Latin prayer

Sunday December 23, 2018

Sunday December 23, 2018 Calendar-:   Fourth Sunday of Advent Year C Colour of Vestment:  Purple Saint of the day-:  "SAINT JOHN OF KANTY, Priest". FIRST READING Taken from-:   “From you shall come forth one who is to be ruler in Israel.” A reading from the Book of the Prophet Micah (Micah 5 :2-5a) Thus says the LORD!  You, O Bethlehem  Ephrathah,  who are little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days. Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who has labour pains has brought forth; then the rest of his brethren shall return to the sons of Israel. And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth. And this shall be peace. The word of the Lord. RESPONSORIAL PSALM   Gotten from-:   "

Today's Catholic reading

Book of Deuteronomy 4:1.5-9.

Moses spoke to the people and said: "Now, Israel, hear the statutes and decrees which I am teaching you to observe, that you may live, and may enter in and take possession of the land which the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you.
Therefore, I teach you the statutes and decrees as the LORD, my God, has commanded me, that you may observe them in the land you are entering to occupy.
Observe them carefully, for thus will you give evidence of your wisdom and intelligence to the nations, who will hear of all these statutes and say, 'This great nation is truly a wise and intelligent people.'
For what great nation is there that has gods so close to it as the LORD, our God, is to us whenever we call upon him?
Or what great nation has statutes and decrees that are as just as this whole law which I am setting before you today?"
"However, take care and be earnestly on your guard not to forget the things which your own eyes have seen, nor let them slip from your memory as long as you live, but teach them to your children and to your children's children."

Psalms 147:12-13.15-16.19-20.

Glorify the LORD, O Jerusalem;
praise your God, O Zion.
For he has strengthened the bars of your gates;
he has blessed your children within you.
He sends forth his command to the earth;
swiftly runs his word!
He spreads snow like wool;
frost he strews like ashes.
He has proclaimed his word to Jacob,
his statutes and his ordinances to Israel.
He has not done thus for any other nation;
his ordinances he has not made known to them. Alleluia

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 5:17-19.

Jesus said to his disciples: "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.
Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place.
Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

THE LIVE HISTORY OF TODAY'S SAINT:

Saint Hilary
Christ is the fulfilment of Scripture

“I have not come to abolish, but to fulfil.” The strength and power of these words of the Son of God enclose a profound mystery. For the Law prescribed works, but it directed all those works towards faith in realities that would be made manifest in Christ: for the Savior's teaching and Passion are the great and mysterious design of the Father's will. Under the veil of its inspired words, the Law made known the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, his incarnation, Passion and resurrection. The prophets, no less than the apostles, teach us repeatedly that the mystery of Christ had been prepared from all eternity to be revealed in our own times... Christ did not want us to think that his own works comprised anything other than the Law's demands. That is why he himself insisted: “I have not come to abolish, but to fulfil.” Heaven and earth... will disappear but not the least commandment of the Law, for all the Law and the prophets find their fulfilment in Christ. At the time of his Passion... he declared: “It is finished” (Jn 19:30). And at that very moment every word of the prophets was confirmed. For this reason Christ declares that not even the least of God's commandments can be cancelled without offending God... Nothing can be more insignificant than the smallest. And humblest of all was the Lord's Passion and death on the cross.

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