December 14th, 2003, Memorial of St. John of the Cross, priest and doctor of the church.

A reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah. I am the Lord, your God, who grasp your right hand.

It is I who say to you, fear not, I will help you. Fear not, O worm, Jacob, O maggot, Israel. I will help you,

says the Lord. Your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel. I will make of you a threshing sledge,

sharp, new, and double-edged. To thresh the mountains and crush them, to make the hills like chaff.

When you winnow them, the wind shall carry them off and the storm shall scatter them.

But you shall rejoice in the Lord and glory in the Holy One of Israel.

The afflicted and the needy seek water in vain. Their tongues are parched with thirst. I, the Lord, will

answer them. I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. I will open up rivers on the bare heights

and fountains in the broad valleys. I will turn the desert into a marshland and the dry ground into springs of water. I will plant in

the desert the cedar, acacia, myrtle, and olive. I will set in the wasteland the cypress,

together with the plain tree and the pine that all may see and know, observe and understand that the

hand of the Lord has done this.

The Holy One of Israel has created it, the Word of the Lord."

The responsorial Psalm.

The response is, The Lord is gracious and merciful,

slow to anger,

and of great kindness.

I will extol you,

O my God and King,

and I will bless your name forever and ever.

The Lord is good to all

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