Mass Readings for December 16, 2023

Sirach 48:1-4,9-11
Psalms 80:2-3,15-16,18-19
Matthew 17:10-13

Sirach 48:1-4,9-11
(1) Also there arose Elijah the prophet as fire, And his word burned like a torch: (2) Who brought a famine upon them, And by his zeal made them few in number. (3) By the word of the Lord he shut up the heaven: Thrice did he thus bring down fire. (4) How was you glorified, O Elijah, in your wondrous deeds! And who shall glory like to you? (9) Who was taken up in a tempest of fire, In a chariot of fiery horses: (10) Who was recorded for reproofs in their seasons, To pacify anger, before it brake forth into wrath; To turn the heart of the father to the son, And to restore the tribes of Jacob. (11) Blessed are those who saw you, And those who have been beautified with love; For we also shall surely live.

Psalms 80:2-3,15-16,18-19
(2) Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh, stir up your might! Come to save us! (3) Turn us again, God. Cause your face to shine, and we will be saved. (15) the stock which your right hand planted, the branch that you made strong for yourself. (16) It’s burned with fire. It’s cut down. They perish at your rebuke. (18) So we will not turn away from you. Revive us, and we will call on your name. (19) Turn us again, Yahweh God of Armies. Cause your face to shine, and we will be saved.

Matthew 17:10-13
(10) His disciples asked him, saying, “Then why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” (11) Jesus answered them, “Elijah indeed comes first, and will restore all things, (12) but I tell you that Elijah has come already, and they didn’t recognize him, but did to him whatever they wanted to. Even so the Son of Man will also suffer by them.” (13) Then the disciples understood that he spoke to them of John the Baptizer.