Mass Readings For Tomorrow (Readings, Gospel, and Reflection)
Liturgical Calendar
Monday, December 15, 2025: Monday of the Third Week of Advent
Readings and Gospel
Reading 1 :
Numbers 24:2-7, 15-17a
Alleluia :
Psalm 85:8
Gospel :
Matthew 21:23-27
Liturgical vestments: Purple
Monday, December 15, 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 1
Numbers 24:2-7, 15-17a
When Balaam raised his eyes and saw Israel encamped, tribe by tribe,
the spirit of God came upon him,
and he gave voice to his oracle:
The utterance of Balaam, son of Beor,
the utterance of a man whose eye is true,
The utterance of one who hears what God says,
and knows what the Most High knows,
Of one who sees what the Almighty sees,
enraptured, and with eyes unveiled:
How goodly are your tents, O Jacob;
your encampments, O Israel!
They are like gardens beside a stream,
like the cedars planted by the LORD.
His wells shall yield free-flowing waters,
he shall have the sea within reach;
His king shall rise higher,
and his royalty shall be exalted.
Then Balaam gave voice to his oracle:
The utterance of Balaam, son of Beor,
the utterance of the man whose eye is true,
The utterance of one who hears what God says,
and knows what the Most High knows,
Of one who sees what the Almighty sees,
enraptured, and with eyes unveiled.
I see him, though not now;
I behold him, though not near:
A star shall advance from Jacob,
and a staff shall rise from Israel.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Show us, LORD, your love,
and grant us your salvation.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
When Jesus had come into the temple area,
the chief priests and the elders of the people approached him
as he was teaching and said,
"By what authority are you doing these things?
And who gave you this authority?"
Jesus said to them in reply,
"I shall ask you one question, and if you answer it for me,
then I shall tell you by what authority I do these things.
Where was John's baptism from?
Was it of heavenly or of human origin?"
They discussed this among themselves and said,
"If we say 'Of heavenly origin,' he will say to us,
'Then why did you not believe him?'
But if we say, 'Of human origin,' we fear the crowd,
for they all regard John as a prophet."
So they said to Jesus in reply, "We do not know."
He himself said to them,
"Neither shall I tell you by what authority I do these things."
Reflection
“The chief priests and the scribes were afraid of the people, of the truth. An indication of their flight was the fear of their hearts.” (Saint Augustine)
“Never condemn. If you want to condemn, condemn yourself. I ask the Lord for the grace that our heart may be bright with the truth, big-hearted with people, merciful.” (Francis)
“In Jesus, the same Word of God that had resounded on Mount Sinai to give the written Law to Moses, made itself heard anew on the Mount of the Beatitudes. Jesus did not abolish the Law but fulfilled it by giving its ultimate interpretation in a divine way: ‘You have heard that it was said to the men of old... But I say to you... ’ (Mt 5:33-34). With this same divine authority, he disavowed certain human traditions (Mk 7:8) of the Pharisees that were ‘making void the word of God’ (Mk 7:13)” (Catechism Of The Catholic Church, Nº 581)
Saint of the Day
Bishop of Abbenza (Tunisia), he bore witness to Jesus Christ, true God and true man, during the persecution of the Vandals. The Arian heretic King Genseric forced Valerian to live on the street, though he was eighty, for refusing to hand over the Church’s sacred vessels. He died of his hardship.
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