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

Thursday, December 23, 2027

December 23

The liturgical day

December 23

  • Advent
  • Liturgical color: Violet

The Mass readings

First reading
Malachi 3:1-4, 23-24
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 25:4-5ab, 8-9, 10 and 14
Gospel
Luke 1:57-66

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: Malachi 3:1-4, 23-24

Douay-Rheims: Malachias 3:1-4; 4:5-6

3:1Behold I send my angel, and he shall prepare the way before my face. And presently the Lord, whom you seek, and the angel of the testament, whom you desire, shall come to his temple. Behold he cometh, saith the Lord of hosts. 2And who shall be able to think of the day of his coming? and who shall stand to see him? for he is like a refining fire, and like the fuller’s herb: 3And he shall sit refining and cleansing the silver, and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and shall refine them as gold, and as silver, and they shall offer sacrifices to the Lord in justice. 4And the sacrifice of Juda and of Jerusalem shall please the Lord, as in the days of old, and in the ancient years.

4:5Behold I will send you Elias the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. 6And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers: lest I come, and strike the earth with anathema.

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 25:4-5ab, 8-9, 10 and 14

Douay-Rheims: Psalm 24:4-5, 8-10, 14 (Psalm 25 at Mass)

4Let all them be confounded that act unjust things without cause. Shew, O Lord, thy ways to me, and teach me thy paths. 5Direct me in thy truth, and teach me; for thou art God my Saviour; and on thee have I waited all the day long.

8The Lord is sweet and righteous: therefore he will give a law to sinners in the way. 9He will guide the mild in judgment: he will teach the meek his ways. 10All the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth, to them that seek after his covenant and his testimonies.

14The Lord is a firmament to them that fear him: and his covenant shall be made manifest to them.

Gospel: Luke 1:57-66

Douay-Rheims: Luke 1:57-66

57Now Elizabeth’s full time of being delivered was come, and she brought forth a son. 58And her neighbours and kinsfolks heard that the Lord had shewed his great mercy towards her, and they congratulated with her. 59And it came to pass, that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they called him by his father’s name Zachary. 60And his mother answering, said: Not so; but he shall be called John. 61And they said to her: There is none of thy kindred that is called by this name. 62And they made signs to his father, how he would have him called. 63And demanding a writing table, he wrote, saying: John is his name. And they all wondered. 64And immediately his mouth was opened, and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God. 65And fear came upon all their neighbours; and all these things were noised abroad over all the hill country of Judea. 66And all they that had heard them laid them up in their heart, saying: What an one, think ye, shall this child be? For the hand of the Lord was with him.

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 2027

December 2027
SunMonTueWedThuFriSat
1, Wednesday of the first week of Advent, liturgical color violet2, Thursday of the first week of Advent, liturgical color violet3, Saint Francis Xavier, Priest, liturgical color white4, Saturday of the first week of Advent, liturgical color violet
5, Second Sunday of Advent, liturgical color violet6, Monday of the second week of Advent, liturgical color violet7, Saint Ambrose, Bishop and Doctor of the Church, liturgical color white8, The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Patroness of the USA, liturgical color white, Holy day of obligation (also a solemnity)9, Thursday of the second week of Advent, liturgical color violet10, Friday of the second week of Advent, liturgical color violet11, Saturday of the second week of Advent, liturgical color violet
12, Third Sunday of Advent, liturgical color rose or violet13, Saint Lucy, Virgin and Martyr, liturgical color red14, Saint John of the Cross, Priest and Doctor of the Church, liturgical color white15, Wednesday of the third week of Advent, liturgical color violet16, Thursday of the third week of Advent, liturgical color violet17, December 17, liturgical color violet18, December 18, liturgical color violet
19, Fourth Sunday of Advent, liturgical color violet20, December 20, liturgical color violet21, December 21, liturgical color violet22, December 22, liturgical color violet23, December 23, liturgical color violet, this page24, December 24, liturgical color violet25, The Nativity of the Lord (Christmas), liturgical color white, Holy day of obligation (also a solemnity)
26, The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, liturgical color white27, Saint John, Apostle and Evangelist, liturgical color white28, The Holy Innocents, Martyrs, liturgical color red29, Fifth Day within the Octave of the Nativity of the Lord, liturgical color white30, Sixth Day within the Octave of the Nativity of the Lord, liturgical color white31, Seventh Day within the Octave of the Nativity of the Lord, liturgical color white

Key

  • 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.

Saint of the day

  • Saint John of Kanty, PriestOptional memorial. Died in 1473.

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 Luminous Mysteries, prayed on Thursday.

Keep this day

Or follow every day in your calendar app: subscribe to the daily calendar (calendar file).

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.