Entrance Hymn:  #45 “Oh, Come, All Ye Faithful” 

Prayer of the day: 

Lord God, You made Your beloved Son, our Savior, subject to the Law and caused Him to shed His blood on our behalf.  Grant us true circumcision of the Spirit that our hearts may be made pure from all sins; through Jesus Christ, Our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen. 

First Reading:

Isaiah 63:7-14                                                                          

The Lord’s Mercy Remembered

⁷ I will recount the steadfast love of the Lord,
    the praises of the Lord,
according to all that the Lord has granted us,
    and the great goodness to the house of Israel
that he has granted them according to his compassion,
    according to the abundance of his steadfast love.
⁸ For he said, “Surely they are my people,
    children who will not deal falsely.”
    And he became their Savior.
⁹ In all their affliction he was afflicted,
    and the angel of his presence saved them;
in his love and in his pity he redeemed them;
    he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.

¹⁰ But they rebelled
    and grieved his Holy Spirit;
therefore he turned to be their enemy,
    and himself fought against them.
¹¹ Then he remembered the days of old,
    of Moses and his people.
Where is he who brought them up out of the sea
    with the shepherds of his flock?
Where is he who put in the midst of them
    his Holy Spirit,
¹² who caused his glorious arm
    to go at the right hand of Moses,
who divided the waters before them
    to make for himself an everlasting name,
¹³     who led them through the depths?
Like a horse in the desert,
    they did not stumble.
¹⁴ Like livestock that go down into the valley,
    the Spirit of the Lord gave them rest.
So you led your people,
    to make for yourself a glorious name.

Jeremiah 31:15-17; antiphon: Hosea 11:1

L:  When Israel was a child, I loved him,

C:  and out of Egypt I called my son.

L:  Thus says the Lord: “A voice is heard in Ramah,

C:  lamentation and bitter weeping. 

L:  Rachel is weeping for her children;

C:  she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.”

L:  Thus says the Lord: “Keep your voice from weeping,

C:  and your eyes from tears,

L:  for there is a reward for your work, declares the Lord,

C:  and they shall come back from the land of the enemy.

L:  There is hope for your future, declares the Lord,

C:  and your children shall come back to their own country.” 

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

L:  When Israel was a child, I loved him,

C:  and out of Egypt I called my son.

Epistle:

Galatians 4:4-7                                     

⁴ But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, ⁵ to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. ⁶ And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” ⁷ So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

Gospel:

Matthew 2:13-23                                                                     

The Flight to Egypt

¹³ Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” ¹⁴ And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt ¹⁵ and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

Herod Kills the Children

¹⁶ Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. ¹⁷ Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah:

¹⁸ “A voice was heard in Ramah,
    weeping and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
    she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.”

The Return to Nazareth

¹⁹ But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, ²⁰ saying, “Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.” ²¹ And he rose and took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. ²² But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there, and being warned in a dream he withdrew to the district of Galilee. ²³ And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene.

Message Hymn:  #54 “It Came Upon the Midnight Clear”

Closing Hymn:  #60 “Hark!  The Herald Angels Sing”