Mass Readings For Tomorrow (Readings, Gospel, and Reflection)
Liturgical Calendar
Tuesday, December 16, 2025: Tuesday of the Third Week of Advent
Readings and Gospel
Reading I:
Zephaniah 3:1-2, 9-13
Alleluia:
Gospel:
Matthew 21:28-32
Liturgical vestments: Purple
Tuesday, December 16, 2025: Readings & Responsorial Psalm & Gospel
Mass Readings for Tomorrow – Preparing Our Hearts
As we look ahead to tomorrow’s Mass Readings, we are invited to prepare our hearts to receive God’s word more deeply. Each reading, whether from the Old Testament, the Psalms, the Epistles, or the Gospel, is a message of love, guidance, and encouragement for our journey of faith.
Tomorrow’s readings remind us that God is always speaking to us—through His prophets, His apostles, and above all, through His Son, Jesus Christ. As we anticipate the Gospel passage, we reflect on how Christ’s words continue to call us to conversion, to deeper trust, and to a more profound love for God and neighbor.
Taking time to meditate on the Mass Readings for Tomorrow helps us to enter the Eucharistic celebration with open hearts. It allows us to be more attentive, more receptive, and more transformed by His grace. Let us ask the Holy Spirit to illuminate our minds and prepare our souls, so that when we hear God’s word proclaimed at Mass, we may not only listen but truly live it.
🙏 Lord, open our hearts to Your word, and let it bear fruit in our lives. Amen.
Reading I
Zephaniah 3:1-2, 9-13
Thus says the LORD:
Woe to the city, rebellious and polluted,
to the tyrannical city!
She hears no voice,
accepts no correction;
In the LORD she has not trusted,
to her God she has not drawn near.
For then I will change and purify
the lips of the peoples,
That they all may call upon the name of the LORD,
to serve him with one accord;
From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia
and as far as the recesses of the North,
they shall bring me offerings.
On that day
You need not be ashamed
of all your deeds,
your rebellious actions against me;
For then will I remove from your midst
the proud braggarts,
And you shall no longer exalt yourself
on my holy mountain.
But I will leave as a remnant in your midst
a people humble and lowly,
Who shall take refuge in the name of the LORD:
the remnant of Israel.
They shall do no wrong
and speak no lies;
Nor shall there be found in their mouths
a deceitful tongue;
They shall pasture and couch their flocks
with none to disturb them.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Come, O Lord, do not delay;
forgive the sins of your people.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people:
“What is your opinion?
A man had two sons.
He came to the first and said,
‘Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.’
The son said in reply, ‘I will not,’
but afterwards he changed his mind and went.
The man came to the other son and gave the same order.
He said in reply, ‘Yes, sir,’ but did not go.
Which of the two did his father’s will?”
They answered, “The first.”
Jesus said to them, “Amen, I say to you,
tax collectors and prostitutes
are entering the Kingdom of God before you.
When John came to you in the way of righteousness,
you did not believe him;
but tax collectors and prostitutes did.
Yet even when you saw that,
you did not later change your minds and believe him.”
Reflection
“When there is sin in a man, such a man cannot behold God. But, if you will, you may be healed. But before all let faith and the fear of God have rule in thy heart.” (St. Theophilus of Antioch)
“‘Lord, these are my sins, they aren’t this man’s or that woman’s.... They’re mine. You take them’. When we are able to do this, then we will be that beautiful people, the humble and poor people, who trust in the name of the Lord.” (Francis)
“Jesus scandalized the Pharisees by eating with tax collectors and sinners as familiarly as with themselves. Against those among them ‘who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others’ (Lk 18:9), Jesus affirmed: ‘I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance’ (Lk 5:32). He went further by proclaiming before the Pharisees that, since sin is universal, those who pretend not to need salvation are blind to themselves” (Catechism Of The Catholic Church, Nº 588)
Saint of the Day
God chose him as king of Israel, despite his being the youngest of the sons of Jesse: God does not look at the appearance but at the heart of man. A warrior and poet, David was also a great sinner, but recognized his faults and asked forgiveness. Our Lord Jesus Christ is born of David’s line.
Born in 931, Adelaide was the daughter of King Rudolph of Burgundy. She married the Holy Roman Emperor, Otto the Great. Attentive to the poor, she also built churches and monasteries. She retired to a Benedictine monastery, and died in 999.
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