Third Sunday of Advent

First Reading

Isaiah 61:1-2a, 10-11

1The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for the Lord has anointed me. He has sent me to bring good news to the meek, so as to heal the contrite of heart, to preach leniency to captives and release to the confined, 2and so to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vindication of our God: to console all who are mourning, 3to take up the mourners of Zion and to give them a crown in place of ashes, an oil of joy in place of mourning, a cloak of praise in place of a spirit of grief. And there, they shall be called the strong ones of justice, the planting of the Lord, unto glorification. 4And they will rebuild the deserted places of past ages, and they will raise up the ruins of antiquity, and they will repair the desolate cities, which had been dissipated for generation after generation. 5And foreigners will stand up and will pasture your flocks. And the sons of sojourners will be your farmers and the workers of your vineyards. 6But you yourselves will be called the priests of the Lord. It will be said to you, “You are the ministers of our God.” You will eat from the strength of the Gentiles, and you will pride yourself on their glory. 7Instead of your double confusion and shame, they will praise their portion. Because of this, they will possess double in their land. Everlasting joy will be for them. 8For I am the Lord, who loves judgment and who holds hatred for robbery within a burnt offering. And I will turn their work into truth, and I will forge a perpetual covenant with them. 9And they will know their offspring among the nations, and their progeny in the midst of the peoples. All who see them will recognize them: that these are the offspring whom the Lord has blessed. 10I will rejoice greatly in the Lord, and my soul will exult in my God. For he has clothed me with the vestments of salvation, and he has wrapped me in the clothing of justice, like a groom arrayed with a crown, and like a bride adorned with her jewels. 11For as the earth brings forth its seedlings and the garden produces its seeds, so will the Lord God bring forth justice and praise in the sight of all the nations.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 1

46And Mary said: “My soul magnifies the Lord. 47And my spirit leaps for joy in God my Savior. 48For he has looked with favor on the humility of his handmaid. For behold, from this time, all generations shall call me blessed. 49For he who is great has done great things for me, and holy is his name. 50And his mercy is from generation to generations for those who fear him. 51He has accomplished powerful deeds with his arm. He has scattered the arrogant in the intentions of their heart. 52He has deposed the powerful from their seat, and he has exalted the humble. 53He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. 54He has taken up his servant Israel, mindful of his mercy,

Second Reading

1 Thessalonians 5:16-24

16Rejoice always. 17Pray without ceasing. 18Give thanks in everything. For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for all of you. 19Do not choose to extinguish the Spirit. 20Do not spurn prophecies. 21But test all things. Hold on to whatever is good. 22Abstain from every kind of evil. 23And may the God of peace himself sanctify you through all things, so that your whole spirit and soul and body may be preserved without blame unto the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24He who has called you is faithful. He shall act even now.

Gospel Acclamation

Alleluia — Isaiah 61:1 (cited in Luke 4:18)

Gospel

John 1:6-8, 19-28

6There was a man sent by God, whose name was John. 7He arrived as a witness to offer testimony about the Light, so that all would believe through him. 8He was not the Light, but he was to offer testimony about the Light. 9The true Light, which illuminates every man, was coming into this world. 10He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world did not recognize him. 11He went to his own, and his own did not accept him. 12Yet whoever did accept him, those who believed in his name, he gave them the power to become the sons of God. 13These are born, not of blood, nor of the will of flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 14And the Word became flesh, and he lived among us, and we saw his glory, glory like that of an only-begotten Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15John offers testimony about him, and he cries out, saying: “This is the one about whom I said: ‘He who is to come after me, has been placed ahead of me, because he existed before me.’” 16And from his fullness, we all have received, even grace for grace. 17For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18No one ever saw God; the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he himself has described him. 19And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to him, so that they might ask him, “Who are you?” 20And he confessed it and did not deny it; and what he confessed was: “I am not the Christ.” 21And they questioned him: “Then what are you? Are you Elijah?” And he said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” 22Therefore, they said to him: “Who are you, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?” 23He said, “I am a voice crying out in the desert, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ just as the prophet Isaiah said.” 24And some of those who had been sent were from among the Pharisees. 25And they questioned him and said to him, “Then why do you baptize, if you are not the Christ, and not Elijah, and not the Prophet?” 26John answered them by saying: “I baptize with water. But in your midst stands one, whom you do not know. 27The same is he who is to come after me, who has been placed ahead of me, the laces of whose shoes I am not worthy to loosen.” 28These things happened in Bethania, across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.