December 13, 2018

The Book of the Prophet Isaiah    41: 13-20

41:13 For I am the Lord your God. I take you by your hand, and I say to you: Do not be afraid. I have helped you.
41:14 Fear not, O worm of Jacob, you who are dead within Israel. I have helped you, says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
41:15 I have established you like a new threshing cart, having serrated blades. You will thresh the mountains and crush them. And you will turn the hills into chaff.
41:16 You will winnow them, and the wind will blow them away, and the whirlwind will scatter them. And you shall exult in the Lord; you shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
41:17 The indigent and the poor are seeking water, but there is none. Their tongue has been dried up by thirst. I, the Lord, will heed them. I, the God of Israel, will not abandon them.
41:18 I will open rivers in the high hills, and fountains in the midst of the plains. I will turn the desert into pools of water, and the impassable land into streams of water.
41:19 I will plant the cedar in a deserted place, with the thorn, and the myrtle, and the olive tree. In the desert, I will plant the pine, and the elm, and the box tree together,
41:20 so that they may see and know, acknowledge and understand, together, that the hand of the Lord has accomplished this, and that the Holy One of Israel has created it.

Gospel

The Holy Gospel According to Matthew   11: 11-15

11:11 Amen I say to you, among those born of women, there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
11:12 But from the days of John the Baptist, even until now, the kingdom of heaven has endured violence, and the violent carry it away.
11:13 For all the prophets and the law prophesied, even until John.
11:14 And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah, who is to come.
11:15 Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.