December 13, 2004, Memorial of St. Lucie, Virgin and Martyr.

A reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah.

Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.

I, the Lord your God, teach you what is for your good, and lead you on the way you should go.

If you would hearken to my commandments, your prosperity would be like a river, and your vindication like the waves of the sea.

Your descendants would be like the sand, and those born of your stock like its grains,

their name never cut off or blotted out from my presence.

The Word of the Lord.

The Responsorial Psalm

The response is,

Those who follow you, Lord, will have the light of life.

Blessed the man who follows not the counsel of the wicked, nor walks in the way of sinners,

nor sits in the company of the insolent, but delights in the law of the Lord and meditates on his law day and night.

Those who follow you, Lord, will have the light of life. He is like a tree planted

near running water that yields its fruit in due season and whose leaves never fade. Whatever he does

prospers. Those who follow you, Lord, will have the light of life.

Not so the wicket, not so.

They are like chaff which the wind drives away.

For the Lord watches over the way of the just,

but the way of the wicket vanishes.

Those who follow you, Lord, will have the light of life.

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew. Jesus said to the crowds,

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