A reading from the Book of Revelation 11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10ab
God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant could be seen in the temple.
God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant could be seen in the temple.
I am the Lord, your God,/ who grasp your right hand;/ It is I who say to you, “Fear not,/ I will help you.”/ Fear not, O worm Jacob,/ O maggot Israel;/ I will help you, says the Lord;/ your redeemer is the Holy One of Israel./ I will make of you a threshing sledge,/ sharp, new, and double-edged,/ To thresh the mountains and crush them,/ to make the hills like chaff./ When you winnow them, the wind shall carry them off/ and the storm shall scatter them./ But you shall rejoice in the Lord,/ and glory in the Holy One of Israel.
Jesus said to the crowds: “Amen, I say to you, among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the Kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
Jesus said to the crowds: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.
To whom can you liken me as an equal?/ says the Holy One./ Lift up your eyes on high/ and see who has created these things:/ He leads out their army and numbers them,/ calling them all by name./ By his great might and the strength of his power/ not one of them is missing!/ Why, O Jacob, do you say,/ and declare, O Israel,/ “My way is hidden from the Lord,/ and my right is disregarded by my God”?
Jesus said to his disciples: “What is your opinion?
Comfort, give comfort to my people,/ says your God./ Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her/ that her service is at an end,/ her guilt is expiated;/ Indeed, she has received from the hand of the Lord/ double for all her sins.
After the man, Adam, had eaten of the tree, the Lord God called to the man and asked him, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden; but I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid myself.” Then he asked, “Who told you that you were naked?
Brothers and sisters: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens, as he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before him.
The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary.