Readings: Friday 2nd Week of Advent

First Reading

First Reading: Isaiah 48:17-19

If only you would hearken to my commandments.

Thus says the Lord, your redeemer,
          the Holy One of Israel:
I, the Lord, your God,
          teach you what is for your good,
          and lead you on the way you should go.
If you would hearken to my commandments,
          your prosperity would be like a river,
          and your vindication like the waves of the sea;
Your descendants would be like the sand,
          and those born of your stock like its grains,
Their name never cut off
          or blotted out from my presence. 

Responsorial Psalm

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 1:1-2, 3, 4 and 6

R./ Those who follow you, Lord, will have the light of life.

Blessed the man who follows not
          the counsel of the wicked
Nor walks in the way of sinners,
          nor sits in the company of the insolent,
But delights in the law of the Lord
          and meditates on his law day and night.
R./ Those who follow you, Lord, will have the light of life.

He is like a tree
          planted near running water,
That yields its fruit in due season,
          and whose leaves never fade.
          Whatever he does, prospers.
R./ Those who follow you, Lord, will have the light of life.

Not so the wicked, not so;
          they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
For the Lord watches over the way of the just,
          but the way of the wicked vanishes.
R./ Those who follow you, Lord, will have the light of life.

Holy Gospel

Gospel Reading: Matthew  11:16-19

They listened to neither John nor to the Son of Man.

Jesus said to the crowds:
“To what shall I compare this generation?  
It is like children who sit in marketplaces and call to one another,
          ‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance,
          we sang a dirge but you did not mourn.’  
For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they said,
          ‘He is possessed by a demon.’  
The Son of Man came eating and drinking and they said,
          ‘Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard,
          a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’  
But wisdom is vindicated by her works.”