Sunday, December 11, 2022
Liturgical Season: 
VII The Season of Sleebo
Special Significance: 
Apparition of the Angel to St. Joseph

Mt 1:18-25

The Birth of Jesus.* 18Now 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. 19Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man,* yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly. 20j 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. 21She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus,* because he will save his people from their sins.” 22All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:

23* k “Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son,

and they shall name him Emmanuel,”

which means “God is with us.” 24When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home. 25He had no relations with her until she bore a son,* and he named him Jesus.l

Gen 37:5-11

Once Joseph had a dream, and when he told his brothers, they hated him even more. He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had. There we were, binding sheaves in the field, when suddenly my sheaf rose to an upright position, and your sheaves formed a ring around my sheaf and bowed down to it.” His brothers said to him, “Are you really going to make yourself king over us? Will you rule over us?” So they hated him all the more because of his dreams and his reports.

Then he had another dream, and told it to his brothers. “Look, I had another dream,” he said; “this time, the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” When he told it to his father and his brothers, his father reproved him and asked, “What is the meaning of this dream of yours? Can it be that I and your mother and your brothers are to come and bow to the ground before you?” So his brothers were furious at him but his father kept the matter in mind.

Sir 7:11-17

11Do not ridicule the embittered;

Remember: there is One who exalts and humbles.*

12Do not plot mischief against your relative

or against your friend and companion.

13Refuse to tell lie after lie,

for it never results in good.

14Do not babble in the assembly of the elders

or repeat the words of your prayer.* d

15Do not hate hard work;

work was assigned by God.e

16Do not esteem yourself more than your compatriots;

remember, his wrath will not delay.

17More and more, humble your pride;

what awaits mortals is worms.* f

Gal 1:11-24

His Call by Christ. 11h Now I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel preached by me is not of human origin. 12For I did not receive it from a human being, nor was I taught it, but it came through a revelation of Jesus Christ.*

13* For you heard of my former way of life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it,i 14and progressed in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my race, since I was even more a zealot for my ancestral traditions.j 15But when [God], who from my mother’s womb had set me apart and called me through his grace, was pleasedk 16to reveal his Son to me,l so that I might proclaim him to the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult flesh and blood,* 17nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; rather, I went into Arabia* and then returned to Damascus.

18* Then after three years* I went up to Jerusalem to confer with Cephas and remained with him for fifteen days.m 19But I did not see any other of the apostles,n only James the brother of the Lord.* 20(As to what I am writing to you, behold, before God, I am not lying.)o 21Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia.p 22And I was unknown personally to the churches of Judea that are in Christ; 23they only kept hearing that “the one who once was persecuting us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.”q 24So they glorified God because of me.

Mt 1:18-25

The Birth of Jesus.* 18Now 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. 19Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man,* yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly. 20j 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. 21She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus,* because he will save his people from their sins.” 22All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:

23* k “Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son,

and they shall name him Emmanuel,”

which means “God is with us.” 24When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home. 25He had no relations with her until she bore a son,* and he named him Jesus.l