9 December 2025 (Tuesday) / Tuesday of the 2nd week of Advent or Saint Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin / Advent Weekday/ Saint Juan Diego, Hermit / Tuesday of the Second Week of Advent

9 December 2025 (Tuesday)

Tuesday of the 2nd week of Advent or Saint Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin.

Advent Weekday/ Saint Juan Diego, Hermit / Tuesday of the Second Week of Advent.

Readings from the Bible of the Roman Catholic Church:

First Reading: Isaiah 40: 1-11
Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 96: 1-2, 3 and 10-13
Gospel: Matthew 18: 12-14

First Reading : Isaiah 40:1‐11

‘Console my people, console them’ says your God. ‘Speak to the heart of Jerusalem and call to her that her time of service is ended, that her sin is atoned for, that she has received from the hand of the Lord double punishment for all her crimes.’ A voice cries, ‘Prepare in the wilderness a way for the Lord. Make a straight highway for our God across the desert. Let every valley be filled in, every mountain and hill be laid low. Let every cliff become a plain, and the ridges a valley; then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all mankind shall see it; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.’ A voice commands, ‘Cry!’ and I answered, ‘What shall I cry?’” – ‘All flesh is grass and its beauty like the wild flower’s. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on them. (The grass is without doubt the people.) The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God remains for ever.’ Go up on a high mountain, joyful messenger to Zion. Shout with a loud voice, joyful messenger to Jerusalem. Shout without fear, say to the towns of Judah, ‘Here is your God.’ Here is the Lord coming with power, his arm subduing all things to him. The prize of his victory is with him, his trophies all go before him. He is like a shepherd feeding his flock, gathering lambs in his arms,
holding them against his breast and leading to their rest the mother ewes.

Responsive Psalm : Psalm 95(96):1‐3,10‐13

Here is our God coming with power.
O sing a new song to the Lord,
  sing to the Lord all the earth.
O sing to the Lord, bless his name.
  Proclaim his help day by day.
Here is our God coming with power.
Tell among the nations his glory
  and his wonders among all the peoples.
Proclaim to the nations: ‘God is king.’
  He will judge the peoples in fairness.
Here is our God coming with power.
Let the heavens rejoice and earth be glad,
  let the sea and all within it thunder praise,
let the land and all it bears rejoice,
  all the trees of the wood shout for joy
at the presence of the Lord for he comes,
  he comes to rule the earth.
Here is our God coming with power.
With justice he will rule the world,
  he will judge the peoples with his truth.
Here is our God coming with power.

Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
The day of the Lord is near; Behold, he comes to save us.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel : Matthew 18:12‐14

Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Tell me. Suppose a man has a hundred sheep and one of them strays; will he not leave the ninety‐nine on the hillside and go in search of the stray? I tell you solemnly, if he finds it, it gives him more joy than do the ninety‐nine that did not stray at all. Similarly, it is never the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost.’

For our reflection today:

The human race – every one of us – is the sheep lost in the desert which no longer knows the way. The Son of God will not let this happen; he cannot abandon humanity in so wretched a condition. He leaps to his feet and abandons the glory of heaven, in order to go in search of the sheep and pursue it, all the way to the Cross. He takes it upon his shoulders and carries our humanity; he carries us all – he is the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep. The pastor must be inspired by Christ’s holy zeal: for him it is not a matter of indifference that so many people are living in the desert. And there are so many kinds of desert. There is the desert of poverty, the desert of hunger and thirst, the desert of abandonment, of loneliness, of destroyed love. There is the desert of God’s darkness, the emptiness of souls no longer aware of their dignity or the goal of human life. The external deserts in the world are growing, because the internal deserts have become so vast. The Church as a whole and all her Pastors, like Christ, must set out to lead people out of the desert, towards the place of life, towards friendship with the Son of God, towards the One who gives us life, and life in abundance. (Pope Benedict XVI, Mass for the beginning of the Petrine Ministry, 24 April 2005)

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