La Vierge L'Enfant Jesus et Saint Jean Baptiste by William BouguereauFOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT
There is urgency in
the readings and prayers of today. We ask the Father to "drop" and to
"rain" the Savior upon us, the human race, in order that we may
"speedily" be delivered. "Come and tarry not!" is our cry. "Prepare the
way of the Lord" for an immediate coming is the Gospel thought. And Mary
we hail as the mediatrix of our pressing desire. Great indeed is our
need for grace.
But the Savior we
seek to possess and love is also our Judge. Not men but God alone can
judge our preparedness for grace and for eternity. And God judges us by
our love for our neighbors and our impartial zeal for their welfare.
ENTRANCE ANTIPHON Isa. 45:8
Drop down dew, you heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the just one. Let the earth be opened and bud forth a savior.
Ps. 18:2. The heavens show forth the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims His handiwork.
V. Glory be . . .
COLLECT
O Lord, show yourself an all-powerful
God and come to us. Aid us with Your powerful assistance so that,
through Your grace and merciful forgiveness, we may attain salvation,
which now is hindered by our sins; who lives and rules with God the
Father . . .
EPISTLE I Cor. 4:1-5
Brethren: Let a man so account of us as
of the ministers of Christ and the dispensers of the mysteries of God.
Here now it is required among the dispensers that a man be found
faithful. But to me it is a very small thing to be judged by you or by
man's day. But neither do I judge my own self. For I am not conscious to
myself of anything. Yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth
me is the Lord. Therefore, judge not before the time: until the Lord
come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and
will make manifest the counsels of the hearts. And then shall every man
have praise from God.
GRADUAL Ps. 144:18, 21
The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth.
V. My lips shall speak the praise of the Lord; let all men bless His holy name.
Alleluia, alleluia! V.
Come, O Lord; do not delay. Forgive the sins of Israel, Your people.
Alleluia!
GOSPEL Luke 3:1-6
Now in the fifteenth year of the reign
of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod
being tetrarch of Galilee, and Philip his brother tetrarch of Iturea and
the country of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilina: Under the
high priests Anna and Caiphas: the word of the Lord was made unto John,
the son of Zachary, in the desert. And he came into all the country
about the Jordan, preaching the baptism of penance for the remission of
sins. As it was written in the book of the sayings of Isaias the
prophet: "A voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare ye the way of
the Lord, make straight his paths. Every valley shall be filled and
every mountain and hill shall be brought low: and the crooked shall be
made straight, and the rough ways plain. And all flesh shall see the
salvation of God.
CREED
OFFERTORY ANTIPHON Luke 1:28, 42
Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.
SECRET
Look with favor upon these offerings, O
Lord, that they may be an aid to our devotion and to our salvation.
Through Our Lord . . .
COMMUNION ANTIPHON Isa. 7:14
Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and shall bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel.
POSTCOMMUNION
O Lord, may we, who have received Your
Gifts, be brought closer to our salvation by each performance of this
Sacred Rite. Through Our Lord . . .
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