Give to the LORD, you families of nations, give to the LORD glory and praise;
give to the LORD the glory due his name! Bring gifts and enter His courts.
Worship the LORD in holy attire. Tremble before him, all the earth; Say among the nations: The LORD is king. He has made the world firm, not to be moved; he governs the peoples with equity.
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team
I am writing to you, children, because your sins have been forgiven for his name’s sake.
I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have conquered the evil one.
I write to you, children, because you know the Father. I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young men, because you are strong and the word of God remains in you, and you have conquered the evil one.
Do not love the world or the things of the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world, sensual lust, enticement for the eyes, and a pretentious life, is not from the Father but is from the world.
Yet the world and its enticement are passing away. But whoever does the will of God remains forever.
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team
Simeon knew there was no one who could take us out of the prison house of our bodies in hope of the life to come except he whom he held in his arms. And so he said to him: “Now, Lord, let your servant depart in peace, for while I was not carrying Christ and embracing him in my arms I was held like a prisoner, unable to free myself from my bonds.” And it should be noted that this doesn’t only apply to Simeon but to everyone. If anyone wants to abandon the world and gain the Kingdom, let them take Jesus in their hands, wrap their arms around him, hug him to their bosom. Then they will be able to walk joyously wherever they wish… “All those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God” (Rom 8,14). It was the Holy Spirit, then, who led Simeon into the Temple. So if you, too, want to hold Jesus, wrap your arms around him and become worthy of leaving your prison, strive to let yourself be led by the Spirit into the temple of God. Now see how, even now, you are in the temple of our Lord Jesus, namely his Church: his temple built of living stones (1Pt 2,5)… So if you enter the Temple impelled by the Spirit, you will find the Child Jesus, will take him into your arms and will say: “Now, Lord, let your servant depart in peace”. This deliverance, this departure take place in peace… Who are they who die in peace if not those who possess the peace of God that surpasses all knowledge and keeps the hearts of those who to whom it belongs? (Phil 4,7). And who are they who leave this world in peace if not those who understand that God was in Christ reconciling the world?
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team
When the days were completed for their purification according to the law of Moses, Mary and Joseph took Jesus up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord,
just as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every male that opens the womb shall be consecrated to the Lord,”
and to offer the sacrifice of “a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons,” in accordance with the dictate in the law of the Lord.
Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. This man was righteous and devout, awaiting the consolation of Israel, and the holy Spirit was upon him.
It had been revealed to him by the holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Messiah of the Lord.
He came in the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to perform the custom of the law in regard to him,
he took him into his arms and blessed God, saying:
Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace, according to your word,
for my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you prepared in sight of all the peoples,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel.”
The child’s father and mother were amazed at what was said about him;
and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted
(and you yourself a sword will pierce) so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team
Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all you lands.
Sing to the LORD; bless his name. Announce his salvation, day after day.
Tell his glory among the nations; among all peoples, his wondrous deeds. The LORD made the heavens.
Splendor and majesty go before him; Praise and grandeur are in his sanctuary.
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team
Beloved: The way we may be sure that we know him is to keep his commandments.
Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
But whoever keeps his word, the love of God is truly perfected in him. This is the way we may know that we are in union with him:
whoever claims to abide in him ought to live (just) as he lived.
Beloved, I am writing no new commandment to you but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard.
And yet I do write a new commandment to you, which holds true in him and among you, for the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining.
Whoever says he is in the light, yet hates his brother, is still in the darkness.
Whoever loves his brother remains in the light, and there is nothing in him to cause a fall.
Whoever hates his brother is in darkness; he walks in darkness and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team
Herod, the traitor king, having been deceived by the magi, sent his henchmen to Bethlehem and the surrounding countryside to kill the children of two years old and under… But you have gained nothing by it, you cruel and arrogant barbarian! You can make martyrs but you cannot find Christ. This unhappy tyrant thought that the Lord our Savior’s coming would topple him from his royal throne. But it was not so. Christ did not come to take over another’s glory but to make a gift to us of his own. He did not come to take hold of an earthly kingdom but to bestow the Kingdom of heaven. He did not come to steal honors but to endure injuries and abuse. He did not come to prepare his sacred head for a jewelled diadem but for a crown of thorns. He did not come to take his seat gloriously above sceptres but to be mocked and crucified. At the Lord’s birth “Herod was troubled and all Jerusalem with him” (Mt 2,3). What is there to wonder at if impiousness is disturbed by the birth of goodness? Here is an armed man afraid of him who is laid in a manger; a proud king trembles before the lowly one; he who is clothed in purple fears the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes… He pretended he wanted to worship him whom he sought to have killed (Mt 2,8). But Truth is not afraid of the traps of the liar… Treachery cannot discover Christ, since not by cruelty but by faith is God to be sought, who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team
When the Magi had departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him.”
Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed for Egypt.
He stayed there until the death of Herod, that what the Lord had said through the prophet might be fulfilled, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
When Herod realized that he had been deceived by the magi, he became furious. He ordered the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had ascertained from the magi.
Then was fulfilled what had been said through Jeremiah the prophet:
A voice was heard in Ramah, sobbing and loud lamentation; Rachel weeping for her children, and she would not be consoled, since they were no more.
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team
Had not the LORD been with us? When men rose up against us,
then would they have swallowed us alive, When their fury was inflamed against us. Then would the waters have overwhelmed us; The torrent would have swept over us;
over us then would have swept the raging waters. Broken was the snare,
And we were freed.
Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team
Beloved: This is the message that we have heard from him and proclaim to you: God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all.
If we say, “We have fellowship with him,” while we continue to walk in darkness, we lie and do not act in truth.
But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, then we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of his Son Jesus cleanses us from all sin.
If we say, “We are without sin,” we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
If we acknowledge our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from every wrongdoing.
If we say, “We have not sinned,” we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
My children, I am writing this to you so that you may not commit sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one.
He is expiation for our sins, and not for our sins only but for those of the whole world.
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team
