Christmas 2014

Please note: since there are several masses for the 25th, I have included all in this article for the convenience of our readers. Have a very blessed and merry Christmas!

Mass at Dawn

Reading

Isaiah   62: 11-12

62:11 Behold, the Lord has caused it to be heard to the ends of the earth. Tell the daughter of Zion: “Behold, your Saviour approaches! Behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.”

62:12 And they will call them: The holy people, the redeemed of the Lord. Then you will be called: A city sought, and not forsaken.

Second Reading

The Letter of Saint Paul to Titus    3: 4-7

3:4	But then the kindness and humanity of God our Savior appeared.
3:5	And he saved us, not by works of justice that we had done, but, in accord with his mercy, by the washing of regeneration and by the renovation of the Holy Spirit,
3:6	whom he has poured out upon us in abundance, through Jesus Christ our Savior,
3:7	so that, having been justified by his grace, we may become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Gospel

The Holy Gospel According to Luke   2: 15-20

2:15	And it happened that, when the Angels had departed from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us cross over to Bethlehem and see this word, which has happened, which the Lord has revealed to us.”
2:16	And they went quickly. And they found Mary and Joseph; and the infant was lying in a manger.
2:17	Then, upon seeing this, they understood the word that had been spoken to them about this boy.
2:18	And all who heard it were amazed by this, and by those things which were told to them by the shepherds.
2:19	But Mary kept all these words, pondering them in her heart.
2:20	And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, just as it was told to them.

Mass During the Day

Reading

The Book of the Prophet Isaiah    52: 7-10

52:7	How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger and the preacher of peace! Announcing good and preaching peace, they are saying to Zion, “Your God will reign!”
52:8	It is the voice of your watchmen. They have lifted up their voice. They will praise together. For they will see eye to eye, when the Lord converts Zion.
52:9	Be glad and rejoice together, O deserts of Jerusalem! For the Lord has consoled his people. He has redeemed Jerusalem.
52:10	The Lord has prepared his holy arm, in the sight of all the Gentiles. And all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God.

Second Reading

The Letter to the Hebrews    1: 1-6

1:1	In many places and in many ways, in past times, God spoke to the fathers through the Prophets;
1:2	lastly, in these days, he has spoken to us through the Son, whom he appointed as the heir of all things, and through whom he made the world.
1:3	And since the Son is the brightness of his glory, and the figure of his substance, and is carrying all things by the Word of his virtue, thereby accomplishing a purging of sins, he sits at the right hand of Majesty on high.
1:4	And having been made so much better than the Angels, he has inherited a name so much greater than theirs.
1:5	For to which of the Angels has he ever said: “You are my Son; today have I begotten you?” Or again: “I will be a Father to him, and he shall be a Son to me?”
1:6	And again, when he brings the only-begotten Son into the world, he says: “And let all the Angels of God adore him.”

Gospel

The Holy Gospel According to John     1: 1-18

1:1	In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word.
1:2	He was with God in the beginning.
1:3	All things were made through Him, and nothing that was made was made without Him.
1:4	Life was in Him, and Life was the light of men.
1:5	And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
1:6	There was a man sent by God, whose name was John.
1:7	He arrived as a witness to offer testimony about the Light, so that all would believe through him.
1:8	He was not the Light, but he was to offer testimony about the Light.
1:9	The true Light, which illuminates every man, was coming into this world.
1:10	He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world did not recognize him.
1:11	He went to his own, and his own did not accept him.
1:12	Yet whoever did accept him, those who believed in his name, he gave them the power to become the sons of God.
1:13	These are born, not of blood, nor of the will of flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
1:14	And the Word became flesh, and he lived among us, and we saw his glory, glory like that of an only-begotten son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
1:15	John offers testimony about him, and he cries out, saying: “This is the one about whom I said: ‘He who is to come after me, has been placed ahead of me, because he existed before me.’ ”
1:16	And from his fullness, we all have received, even grace for grace.
1:17	For the law was given though Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
1:18	No one ever saw God; the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he himself has described him.