Catholic Daily Reading Today, 18 December 2021 | Saturday

First Reading (Jer 23,5-8)

5Look, the days are coming, Yahweh declares, when I shall raise an upright Branch for David; he will reign as king and be wise, doing what is just and upright in the country.
6In his days Judah will triumph and Israel live in safety. And this is the name he will be called, ‘Yahweh-is-our-Saving-Justice.’ “
7’So, look, the days are coming, Yahweh declares, when people will no longer say, “As Yahweh lives who brought the Israelites out of Egypt,”
8but, “As Yahweh lives who led back and brought home the offspring of the House of Israel from the land of the north and all the countries to which he had driven them, to live on their own soil.” ‘

Psalm (Ps 72,1-2.12-13.18-19)

1[Of Solomon] God, endow the king with your own fair judgement, the son of the king with your own saving justice, 2that he may rule your people with justice, and your poor with fair judgement.
12For he rescues the needy who calls to him, and the poor who has no one to help.
13He has pity on the weak and the needy, and saves the needy from death.
18Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, who alone works wonders; 19blessed for ever his glorious name. May the whole world be filled with his glory! Amen! Amen!

Gospel (Mt 1,18-25)

18This is how Jesus Christ came to be born. His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph; but before they came to live together she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.
19Her husband Joseph, being an upright man and wanting to spare her disgrace, decided to divorce her informally.
20He had made up his mind to do this when suddenly the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because she has conceived what is in her by the Holy Spirit.
21She will give birth to a son and you must name him Jesus, because he is the one who is to save his people from their sins.’
22Now all this took place to fulfil what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: 23Look! the virgin is with child and will give birth to a son whom they will call Immanuel, a name which means ‘God-is-with-us’.
24When Joseph woke up he did what the angel of the Lord had told him to do: he took his wife to his home; 25he had not had intercourse with her when she gave birth to a son; and he named him Jesus.