First Reading

Book of Genesis (Gn 17: 3-9)

You shall be the father of a multitude of Nations.

When Abram prostrated himself, God spoke to him:

“My covenant with you is this:
you are to become the father of a host of nations.
No longer shall you be called Abram;
your name shall be Abraham,
for I am making you the father of a host of nations.
I will render you exceedingly fertile;
I will make nations of you;
kings shall stem from you.
I will maintain my covenant with you
and your descendants after you
throughout the ages as an everlasting pact,
to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.
I will give to you
and to your descendants after you
the land in which you are now staying,
the whole land of Canaan, as a permanent possession;
and I will be their God.”

God also said to Abraham:

“On your part, you and your descendants after you
must keep my covenant throughout the ages.”

— The word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm (Ps 105: 4-5, 6-7, 8-9)

The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.

Look to the LORD in his strength;
seek to serve him constantly.
Recall the wondrous deeds that he has wrought,
his portents, and the judgments he has uttered.

You descendants of Abraham, his servants,
sons of Jacob, his chosen ones!
He, the LORD, is our God;
throughout the earth his judgments prevail.

He remembers forever his covenant
which he made binding for a thousand generations –
Which he entered into with Abraham
and by his oath to Isaac.

Gospel

Glory and praise to you, O Christ.

If today you hear his voice,
harden not your hearts.

Glory and praise to you, O Christ.

Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John (Jn 8: 51-59)

Your father Abraham rejoice that he was to see my day.

Jesus said to the Jews:

“Amen, amen, I say to you,
whoever keeps my word will never see death.”

So the Jews said to him,

“Now we are sure that you are possessed.
Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say,
‘Whoever keeps my word will never taste death.’
Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died?
Or the prophets, who died?
Who do you make yourself out to be?”

Jesus answered,

“If I glorify myself, my glory is worth nothing;
but it is my Father who glorifies me,
of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’
You do not know him, but I know him.
And if I should say that I do not know him,
I would be like you a liar.
But I do know him and I keep his word.
Abraham your father rejoiced to see my day;
he saw it and was glad.”

So the Jews said to him,

“You are not yet fifty years old and you have seen Abraham?”

Jesus said to them,

“Amen, amen, I say to you,
before Abraham came to be, I AM.”

So they picked up stones to throw at him;
but Jesus hid and went out of the temple area.

— The Gospel of the Lord.

First Reading

Second Book of Samuel (2 Sm 7: 4-5a, 12-14a, 16)

The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David.

The LORD spoke to Nathan and said:

“Go, tell my servant David,

‘When your time comes and you rest with your ancestors,
I will raise up your heir after you, sprung from your loins,
and I will make his kingdom firm.
It is he who shall build a house for my name.
And I will make his royal throne firm forever.
I will be a father to him,
and he shall be a son to me.
Your house and your kingdom shall endure forever before me;
your throne shall stand firm forever.’”

— The word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm (Ps 89: 2-3, 4-5, 27 and 29)

The son of David will live for ever.

The promises of the LORD I will sing forever;
through all generations my mouth shall proclaim your faithfulness,
For you have said, “My kindness is established forever”;
in heaven you have confirmed your faithfulness.

“I have made a covenant with my chosen one,
I have sworn to David my servant:
Forever will I confirm your posterity
and establish your throne for all generations.”

“He shall say of me, ‘You are my father,
my God, the Rock, my savior.’
Forever I will maintain my kindness toward him,
and my covenant with him stands firm.”

Second Reading

Letter of Saint Paul to the Romans (Rom 4: 13, 16-18, 22)

In hope, he believed against hope.

Brothers and sisters:
It was not through the law
that the promise was made to Abraham and his descendants
that he would inherit the world,
but through the righteousness that comes from faith.
For this reason, it depends on faith,
so that it may be a gift,
and the promise may be guaranteed to all his descendants,
not to those who only adhere to the law
but to those who follow the faith of Abraham,
who is the father of all of us, as it is written,
I have made you father of many nations.
He is our father in the sight of God,
in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead
and calls into being what does not exist.
He believed, hoping against hope,
that he would become the father of many nations,
according to what was said, Thus shall your descendants be.
That is why it was credited to him as righteousness.

