●

Office of Readings

Wednesday, December 23, 2026 • Saint John of Kanty, Priest

Opening

O God, come to my assistance.

Lord, make haste to help me.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

Invitatory

Ant. Come, let us adore the Lord who is coming to bring salvation to his people.

Come, let us exult in the Lord; let us shout with joy to God our salvation.

Let us come before his face with praise and exult in him with psalms.

For the Lord is a great God and a great king above all gods.

For the Lord does not cast off his people; for in his hand are all the ends of the earth.

And the heights of the mountains belong to him.

For the sea is his, and he made it; and his hands formed the dry land.

Come, let us adore and fall down before God; let us weep before the Lord who made us.

For he is the Lord our God; and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand.

Today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

As in the provocation, according to the day of temptation in the wilderness,

where your fathers tempted me; they tried me and saw my works.

For forty years I was close to this generation, and I said: "They always err in heart."

And these people have not known my ways, so I swore in my wrath that they will not enter into my rest.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

Ant. Come, let us adore the Lord who is coming to bring salvation to his people.

Hymn

The King Shall Come

The King shall come when morning dawns
and light triumphant breaks,
when beauty gilds the eastern hills
and life to joy awakes.

Psalmody

Psalm 52The Folly of Wickedness

Ant. Let justice surge like water, and goodness like an unfailing stream.

The fool has said in his heart: "There is no God." They are corrupt and have become abominable in their iniquities; there is no one who does good.

God has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men, to see if there is anyone who understands or seeks God.

They have all turned aside; they have all become useless together; there is no one who does good, not even one.

Will all those who work iniquity not come to know it? They consume my people like food.

They have not called upon God; they trembled there with fear, where there was no fear.

For God has scattered the bones of those who are pleasing to men; they have been confounded, because God has despised them.

Who will give from Zion the salvation of Israel? When God will have turned back the captivity of his people, Jacob will rejoice, and Israel will be glad.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

Ant. Let justice surge like water, and goodness like an unfailing stream.

Psalm 53Prayer for Help

Ant. Let justice surge like water, and goodness like an unfailing stream.

Save me, O God, by your name, and judge me by your strength.

O God, hear my prayer; give ear to the words of my mouth.

For strangers have risen up against me, and the strong have sought my soul, and they have not set God before their eyes.

For behold, God is my helper, and the Lord is the upholder of my soul.

Turn back the evils upon my enemies and scatter them in your truth.

I will freely sacrifice to you, and I will confess to your name, O Lord, because it is good.

For you have rescued me from all tribulation, and my eye has looked down upon my enemies.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

Ant. Let justice surge like water, and goodness like an unfailing stream.

Psalm 54Betrayal by a Friend

Ant. Let justice surge like water, and goodness like an unfailing stream.

Give ear, O God, to my prayer, and do not despise my supplication.

Be attentive to me and hear me. I was troubled in my exercise, and I was disturbed

at the voice of the enemy and the tribulation of the sinner.

For they have turned iniquities upon me, and in anger they were troublesome to me.

My heart was troubled within me, and the fear of death fell upon me.

Fear and trembling came upon me, and darkness covered me.

And I said: "Who will give me wings like a dove, and I will fly and be at rest?"

"Behold, I have gone far away, fleeing, and I remained in the wilderness."

"I waited for him who saves me from pusillanimity of spirit and from a storm."

Cast down, O Lord, and divide their tongues; for I have seen iniquity and contradiction in the city.

Day and night, iniquity will surround it on its walls; and in its midst are labor and injustice.

And usury and deceit have not departed from its streets.

For if my enemy had reproached me, I would certainly have endured it.

And if he who hated me had spoken great things against me, I would perhaps have hidden myself from him.

But you, a man of one mind, my guide and my familiar,

who together with me took sweet foods; in the house of God we walked with consent.

Let death come upon them, and let them descend alive into hell.

For there are evils in their dwellings, in their midst.

But I have cried out to God, and the Lord will save me.

Evening and morning and at midday I will speak and declare, and he will hear my voice.

He will redeem my soul in peace from those who draw near to me, for among many they were with me.

God will hear and humble them, who is before the ages. For there is no change in them and they have not feared God.

He has extended his hand in retribution. They have defiled his covenant; they were divided by the wrath of his face, and his heart drew near.

His words are smoother than oil, and they are darts.

Cast your care upon the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will not allow the just to waver forever.

But you, O God, will bring them down into the pit of destruction. Men of blood and deceit will not halve their days; but I will trust in you, O Lord.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

Ant. Let justice surge like water, and goodness like an unfailing stream.

First Reading: Scripture

Isaiah 61:1

The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners.

Second Reading: Patristic or Hagiographic

Saint Gregory of Nazianzus

Oration 45, On Pascha

The Humility of the Incarnation

He who gives richly to all, who is not impoverished by giving, who is the source of light, the principle of wisdom, the treasury of grace and the giver of good things; he who is the Word before words, the intellect before intellects, the reason in all reasoning — this same Word, this reason, took flesh and became man, and was called Jesus Christ and was crucified. He endured the contradiction of sinners against himself, and submitted to such dishonor, so that he might save man from dishonor and raise us to his own dignity. He who is pure became impure; he who is without sin became sin; he who is without weakness took on our weakness, in order to save man and make us his own. By his first coming in poverty he proved that he is the lover of humanity; by his promised second coming in glory he will prove that he is the judge of all. Let us then prepare ourselves for both his comings, reverencing the one which has already taken place and longing with holy desire for the one which is still to come.

Responsory

V. Come, Lord Jesus, do not delay.

R. Come, Lord Jesus, do not delay.

V. Give new courage to your people,

R. who trust in your word.

Concluding Prayer

Father, the church has passed down the faith through the writings of the saints. May their words enlighten our Advent pilgrimage; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Dismissal

Let us praise the Lord.
And give him thanks.