First Reading

The first Book of Samuel (1 Sm 1: 20-22, 24-28)

As long as he lives, Samuel is on loan to the Lord.

In those days Hannah conceived, and at the end of her term bore a son
whom she called Samuel, since she had asked the LORD for him.
The next time her husband Elkanah was going up
with the rest of his household
to offer the customary sacrifice to the LORD and to fulfill his vows,
Hannah did not go, explaining to her husband,

“Once the child is weaned,
I will take him to appear before the LORD
and to remain there forever;
I will offer him as a perpetual nazirite.”

Once Samuel was weaned, Hannah brought him up with her,
along with a three-year-old bull,
an ephah of flour, and a skin of wine,
and presented him at the temple of the LORD in Shiloh.
After the boy’s father had sacrificed the young bull,
Hannah, his mother, approached Eli and said:

“Pardon, my lord!
As you live, my lord,
I am the woman who stood near you here, praying to the LORD.
I prayed for this child, and the LORD granted my request.
Now I, in turn, give him to the LORD;
as long as he lives, he shall be dedicated to the LORD.”

Hannah left Samuel there.

— The word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm

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

Blessed are they who dwell in your house, O Lord.

How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts!
My soul yearns and pines for the courts of the LORD.
My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.

Happy they who dwell in your house!
Continually they praise you.
Happy the men whose strength you are!
Their hearts are set upon the pilgrimage.

O LORD of hosts, hear our prayer;
hearken, O God of Jacob!
O God, behold our shield,
and look upon the face of your anointed.

Second Reading

The First Letter of Saint John (1 Jn 3: 1-2, 21-24)

We may be called children of God. And so we are.

Beloved:
See what love the Father has bestowed on us
that we may be called the children of God.
And 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.

Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us,
we have confidence in God and receive from him whatever we ask,
because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.
And his commandment is this:
we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ,
and love one another just as he commanded us.
Those who keep his commandments remain in him, and he in them,
and the way we know that he remains in us
is from the Spirit he gave us.

— The word of the Lord.

Gospel

Alleluia, alleluia.

Open our hearts, O Lord, to listen to the words of your Son.

Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke (Lk 2: 41-52)

Jesus’ parents found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers.

Each year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the feast
of Passover,
and when he was twelve years old,
they went up according to festival custom.
After they had completed its days, as they were returning,
the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem,
but his parents did not know it.
Thinking that he was in the caravan,
they journeyed for a day
and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances,
but not finding him,
they returned to Jerusalem to look for him.
After three days they found him in the temple,
sitting in the midst of the teachers,
listening to them and asking them questions,
and all who heard him were astounded
at his understanding and his answers.
When his parents saw him,
they were astonished,
and his mother said to him,

“Son, why have you done this to us?
Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.”

And he said to them,

“Why were you looking for me?
Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”

But they did not understand what he said to them.
He went down with them and came to Nazareth,
and was obedient to them;
and his mother kept all these things in her heart.
And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favor
before God and man.

— The Gospel of the Lord.

First Reading

First Letter of Saint John (1 Jn 1: 5 — 2: 2)

The blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin.

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.

— The word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 124: 2-3, 4-5, 7cd-8

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.

Then would the waters have overwhelmed us;
The torrent would have swept over us;
over us then would have swept the raging waters.

Broken was the snare,
and we were freed.
Our help is in the name of the LORD,
who made heaven and earth.

Gospel

Alleluia. Alleluia.

We praise you, O God, we acclaim you as Lord; the white-robed army of martyrs praise you.

Alleluia.

Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew (Mt 2: 13-18)

Herod killed all the male children un Bethlehem.

When the magi had departed, behold,
the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said,

“Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt,
and stay there until I tell you.
Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him.”

Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night
and departed for Egypt.
He stayed there until the death of Herod,
that what the Lord had said through the prophet might be fulfilled,

Out of Egypt I called my son.

When Herod realized that he had been deceived by the magi,
he became furious.
He ordered the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity
two years old and under,
in accordance with the time he had ascertained from the magi.
Then was fulfilled what had been said through Jeremiah the prophet:

A voice was heard in Ramah,
sobbing and loud lamentation;
Rachel weeping for her children,
and she would not be consoled,
since they were no more.

— The Gospel of the Lord.