— The word of the Lord.

Gospel

Glory and praise to you, O Christ.

Blessed are those who dwell in your house, O Lord; they never cease to praise you.

Glory and praise to you, O Christ.

Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew (Mt 1: 16, 18-21, 24a)

Joseph did as the angel of the Lord commanded him.

Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary.
Of her was born Jesus who is called the Christ.

Now this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about.
When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph,
but before they lived together,
she was found with child through the Holy Spirit.
Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man,
yet unwilling to expose her to shame,
decided to divorce her quietly.
Such was his intention when, behold,
the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,

“Joseph, son of David,
do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.
For it is through the Holy Spirit
that this child has been conceived in her.
She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus,
because he will save his people from their sins.”

When Joseph awoke,
he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him
and took his wife into his home.

— The Gospel of the Lord.

Gospel

Glory and praise to you, O Christ.

Blessed are those who dwell in your house, O Lord; they never cease to praise you.

Glory and praise to you, O Christ.

Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke (Lk 2: 41-51a)

Behold your father and I have been looking for you anxiously.

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.

— The Gospel of the Lord.

First Reading

Book of Numbers (Nm 21: 4-9)

One who is bitten, who sees the serpent, shall live.

From Mount Hor the children of Israel set out on the Red Sea road,
to bypass the land of Edom.
But with their patience worn out by the journey,
the people complained against God and Moses,

“Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert,
where there is no food or water?
We are disgusted with this wretched food!”

In punishment the LORD sent among the people saraph serpents,
which bit the people so that many of them died.
Then the people came to Moses and said,

“We have sinned in complaining against the LORD and you.
Pray the LORD to take the serpents away from us.”

So Moses prayed for the people, and the LORD said to Moses,

“Make a saraph and mount it on a pole,
and whoever looks at it after being bitten will live.”

Moses accordingly made a bronze serpent and mounted it on a pole,
and whenever anyone who had been bitten by a serpent
looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.

— The word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm (Ps 102: 2-3, 16-18, 19-21)

O Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come to you.

O LORD, hear my prayer,
and let my cry come to you.
Hide not your face from me
in the day of my distress.
Incline your ear to me;
in the day when I call, answer me speedily.

The nations shall revere your name, O LORD,
and all the kings of the earth your glory,
When the LORD has rebuilt Zion
and appeared in his glory;
When he has regarded the prayer of the destitute,
and not despised their prayer.

Let this be written for the generation to come,
and let his future creatures praise the LORD:
“The LORD looked down from his holy height,
from heaven he beheld the earth,
To hear the groaning of the prisoners,
to release those doomed to die.”

Gospel

Glory and praise to you, O Christ.

The seed is the word of God, Christ is the sower; all who come to him will live for ever.

Glory and praise to you, O Christ.

Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John (Jn 8: 21-30)

When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will know that I am he.

Jesus said to the Pharisees:

“I am going away and you will look for me,
but you will die in your sin.
Where I am going you cannot come.”

So the Jews said,

“He is not going to kill himself, is he,
because he said, ‘Where I am going you cannot come’?”

He said to them,

“You belong to what is below,
I belong to what is above.
You belong to this world,
but I do not belong to this world.
That is why I told you that you will die in your sins.
For if you do not believe that I AM,
you will die in your sins.”

So they said to him,

“Who are you?”

Jesus said to them,

“What I told you from the beginning.
I have much to say about you in condemnation.
But the one who sent me is true,
and what I heard from him I tell the world.”

They did not realize that he was speaking to them of the Father.
So Jesus said to them,

“When you lift up the Son of Man,
then you will realize that I AM,
and that I do nothing on my own,
but I say only what the Father taught me.
The one who sent me is with me.
He has not left me alone,
because I always do what is pleasing to him.”

Because he spoke this way, many came to believe in him.

— The Gospel of the Lord.