The readings invite a little room for holy waiting. Stay with what Jesus says or does here, and let it ask for one honest response.
Today’s readings
First Reading
Micah 5:1-4a
Now you shall gather yourself in troops, daughter of troops. He has laid siege against us. They will strike the judge of Israel with a rod on the cheek. But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, being small among the clans of Judah, out of you one will come out to me who is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings out are from of old, from ancient times. Therefore he will abandon them until the time that she who is in labor gives birth. Then the rest of his brothers will return to the children of Israel. He shall stand, and shall shepherd in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. They will live, for then he will be great to the ends of the earth.
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 80:2-3, 15-16, 18-19
Before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh, stir up your might! Come to save us! Turn us again, God. Cause your face to shine, and we will be saved. the stock which your right hand planted, the branch that you made strong for yourself. It's burned with fire. It's cut down. They perish at your rebuke. So we will not turn away from you. Revive us, and we will call on your name. Turn us again, LORD God of Armies. Cause your face to shine, and we will be saved.
Second Reading
Hebrews 10:5-10
Therefore when he comes into the world, he says, "You didn't desire sacrifice and offering, but you prepared a body for me. You had no pleasure in whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin. Then I said, 'Behold, I have come (in the scroll of the book it is written of me) to do your will, O God.' " Previously saying, "Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you didn't desire, neither had pleasure in them" (those which are offered according to the law), then he has said, "Behold, I have come to do your will." He takes away the first, that he may establish the second, by which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Gospel
Luke 1:39-45
Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Judah, and entered into the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. She called out with a loud voice and said, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! Why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the voice of your greeting came into my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy! Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of the things which have been spoken to her from the Lord!"
A question for your journal
Where are you being invited to wait with more trust today?
Scripture text: World English Bible Catholic Edition, public domain. Reading citations are prepared for Come Aside from MIT-licensed citation metadata.
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