A desert road at first light, a pillar of golden light rising from the mesa.

Friday, December 18, 2026

December 18

The liturgical day

December 18

Advent
Liturgical color: Violet

The Mass readings

First reading: Jeremiah 23:5-8
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 72:1-2, 12-13, 18-19
Gospel: Matthew 1:18-25

Read today's Mass readings on the USCCB site

The readings open on the USCCB website. They follow the Lectionary for Mass approved for the United States, a different translation from the Douay-Rheims we use on this site. Desert Road Catholic is not affiliated with the USCCB.

First reading: Jeremiah 23:5-8

Douay-Rheims: Jeremias 23:5-8

⁵Behold the days come, saith the Lord, and I will raise up to David a just branch: and a king shall reign, and shall be wise: and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. ⁶In those days shall Juda be saved, and Israel shall dwell confidently: and this is the name that they shall call him: the Lord our just one. ⁷Therefore behold the days to come, saith the Lord, and they shall say no more: The Lord liveth, who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt: ⁸But the Lord liveth, who hath brought out, and brought hither the seed of the house of Israel from the land of the north, and out of all the lands, to which I had cast them forth: and they shall dwell in their own land.

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 72:1-2, 12-13, 18-19

Douay-Rheims: Psalm 71:2, 12-13, 18-19 (Psalm 72 at Mass)

²Give to the king thy judgment, O God: and to the king’s son thy justice: To judge thy people with justice, and thy poor with judgment.

¹²For he shall deliver the poor from the mighty: and the needy that had no helper. ¹³He shall spare the poor and needy: and he shall save the souls of the poor.

¹⁸Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who alone doth wonderful things. ¹⁹And blessed be the name of his majesty for ever: and the whole earth shall be filled with his majesty. So be it. So be it.

Gospel: Matthew 1:18-25

Douay-Rheims: Matthew 1:18-25

¹⁸Now the generation of Christ was in this wise. When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child, of the Holy Ghost. ¹⁹Whereupon Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing publicly to expose her, was minded to put her away privately. ²⁰But while he thought on these things, behold the angel of the Lord appeared to him in his sleep, saying: Joseph, son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her, is of the Holy Ghost. ²¹And she shall bring forth a son: and thou shalt call his name JESUS. For he shall save his people from their sins. ²²Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled which the Lord spoke by the prophet, saying: ²³Behold a virgin shall be with child, and bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. ²⁴And Joseph rising up from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him, and took unto him his wife. ²⁵And he knew her not till she brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.

The same passages in the Douay-Rheims Bible (Challoner revision), the translation we use on this site. The words read at Mass come from the Lectionary for Mass and differ. Where a reading begins or ends partway through a verse, the whole verse is shown. For the official text, open the readings on the USCCB site.

December 2026

December 2026
Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
		1, Tuesday of the first week of Advent, liturgical color violet	2, Wednesday of the first week of Advent, liturgical color violet	3, Saint Francis Xavier, Priest, liturgical color white	4, Friday of the first week of Advent, liturgical color violet	5, Saturday of the first week of Advent, liturgical color violet
6, Second Sunday of Advent, liturgical color violet	7, Saint Ambrose, Bishop and Doctor of the Church, liturgical color white	8, The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Patroness of the USA, liturgical color white, Holy day of obligation (also a solemnity)	9, Wednesday of the second week of Advent, liturgical color violet	10, Thursday of the second week of Advent, liturgical color violet	11, Friday of the second week of Advent, liturgical color violet	12, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Americas, liturgical color white
13, Third Sunday of Advent, liturgical color rose or violet	14, Saint John of the Cross, Priest and Doctor of the Church, liturgical color white	15, Tuesday of the third week of Advent, liturgical color violet	16, Wednesday of the third week of Advent, liturgical color violet	17, December 17, liturgical color violet	18, December 18, liturgical color violet, this page	19, December 19, liturgical color violet
20, Fourth Sunday of Advent, liturgical color violet	21, December 21, liturgical color violet	22, December 22, liturgical color violet	23, December 23, liturgical color violet	24, December 24, liturgical color violet	25, The Nativity of the Lord (Christmas), liturgical color white, Holy day of obligation (also a solemnity)	26, Saint Stephen, the First Martyr, liturgical color red
27, The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, liturgical color white	28, The Holy Innocents, Martyrs, liturgical color red	29, Fifth Day within the Octave of the Nativity of the Lord, liturgical color white	30, Sixth Day within the Octave of the Nativity of the Lord, liturgical color white	31, Seventh Day within the Octave of the Nativity of the Lord, liturgical color white

Violet
White
Rose
Red
ObligHoly day of obligation (also a solemnity)

The dot shows the liturgical color of the day. Fridays outside Lent carry no marker.

A word for the day

To love is to wish good to someone.

Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, I-II, q. 26, a. 4. Translated by the Fathers of the English Dominican Province. Aquinas is quoting Aristotle (Rhetoric II, 4). Read it on Project Gutenberg.

The Rosary today

The Sorrowful Mysteries, prayed on Tuesday and Friday.

Pray the Sorrowful Mysteries About the Sorrowful Mysteries

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This calendar follows the General Roman Calendar for the United States. Some feasts are kept on other days in some provinces and dioceses, so check your parish calendar.

Calendar computed with romcal (MIT License). Reading citations from the Catholic Readings API (MIT License), with gaps checked against the USCCB pages. Douay-Rheims text courtesy of eBible.org.