FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT (YEAR B) – DECEMBER 21, 2014

Saturday, December 20, 2014

Fourth Sunday of Advent – Year B

5:00 pm  Novena to Our Lady

5:30 pm  Sunset Mass in English

First Reading

SECOND SAMUEL 7:1-5, 8-11, 16

1 Once the king had settled into his palace and Yahweh had granted him rest from all the enemies surrounding him,

2 the king said to the prophet Nathan, 'Look, I am living in a cedar-wood palace, while the ark of God is under awnings.'

3 Nathan said to the king, 'Go and do whatever you have in mind, for Yahweh is with you.'

4 But that very night, the word of Yahweh came to Nathan:

5 'Go and tell my servant David, "Yahweh says this: Are you to build me a temple for me to live in?

8 This is what you must say to my servant David, "Yahweh Sabaoth says this: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be leader of my people Israel;

9 I have been with you wherever you went; I have got rid of all your enemies for you. I am going to make your fame as great as the fame of the greatest on earth.

10 I am going to provide a place for my people Israel; I shall plant them there, and there they will live and never be disturbed again; nor will they be oppressed by the wicked any more, as they were in former times

11 ever since the time when I instituted judges to govern my people Israel; and I shall grant you rest from all your enemies. Yahweh furthermore tells you that he will make you a dynasty.

16 Your dynasty and your sovereignty will ever stand firm before me and your throne be for ever secure." '

“The Word of the Lord”

PSALMS  89:2-3, 4-5, 27, 29

2 for you have said: love is built to last for ever, you have fixed your constancy firm in the heavens.

3 'I have made a covenant with my Chosen One, sworn an oath to my servant David:

4 I have made your dynasty firm for ever, built your throne stable age after age.'Pause

5 The heavens praise your wonders, Yahweh, your constancy in the gathering of your faithful.

27 So I shall make him my first-born, the highest of earthly kings.

29 I have established his dynasty for ever, his throne to be as lasting as the heavens.

Second Reading

ROMANS 16:25-27

25 And now to him who can make you strong in accordance with the gospel that I preach and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, in accordance with that mystery which for endless ages was kept secret

26 but now (as the prophets wrote) is revealed, as the eternal God commanded, to be made known to all the nations, so that they obey in faith:

27 to him, the only wise God, give glory through Jesus Christ for ever and ever. Amen.

“The Word of the Lord”

Gospel Reading

Luke 1:26-38

26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth,

27 to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the House of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.

28 He went in and said to her, 'Rejoice, you who enjoy God's favour! The Lord is with you.'

29 She was deeply disturbed by these words and asked herself what this greeting could mean,

30 but the angel said to her, 'Mary, do not be afraid; you have won God's favour.

31 Look! You are to conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus.

32 He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David;

33 he will rule over the House of Jacob for ever and his reign will have no end.'

34 Mary said to the angel, 'But how can this come about, since I have no knowledge of man?'

35 The angel answered, 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God.

36 And I tell you this too: your cousin Elizabeth also, in her old age, has conceived a son, and she whom people called barren is now in her sixth month,

37 for nothing is impossible to God.'

38 Mary said, 'You see before you the Lord's servant, let it happen to me as you have said.' And the angel left her.

“The Gospel of the Lord”