6 December 2025 (Saturday) / Saturday of the 1st week of Advent or Saint Nicholas, Bishop / Advent Weekday/ Saint Nicholas, Bishop / Saturday of the First Week of Advent

6 December 2025 (Saturday)

Saturday of the 1st week of Advent or Saint Nicholas, Bishop.

Advent Weekday/ Saint Nicholas, Bishop.

Saturday of the First Week of Advent.

Readings from the Bible of the Roman Catholic Church:

First Reading: Isaiah 30: 19-21, 23-26
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 147: 1-6
Alleluia: Isaiah 33: 22
Gospel: Matthew 9: 35 – 10: 1, 5-8

First Reading : Isaiah 30:19‐21,23‐26

Thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: People of Zion, you will live in Jerusalem and weep no more. He will be gracious to you when he hears your cry; when he hears he will answer. When the Lord has given you the bread of suffering and the water of distress, he who is your teacher will hide no longer, and you will see your teacher with your own eyes. Whether you turn to right or left, your ears will hear these words behind you, ‘This is the way, follow it.’ He will send rain for the seed you sow in the ground, and the bread that the ground provides will be rich and nourishing. Your cattle will graze, that day, in wide pastures. Oxen and donkeys that till the ground will eat a salted fodder, winnowed with shovel and fork. On every lofty mountain, on every high hill there will be streams and watercourses, on the day of the great slaughter when the strongholds fall. Then moonlight will be bright as sunlight and sunlight itself be seven times brighter – like the light of seven days in one – on the day the Lord dresses the wound of his people and heals the bruises his blows have left.

Responsive Psalm : Psalm 146(147):1‐6

Happy are all who hope in the Lord.
or
Alleluia!

Praise the Lord for he is good; sing to our God for he is loving: to him our praise is due. The Lord builds up Jerusalem and brings back Israel’s exiles.

Happy are all who hope in the Lord.
or
Alleluia!

He heals the broken‐hearted, he binds up all their wounds. He fixes the number of the stars; he calls each one by its name.

Happy are all who hope in the Lord.
or
Alleluia!

Our Lord is great and almighty; his wisdom can never be measured. The Lord raises the lowly; he humbles the wicked to the dust.

Happy are all who hope in the Lord.
or
Alleluia!

Gospel : Matthew 9:35‐10:1,5,6‐8

Alleluia: Isaiah 33: 22
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
22 The LORD is our Judge, our Lawgiver, our King; he it is who will save us.
22. (For Yahweh is our judge, Yahweh our lawgiver, Yahweh is our king and our Saviour.)
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Jesus made a tour through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Good News of the kingdom and curing all kinds of diseases and sickness. And when he saw the crowds he felt sorry for them because they were harassed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is rich but the labourers are few, so ask the Lord of the harvest to send labourers to his harvest.’ He summoned his twelve disciples, and gave them authority over unclean spirits with power to cast them out and to cure all kinds of diseases and sickness. These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them as follows: ‘Go rather to the lost sheep of the House of Israel. And as you go, proclaim that the kingdom of heaven is close at hand. Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out devils. You received without charge, give without charge.’

For our reflection today:

Why   proclaim: The motivation lies in a few words of Jesus, which it is good for us to remember: “Freely you have received, freely give” (v. 8). They are just a few words. But why proclaim? Because I have received freely, and I should give freely. The proclamation does not begin from us, but from the beauty of what we have received for free, without merit: meeting Jesus, knowing him, discovering that we are loved and saved. It is such a great gift that we cannot keep it to ourselves, we feel the need to spread it; but in the same style, right? That is, in gratuitousness. In other words: we have a gift, so we are called to make a gift of ourselves; we have received a gift and our vocation is to make a gift of ourselves to others; there is in us the joy of being children of God, it must be shared with our brothers and sisters who do not yet know it! This is the reason for the proclamation. Going forth and bringing the joy of what we have received. (Pope Francis, General Audience, 15 February 2023)

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