unto all people in this mountain, a feast of fat things, a feast of wine, of fat things full of marrow, of wine purified from the lees.

And he shall destroy in this mountain the face of the bond with which all people were tied, and the web that he began over all nations.

He shall cast death down headlong for ever: and the Lord God shall wipe away tears from every face, and the reproach of his people he shall take away from off the whole earth: for the Lord hath spoken it.

And they shall say in that day: Lo, this is our God, we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord, we have patiently waited for him, and we shall rejoice and be joyful in his salvation.

For the hand of the Lord shall rest in this mountain: and Moab shall be trodden down under him, as straw is broken in pieces with the wain.

V. The word of the Lord.
R. Thanks be to God.

 

TODAY’S BIBLE READING I (ISAIAH 5:1-7)

(27. Sunday in Ordinary Time)

THE VINEYARD OF THE LORD OF HOSTS IS THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL.

I will sing to my beloved the canticle of my cousin concerning his vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard on a hill in a fruitful place.

And he fenced it in, and picked the stones out of it, and planted it with the choicest vines, and built a tower in the midst thereof, and set up a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.

And now, O ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and ye men of Juda, judge between me and my vineyard.

What is there that I ought to do more to my vineyard, that I have not done to it? was it that I looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it hath brought forth wild grapes?

And now I will shew you what I will do to my vineyard. I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be wasted: I will break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down.

And I will make it desolate: it shall not be pruned, and it shall not be digged: but briers and thorns shall come up: and I will command the clouds to rain no rain upon it.

For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel: and the man of Juda, his pleasant plant: and I looked that he should do judgment, and behold iniquity: and do justice, and behold a cry.

V. The word of the Lord.
R. Thanks be to God.

 

TODAY’S BIBLE READING I (ISAIAH 55:6-9)

(25th Sunday in Ordinary Time)

MY THOUGHTS ARE NOT YOUR THOUGHTS.

Seek the Lord while he is still to be found,
call to him while he is still near.
Let the wicked man abandon his way,
the evil man his thoughts.
Let him turn back to the Lord who will take pity on him,
to our God who is rich in forgiving;
for my thoughts are not your thoughts,
my ways not your ways – it is the Lord who speaks.
Yes, the heavens are as high above the earth
as my ways are above your ways,
my thoughts above your thoughts.

V. The word of the Lord.
R. Thanks be to God.

 

TODAY’S BIBLE READING I (ISAIAH 22:19-23)

(21. Sunday in Ordinary Time)

I PLACE THE KEY OF THE HOUSE OF DAVID UPON HIS SHOULDER.

And I will drive thee out from thy station, and depose thee from thy ministry.

And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliacim the son of Helcias,

And I will clothe him with thy robe, and will strengthen him with thy girdle, and will give thy power into his hand: and he shall be as a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Juda.

And I will lay the key of the house of David upon his shoulder: and he shall open, and none shall shut: and he shall shut, and none shall open.

And I will fasten him as a peg in a sure place, and he shall be for a throne of glory to the house of his father.

V. The word of the Lord.
R. Thanks be to God.

 

TODAY’S BIBLE READING I (ISAIAH 56:1, 6-7)

(20. Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A)

I WILL BRING FOREIGNERS TO MY HOLY MOUNTAIN.

Thus saith the Lord: Keep ye judgment, and do justice: for my salvation is near to come, and my justice to be revealed.

And the children of the stranger that adhere to the Lord, to worship him, and to love his name, to be his servants: every one that keepeth the sabbath from profaning it, and that holdeth fast my covenant:

I will bring them into my holy mount, and will make them joyful in my house of prayer: their holocausts, and their victims shall please me upon my altar: for my house shall be called the house of prayer, for all nations.

V. The word of the Lord.
R. Thanks be to God.

 

TODAY’S BIBLE READING I (ISAIAH 55:1-3)

COME AND EAT.

