Today, 4th of December, we celebrate
Saint John Damascene
First Reading: Rev 7:2-4, 9-14
I, John, saw another angel come up from the East,
holding the seal of the living God.
He cried out in a loud voice to the four angels
who were given power to damage the land and the sea,
"Do not damage the land or the sea or the trees
until we put the seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God."
I heard the number of those who had been marked with the seal,
one hundred and forty-four thousand marked
from every tribe of the children of Israel.
After this I had a vision of a great multitude, which no one could count,
from every nation, race, people, and tongue.
They stood before the throne and before the Lamb,
wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands.
They cried out in a loud voice:
"Salvation comes from our God, who is seated on the throne, and from the Lamb."
All the angels stood around the throne
and around the elders and the four living creatures.
They prostrated themselves before the throne,
worshiped God, and exclaimed:
"Amen. Blessing and glory, wisdom and thanksgiving, honor, power, and might
be to our God forever and ever. Amen."
Then one of the elders spoke up and said to me,
"Who are these wearing white robes, and where did they come from?"
I said to him, "My lord, you are the one who knows." He said to me,
"These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress;
they have washed their robes
and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb."
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 24:1-2,3-4,5-6
R./ Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.
The LORD's are the earth and its fullness;
the world and those who dwell in it.
For he founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the rivers.
R./ Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.
Who can ascend the mountain of the LORD?
or who may stand in his holy place?
One whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean,
who desires not what is vain.
R./ Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.
He shall receive a blessing from the LORD,
a reward from God his savior.
Such is the race that seeks him,
that seeks the face of the God of Jacob.
R./ Lord, this is the people that longs to see your face.
Second Reading: 1 Jn 3:1-3
Beloved:
See what love the Father has bestowed on us
that we may be called the children of God.
Yet so we are.
The reason the world does not know us
is that it did not know him.
Beloved, we are God's children now;
what we shall be has not yet been revealed.
We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like him,
for we shall see him as he is.
Everyone who has this hope based on him makes himself pure,
as he is pure.
Gospel The Beatitudes: Mt 5:1-12a
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain. He sat down and his disciples gathered around him. Then he spoke and began to teach them:
"Fortunate are those who have the spirit of the poor,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
"Fortunate are those who mourn, they shall be comforted.
"Fortunate are the gentle, they shall possess the land.
"Fortunate are those who hunger and thirst for justice,
for they shall be satisfied.
"Fortunate are the merciful, for they shall find mercy.
"Fortunate are those with a pure heart, for they shall see God.
"Fortunate are those who work for peace,
they shall be called children of God.
"Fortunate are those who are persecuted for the cause of justice,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
"Fortunate are you, when people insult you
and persecute you and speak all kinds of evil against you
because you are my followers.
Be glad and joyful, for a great reward is kept for you in God.
This is how this people persecuted the prophets
who lived before you."