(gentle piano music)
♪ Oh come, oh come, Emmanuel ♪
♪ And ransom captive Israel ♪
♪ That mourns in lonely exile here ♪
♪ Until the Son of God appear ♪
♪ Rejoice, rejoice ♪
♪ Emmanuel ♪
♪ Shall come to you, oh Israel ♪
- In the name of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit. - Amen.
- The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God,
and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you.
- [Congregation] And with your spirit.
- Today we celebrate the Fourth Sunday of Advent.
For these weeks of Advent we've been preparing,
and this week in the gospel, Elizabeth recognizes
the infant in Mary's womb as her Lord.
So let us reflect on how we recognize the Lord
and so prepare for his coming.
Lord Jesus, you are the one conceived
by the power of the Holy Spirit, Lord have mercy.
- [Congregation] Lord have mercy.
- Christ Jesus, you are the blessed fruit of Mary's womb.
Christ have mercy.
- [Congregation] Christ have mercy.
- Lord Jesus, you obediently offered your body
on the cross for our salvation, Lord have mercy.
- [Congregation] Lord have mercy.
- May Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins,
and bring us to everlasting life.
- [Congregation] Amen.
- Let us pray.
Pour forth, we beseech you O Lord, your grace
into our hearts, that we to whom the incarnation
of Christ your Son was made known
by the message of an angel, may by his passion
and cross be brought to the glory of his resurrection,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity
of the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever.
- [Congregation] Amen.
- A reading from the book of the prophet Micah.
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.
He shall stand firm and shepherd his flock
by the strength of the Lord,
in the majestic name of the Lord, his God,
and they shall remain, for now his greatness
shall reach to the ends of the earth.
He shall be peace.
The word of the Lord.
- [All] Thanks be to God.
(piano music)
♪ Lord make us turn to you ♪
♪ Let us see your face ♪
♪ And we shall be saved ♪
♪ Lord make us turn to you ♪
♪ Let us see your face ♪
♪ And we shall be saved ♪
♪ O shepherd of Israel hearken ♪
♪ From your throne ♪
♪ Upon the cherubim shine forth ♪
♪ Rouse your power ♪
♪ And come to save us ♪
♪ Lord make us turn to you ♪
♪ Let us see your face ♪
♪ And we shall be saved ♪
- A reading from the letter to the Hebrews.
Brothers and sisters,
when Christ came into the world, he said,
sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but a body you prepared for me,
in holocausts and sin offerings you took no delight.
Then I said, as is written of me in the scroll,
behold, I come to do your will, O God.
First he says, sacrifices and offerings,
holocausts and sin offerings,
you neither desired nor delighted in.
These are offered according to the law.
Then he says, behold,
I come to do your will.
He takes away the first to establish the second.
By this will, we have been consecrated
through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once for all.
The word of the Lord.
- [All] Thanks be to God.
(piano music)
♪ Alleluia, alleluia ♪
♪ Alleluia, alleluia ♪
♪ Alleluia, alleluia ♪
♪ Alleluia, alleluia ♪
- The Lord be with you.
- [Congregation] And with your spirit.
- A reading from the holy gospel according to Luke.
- [Congregation] Glory to you, O Lord.
- Mary set out and traveled to the hill country
in haste to a town of Judah,
where she entered the house of Zechariah
and greeted Elizabeth.
When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting,
the infant leaped in her womb,
and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit,
cried out in a loud voice and said,
blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
And how does this happen to me,
that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
For at the moment the sound of your greeting
reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy.
Blessed are you who believed
what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.
Gospel of the Lord.
- [Congregation] Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
- So last week we thought about expectations,
and this week we understand also how God
can change our expectations.
The first reading talks about Bethlehem as a nothing place.
It's not a place that anyone would've expected,
or rather, Judah, as anyone would've expected
something great to have come out of Nazareth.
And yet in that nothing place,
a nobody in the society of the time,
a young girl who would sit on the lowest rung
of the social ladder, a young girl named Mary,
she's the one who hears the angel's invitation
to be part of God's plan
to save the human world.
It is in that nothing place that nobody,
it is in her that the hope of salvation rests.
The expectations of the people of her time
would've been probably for somebody great and powerful,
like a military leader come to save the people.
But Luke's gospel in particular shows how
God chooses unlikely people to do great things.
And so in this nowhere place called Nazareth,
this nobody called Mary
receives an invitation and says yes.
What's interesting about the gospel of Luke in particular
is he gives us more information about Mary,
the mother of Jesus, than all of the other gospels combined.
So in a way, this here being in Luke's gospel,
we get to dwell a little bit with the role
Mary plays in God's saving God's people.
And so Mary, just before this in Luke's gospel,
hears the invitation and is puzzled,
but then says yes.
