December 5, 2019

Reading: Isaiah 26: 1 – 6

26:1In that day, this canticle will be sung in the land of Judah. Within it will be set the city of our strength: Zion, a savior, a wall with a bulwark.
26:2Open the gates, and let the just people who guard the truth enter.
26:3The old error has gone away. You will serve peace: peace, for we have hoped in you.
26:4You have trusted in the Lord for all eternity, in the Lord God almighty forever.
26:5For he will bend down those living in the heights. He will bring low the lofty city. He will lower it, even to the ground. He will tear it down, even to the dust.
26:6The foot will tread it down: the feet of the poor, the steps of the indigent.

Holy Gospel according to Matthew 7: 21, 24 – 27

7:21Not all who say to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the kingdom of heaven. But whoever does the will of my Father, who is in heaven, the same shall enter into the kingdom of heaven.
7:22Many will say to me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and perform many powerful deeds in your name?’
7:23And then will I disclose to them: ‘I have never known you. Depart from me, you workers of iniquity.’
7:24Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and does them shall be compared to a wise man, who built his house upon the rock.
7:25And the rains descended, and the floods rose up, and the winds blew, and rushed upon that house, but it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
7:26And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them shall be like a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand.
7:27And the rains descended, and the floods rose up, and the winds blew, and rushed upon that house, and it did fall, and great was its ruin.”