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Reading I 1 Sm 1:24-28

In those days,
Hannah brought Samuel 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,

 » Read more about: Wednesday of the Fourth Week of Advent  »

Reading I Sg 2:8-14

    Hark! my lover–here he comes
        springing across the mountains,
        leaping across the hills.
    My lover is like a gazelle
        or a young stag.
    Here he stands behind our wall,
        gazing through the windows,
        peering through the lattices.
    My lover speaks; he says to me,
        “Arise, my beloved, my dove, my beautiful one,
        and come!
    “For see, the winter is past,

Reading I Is 7:10-14

The LORD spoke to Ahaz:
Ask for a sign from the Lord, your God;
    let it be deep as the nether world, or high as the sky!
But Ahaz answered,
    “I will not ask! I will not tempt the LORD!” 
Then Isaiah said:
    Listen, O house of David! 
Is it not enough for you to weary men,
    must you also weary my God? 

Reading I Mi 5:1-4a

    Thus says the LORD:
    You, Bethlehem-Ephrathah
        too small to be among the clans of Judah,
    from you shall come forth for me
        one who is to be ruler in Israel;
    whose origin is from of old,
        from ancient times.
    Therefore the Lord will give them up, until the time
        when she who is to give birth has borne,
    and the rest of his kindred shall return
        to the children of Israel.

Reading I Jer 23:5-8

    Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD,
        when I will raise up a righteous shoot to David;
    As king he shall reign and govern wisely,
        he shall do what is just and right in the land.
    In his days Judah shall be saved,
        Israel shall dwell in security.
    This is the name they give him:
        “The LORD our justice.”

Therefore,

Reading I Gn 49:2, 8-10

Jacob called his sons and said to them:
    “Assemble and listen, sons of Jacob,
        listen to Israel, your father.

    “You, Judah, shall your brothers praise
        –your hand on the neck of your enemies;
        the sons of your father shall bow down to you.
    Judah, like a lion’s whelp,
        you have grown up on prey, my son.
    He crouches like a lion recumbent,

Reading I Is 54:1-10

    Raise a glad cry, you barren one who did not bear,
        Break forth in jubilant song, you who were not in labor,
    For more numerous are the children of the deserted wife
        than the children of her who has a husband,
        says the LORD.
    Enlarge the space for your tent,
        spread out your tent cloths unsparingly;
        lengthen your ropes and make firm your stakes.

Reading I Is 45:6c-8, 18, 21c-25

I am the LORD, there is no other;
    I form the light, and create the darkness,
I make well-being and create woe;
    I, the LORD, do all these things.
Let justice descend, O heavens, like dew from above,
    like gentle rain let the skies drop it down.
Let the earth open and salvation bud forth;
    let justice also spring up!

Readings for the Memorial of Saint John of the Cross, priest and doctor of the Church

Reading I Zep 3:1-2, 9-13

Thus says the LORD:
Woe to the city, rebellious and polluted,
    to the tyrannical city!
She hears no voice,
    accepts no correction;
In the LORD she has not trusted,
    to her God she has not drawn near.

For then I will change and purify
    the lips of the peoples,

Readings for the Memorial of Saint Lucy, virgin and martyr

Reading I Nm 24:2-7, 15-17a

When Balaam raised his eyes and saw Israel encamped, tribe by tribe,
    the spirit of God came upon him,
    and he gave voice to his oracle:

    The utterance of Balaam, son of Beor,
        the utterance of a man whose eye is true,
    The utterance of one who hears what God says,