20 December 2025 (Saturday) / Advent Weekday / Saturday of the Third Week of Advent

20 December 2025 (Saturday)

Advent Weekday / Saturday of the Third Week of Advent.

Readings from the Bible of the Roman Catholic Church:

First Reading: Isaiah 7: 10-14
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 24: 1-6
Gospel: Luke 1: 26-38

First Reading : Isaiah 7:10‐14

The Lord spoke to Ahaz and said, ‘Ask the Lord your God for a sign for yourself coming either from the depths of Sheol or from the heights above.’ ‘No,’ Ahaz answered ‘I will not put the Lord to the test.’ Then Isaiah said: ‘Listen now, House of David: are you not satisfied with trying the patience of men without trying the patience of my God, too? The Lord himself, therefore, will give you a sign. It is this: the maiden is with child and will soon give birth to a son whom she will call Immanuel, a name which means “God‐is‐with‐us.”’

Responsive Psalm : Psalm 23(24):1‐6

Let the Lord enter! He is the king of glory.
The Lord’s is the earth and its fullness,
  the world and all its peoples.
It is he who set it on the seas;
  on the waters he made it firm.
Let the Lord enter! He is the king of glory.
Who shall climb the mountain of the Lord?
  Who shall stand in his holy place?
The man with clean hands and pure heart,
  who desires not worthless things.
Let the Lord enter! He is the king of glory.
He shall receive blessings from the Lord
  and reward from the God who saves him.
Such are the men who seek him,
  seek the face of the God of Jacob.
Let the Lord enter! He is the king of glory.

Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
O Key of David, opening the gates of God’s eternal Kingdom: come and free the prisoners of darkness!
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel : Luke 1:26‐38

The angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the House of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. He went in and said to her, ‘Rejoice, so highly favoured! The Lord is with you.’ She was deeply disturbed by these words and asked herself what this greeting could mean, but the angel said to her, ‘Mary, do not be afraid; you have won God’s favour. Listen! You are to conceive and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David; he will rule over the House of Jacob for ever and his reign will have no end.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘But how can this come about, since I am a virgin?’ ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you’ the angel answered ‘and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God. Know this too: your kinswoman Elizabeth has, in her old age, herself conceived a son, and she whom people called barren is now in her sixth month, for nothing is impossible to God.’ ‘I am the handmaid of the Lord,’ said Mary ‘let what you have said be done to me.’ And the angel left her.

For our reflection today:

Today, the Gospel tells us about one of the most important, most beautiful moments in the history of humanity: the Annunciation (cf. Lk 26-38), when Mary’s “yes” to the Archangel Gabriel permitted the Incarnation of the Son of God, Jesus. It is a scene that inspires the greatest wonder and emotion because God, the Most High, the Omnipotent, by means of the Angel converses with a young girl from Nazareth, asking for her collaboration for His plan of salvation. As in the scene of the creation of Adam, painted by Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel, where the finger of the heavenly Father touches the finger of the man; thus here too the human and the divine encounter each other, at the beginning of our Redemption, they meet with a wonderful delicacy, in the blessed instant in which the Virgin Mary utters her “yes”. She is a woman in a small peripheral village and is called for ever to the centre of history: on her answer depends the fate of humanity, which can smile and hope again, because its destiny has been placed in good hands. She will be the one to bear the Saviour, conceived by the Holy Spirit. (Pope Francis, Angelus, 8 December 2024)

Jonathan Fabian Ginunggil,
Most High Servant,
Jesus, Mary, Joseph Ministry of Love (Blessed  and Saints and the Nine Choirs of Angels)