But still confused, she needs to go to her relative
to visit, to understand, to let this mystery
sort of begin to unwrap for her.
And what's interesting is she doesn't get past the doorway.
It's the first word out of her mouth that Elizabeth says
caused John the Baptist, the child in her womb,
to leap for joy.
How God chooses unlikely people
is a theme in the scriptures.
But particularly as we enter this season
at the end of Advent going into Christmas,
we oughta think about how God chooses
the likes of us to continue to cooperate
with God's saving presence in the world.
We might say, well, God couldn't possibly
have something big in mind for me, I'm a nobody.
And the scripture shows us how it was exactly
a nobody in the eyes of society around her, Mary,
who God chose to be the mother of his only Son.
How does that continue
to work in your life?
You might think you're not capable of great things,
but remember, it's not in the economy
of the world around us, it's in the economy
of the reign of God
that the mighty are toppled from their thrones,
the rich are sent away empty,
but the hungry are filled with good things.
How is it in this season coming before us
that you're being filled with God's grace like Mary?
Might it inspire you to do things beyond
what you think you might be able to do on your own.
It is in a way our task not only to understand God's grace,
but sometimes even to get out of God's grace's way
to let that grace work in us and through us,
not just in spite of us.
Together let us profess our faith.
- [All] I believe in one God, the Father Almighty,
the creator of heaven and Earth,
of all things visible and invisible.
I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the only begotten Son of God, born of the Father
before all ages, God from God, light from light,
true God from true God, begotten, not made,
consubstantial with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation, he came down from heaven.
And by the Holy Spirit was incarnate
of the Virgin Mary and became man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate,
he suffered death and was buried, and rose again
on the third day in accordance with the scriptures.
He ascended into heaven and is seated
at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living
and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord,
the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.
I believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church.
I confess one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
And I look forward to the resurrection of the dead
and the life of the world to come, amen.
- Because we believe in God's word and presence to us,
let us pray for our needs.
- That all members of the church faithfully announce
the nearness of God by the goodness of their lives.
We pray to the Lord.
- [Congregation] Lord hear our prayer.
- That all peoples of the world live in peace and justice
and thus announce the blessedness of God.
We pray to the Lord.
- [Congregation] Lord hear our prayer.
- That the poor, the hungry, and those without shelter
may be helped by the generosity of those
who bear Christ's presence, we pray to the Lord.
- [Congregation] Lord hear our prayer.
- That each of us celebrate the Christmas mystery
with joyful sharing of God's presence
with family and friends, we pray to the Lord.
- [Congregation] Lord hear our prayer.
- O God, you sent your Son into the world
that we might have life.
Bless us now with joy and expectation
and grant what we ask through Christ our Lord, amen.
- [Congregation] Amen.
(gentle piano music)
- Pray, sisters and brothers, that my sacrifice and yours
may be acceptable to God our Almighty Father.
- [Congregation] May the Lord accept the sacrifice
at your hands for the praise and glory of his name,
for our good and the good of all his holy church.
- May the Holy Spirit, O Lord, sanctify these gifts
laid upon your altar, just as he filled with his power
the womb of the blessed Virgin Mary
through Christ our Lord, amen. - Amen.
- The Lord be with you.
- [Congregation] And with your spirit.
- Lift up your hearts.
- [Congregation] We lift them up to the Lord.
- Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
- [Congregation] It is right and just.
- It is truly right and just, our duty and our salvation
always and everywhere to give you thanks.
Lord, Holy Father, Almighty and Eternal God, through Christ.
For all the oracles of the prophets foretold him.
The Virgin Mother longed for him
with love beyond all telling.
John the Baptist sang of his coming
and proclaimed his presence when he came.
It is by his gift that already we rejoice
at the mystery of his nativity so that he may find us
watchful in prayer and exultant in his praise.
And so with angels and archangels, with thrones
and dominions, with all the hosts and powers of heaven,
we sing the hymn of your glory as without end we acclaim.
(gentle piano music)
♪ Holy, holy, holy ♪
♪ Lord God of hosts ♪
♪ Heaven and Earth are full of your glory ♪
♪ Hosanna in the highest ♪
♪ Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord ♪
♪ Hosanna in the highest ♪
♪ Hosanna in the highest ♪
- You are indeed holy, O Lord, the fount of all holiness.
Make holy, therefore, these gifts, we pray,
by sending down your Spirit upon them like the dew fall,
so that they may become for us
the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.
At the time he was betrayed
and entered willingly into his Passion,
he took bread and, giving thanks, broke it,
and gave it to his disciples, saying
take this, all of you, and eat of it.
For this is my body which will be given up for you.
In a similar way, when supper was ended,
he took the chalice and, once more giving thanks,
he gave it to his disciples, saying
take this, all of you, and drink from it.
