Wednesday, December 21, 2011 (Advent Weekday)

REFLECTION FOR TODAY
No matter how good food is, if poison is mixed with it, it may cause the death of him who eats it. So it is with conversation. A single bad word, an evil action, an unbecoming joke, is often enough to harm one or more young listeners, and may later cause them to lose God's grace.
-- St John Bosco


READINGS FOR TODAY
First Reading: Song of Solomon 2:8-14 or Zephaniah 3:14-18
Song of Solomon 2:8-14
8 The voice of my beloved! Behold, he comes, leaping upon the mountains, bounding over the hills.
9 My beloved is like a gazelle, or a young stag. Behold, there he stands behind our wall, gazing in at the windows, looking through the lattice.
10 My beloved speaks and says to me: "Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away;

11 for lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone.
12 The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.
13 The fig tree puts forth its figs, and the vines are in blossom; they give forth fragrance. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.
14 O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the covert of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet, and your face is comely.
OR
Zephaniah 3:14-18
14 Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem!
15 The LORD has taken away the judgments against you, he has cast out your enemies. The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst; you shall fear evil no more.
16 On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: "Do not fear, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak.
17 The LORD, your God, is in your midst, a warrior who gives victory; he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love; he will exult over you with loud singing
18 as on a day of festival. "I will remove disaster from you, so that you will not bear reproach for it.
Psalms: Psalm 33:2-3, 11-12, 20-21
2 Give thanks to the Lord with harps, sing to him with stringed instruments.
3 Sing a new song to him, play the harp with skill, and shout for joy!
11 But his plans endure forever; his purposes last eternally.
12 Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord; happy are the people he has chosen for his own!
20 We put our hope in the Lord; he is our protector and our help.
21 We are glad because of him; we trust in his holy name.
Gospel: Luke 1:39-45
(Mary Visits Elizabeth)
39 Soon afterward Mary got ready and hurried off to a town in the hill country of Judea.
40 She went into Zechariah's house and greeted Elizabeth.
41 When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby moved within her. Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit
42 and said in a loud voice, “You are the most blessed of all women, and blessed is the child you will bear!
43 Why should this great thing happen to me, that my Lord's mother comes to visit me?
44 For as soon as I heard your greeting, the baby within me jumped with gladness.
45 How happy you are to believe that the Lord's message to you will come true!”