Thus says the Lord:
Oh, come to the water all you who are thirsty;
though you have no money, come!
Buy corn without money, and eat,
and, at no cost, wine and milk.
Why spend money on what is not bread,
your wages on what fails to satisfy?
Listen, listen to me and you will have good things to eat
and rich food to enjoy.
Pay attention, come to me;
listen, and your soul will live.
With you I will make an everlasting covenant
out of the favours promised David.

V. The word of the Lord.
R. Thanks be to God.

 

TODAY’S BIBLE READING (ISAIAH 38:1-6, 21-22)

I HAVE HEARD YOUR PRAYER AND SEEN YOUR TEARS.

Hezekiah fell ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came and said to him, “The Lord says this, ‘Put your affairs in order, for you are going to die, you will not live.'” Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and addressed this prayer to the Lord, “Ah, Lord, remember, I beg you, how I have behaved faithfully and with sincerity of heart in your presence and done what is right in your eyes.” And Hezekiah shed many tears.

Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah, “Go and say to Hezekiah, ‘The Lord, the God of David your ancestor, says this: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will cure you: in three days’ time you shall go up to the Temple of the Lord. I will add fifteen years to your life. I will save you from the hands of the king of Assyria, I will protect this city.'”

“Bring a fig poultice,” Isaiah said. “Apply it to the ulcer and he will recover.” Hezekiah said, “What is the sign to tell me that I shall be going up to the Temple of the Lord?” “Here” Isaiah replied “is the sign from the Lord that he will do what he has said. Look, I shall make the shadow cast by the declining sun go back ten steps on the steps of Ahaz.” And the sun went back the ten steps by which it had declined.

V. The word of the Lord.
R. Thanks be to God.

 

TODAY’S BIBLE READING (ISAIAH 26:7-9, 12, 16-19)

AWAKE, EXULT, ALL YOU WHO LIE IN THE DUST.

The path of the upright man is straight,
you smooth the way of the upright.
Following the path of your judgements,
we hoped in you, Lord,
your name, your memory are all my soul desires.

At night my soul longs for you
and my spirit seeks for you;
when your judgements appear on earth
the inhabitants of the world learn the meaning of integrity.

Lord, you are giving us peace,
since you treat us
as our deeds deserve.

Distressed, we search for you, Lord;
the misery of oppression was your punishment for us.
As a woman with child near her time
writhes and cries out in her pangs,

so are we, O Lord, in your presence:
we have conceived, we writhe
as if we were giving birth;
we have not given the spirit of salvation to the earth,
no more inhabitants of the world are born.

Your dead will come to life,
their corpses will rise;
awake, exult,
all you who lie in the dust,
for your dew is a radiant dew
and the land of ghosts will give birth.

V. The word of the Lord.
R. Thanks be to God.

 

TODAY’S BIBLE READING (ISAIAH 7:1-9)

IF YOU DO NOT STAND BY ME, YOU WILL NOT STAND AT ALL.

In the reign of Ahaz son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Razon the king of Afam went up against Jerusalem with Pekah son of Remaliah, king of Israel, to lay siege to it; but he was unable to capture it.

The news was brought to the House of David. “Aram,” they said, “has reached Ephraim.” Then the heart of the king and the hearts of the people shuddered as the trees of the forest shudder in front of the wind. The Lord said to Isaiah, “Go with your son Shear-jashub, and meet Ahaz at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the Fuller’s Field road, and say to him:

‘Pay attention, keep calm, have no fear,
do not let your heart sink
because of these two smouldering stumps of firebrands,
or because Aram, Ephraim and the son of Remaliah
have plotted to ruin you, and have said:
Let us invade Judah and terrorise it
and seize it for ourselves,
and set up a king there,
the son of Tabeel.
The Lord says this:
It shall not come true; it shall not be.
The capital of Aram is Damascus,
the head of Damascus, Razon;
the capital of Ephraim, Samaria,
the head of Samaria, the son of Remaliah.
Six or five years more
and shattered Ephraim shall no longer be a people.
But if you do not stand by me,
you will not stand at all.'”

V. The word of the Lord.
R. Thanks be to God.