For this is the chalice of my blood,
the blood of the new and eternal covenant
which will be poured out for you and for many
for the forgiveness of sins.
Do this in memory of me.
The mystery of faith.
(gentle piano music)
♪ We proclaim your death O Lord ♪
♪ And profess your resurrection ♪
♪ Until you come again ♪
♪ Until you come again ♪
- Therefore as we celebrate the memorial of his death
and resurrection, we offer you Lord the bread of life
and the chalice of salvation, giving thanks
that you have held us worthy to be in your presence
and minister to you.
Humbly we pray that partaking of the body and blood
of Christ, we may be gathered into one by the Holy Spirit.
Remember, Lord, your church spread throughout the world.
Bring her to the fullness of charity,
together with Francis our Pope, George Leo our Bishop,
and all the clergy.
Remember also our brothers and sisters
who have fallen asleep in the hope of the resurrection,
and all who have died in your mercy.
Welcome them into the light of your face.
Have mercy on us all, we pray,
that with the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God,
with blessed Joseph, her spouse, with the blessed apostles,
and all the saints who have pleased you throughout the ages,
we may merit to be coheirs to eternal life,
and may praise and glorify you
through your Son, Jesus Christ.
Through him and with him and in him,
O God, Almighty Father,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
all glory and honor is yours forever and ever.
♪ Amen, amen ♪
♪ Amen ♪
- At the Savior's command informed by divine teaching,
we dare to say--
- [All] Our Father who art in heaven
hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done
on Earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread
and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
- Deliver us, Lord, we pray, from every evil.
Graciously grant peace in our days,
that by the help of your mercy we may be always
free from sin and safe from all distress
as we await the blessed hope and the coming
of our Savior Jesus Christ.
- [All] For the kingdom and the power and the glory
are yours now and forever.
- Lord Jesus Christ, who said to your apostles,
peace I leave you, my peace I give you.
Look not on our sins but on the faith of your church
and graciously grant her peace and unity
in accordance with your will who live and reign
forever and ever. - Amen.
- The peace of the Lord be with you always.
- [Congregation] And with your spirit.
- Let us offer each other a sign of peace.
- [Congregation] Peace.
(gentle piano music)
♪ Lamb of God ♪
♪ You take away the sins of the world ♪
♪ Have mercy on us ♪
♪ Lamb of God ♪
♪ You take away the sins of the world ♪
♪ Have mercy on us ♪
♪ Lamb of God ♪
♪ You take away the sins of the world ♪
♪ Grant us peace ♪
- Behold the Lamb of God.
Behold him who takes away the sins of the world.
Blessed are those called to the Supper of the Lamb.
- [All] Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under
my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.
(gentle piano music)
♪ Creator of the stars of night ♪
♪ Your people's everlasting light ♪
♪ O Christ redeemer of us all ♪
♪ We pray you hear us when we call ♪
♪ Come O Lord and bring your light ♪
♪ O radiant star, our hearts' delight ♪
♪ O God with us, Emmanuel ♪
♪ With your love the dark dispelled ♪
♪ In sorrow that the ancient curse ♪
♪ Should doom to death our universe ♪
♪ You came O Savior to set free ♪
♪ Your own in glorious liberty ♪
♪ Come O Lord and bring your light ♪
♪ O radiant star, our hearts' delight ♪
♪ O God with us Emmanuel ♪
♪ With your love the dark dispelled ♪
- Let us pray.
Having received this pledge of eternal redemption,
we pray Almighty God that as the Feast Day
of our salvation draws ever nearer,
so we may press forward all the more eagerly
to the worthy celebration of the mystery
of your Sons' nativity, who lives and reigns
forever and ever. - Amen.
- This broadcast of the Sunday Mass is made possible
in the Diocese of Las Vegas by contributions
to the Catholic Stewardship Appeal.
If you'd like to assist those in the Diocese
funding this ministry, watch your screen
for information as the mass ends.
The Lord be with you.
- [Congregation] And with your spirit.
- May Almighty God bless you, the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit. - Amen.
- Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life.
- [All] Thanks be to God.
(lively piano music)
♪ Soon and very soon ♪
♪ We are going to see the King ♪
♪ Soon and very soon ♪
♪ We are going to see the King ♪
♪ Soon and very soon ♪
♪ We are going to see the King ♪
♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪
♪ We're going to see the King ♪
♪ No more crying there ♪
♪ We are going to see the King ♪
♪ No more crying there ♪
♪ We are going to see the King ♪
♪ No more crying there ♪
♪ We are going to see the King ♪
♪ Hallelujah, hallelujah ♪
♪ We're going to see the King ♪
(congregation applauding)
(gentle music)
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