Readings: HOLY INNOCENTS, Feast

First Reading: 1 Jn 1:5 —2:2

Beloved:
This is the message that we have heard from Jesus Christ and
proclaim to you: God is light, and in him there is no darkness
at all. If we say, “We have fellowship with him,” while we
continue to walk in darkness, we lie and do not act in truth.
But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, then we have
fellowship with one another, and the Blood of his Son Jesus
cleanses us from all sin. If we say, “We are without sin,” we
deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we acknowledge
our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and
cleanse us from every wrongdoing. If we say, “We have not
sinned,” we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
My children, I am writing this to you so that you may not
commit sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one. He is expiation
for our sins, and not for our sins only but for those of the
whole world.

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 84:2-3, 5-6, 9-10

R. Our soul has been rescued like a bird
     from the fowler’s snare.

Had not the LORD been with us—
When men rose up against us,
then would they have swallowed us alive,
When their fury was inflamed against us.
     from the fowler’s snare.

Then would the waters have overwhelmed us;
The torrent would have swept over us;
over us then would have swept the raging waters.
R. Our soul has been rescued like a bird
     from the fowler’s snare.

Broken was the snare,
and we were freed.
Our help is in the name of the LORD,
who made heaven and earth.
R. Our soul has been rescued like a bird
     from the fowler’s snare.

Gospel Reading: Matthew 2:13-18

After the wise men had left, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you for Herod will soon be looking for the child in order to kill him."

Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and left that night for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. In this way, what the Lord had said through the prophet was fulfilled: I called my son out of Egypt.

When Herod found out that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was furious. He gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its neighborhood who were two years old or under. This was done in line with what he had learned from the wise men about the time when the star appeared.

In this way, what the prophet Jeremiah had said was fulfilled: A cry is heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation: Rachel weeps for her children. She refuses to be comforted, for they are no more.