3rd Sunday of Advent

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,

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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.

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.

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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,

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.

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.

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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.