This document contains the readings and prayers for a church service. It includes a prayer to Mary to be with those struggling for truth, justice, and peace. The first reading is from Isaiah about God teaching people what is good and leading them in the right way. The Gospel reading recounts Jesus speaking to crowds about this generation being like children who did not dance or mourn as instructed. It also includes the entrance antiphon, psalm, Gospel acclamation, and prayer for the earth.

1. O Mother of Advent, be
with us as we pray that
Jesus will remain with
us in our struggles for
truth and hope, for
justice and peace
Amen

3. Entrance antiphon
Behold, the Lord will come
descending with splendour
to visit his people with
peace, and he will bestow on
them eternal life.

4. The First Reading

5. A reading from the Prophet
Isaiah 48: 17-19
Thus says the Lord, your
redeemer, the Holy One of
Israel: I, the Lord, your God,

6. teach you what is good for
you, I lead you in the way that
you must go. If only you had
been alert to my
commandments, your
happiness would have been

7. like a river, your integrity like
the waves of the sea. Your
children would have been
numbered like the sand, your
descendants as many as its
grains. Never would your

8. name have been cut off or
blotted out before me.

9. The Word
of the Lord
Thanks be to God.

10. Anyone who
follows you, O
Lord, will have the
light of life. The Psalm

11. Happy indeed is the man who
follows not the counsel of the
wicked; nor lingers in the way of
sinners nor sits in the company of
scorners, but whose delight is the
law of the Lord and who ponders
his law day and night.
The Psalm

12. Anyone who
follows you, O
Lord, will have the
light of life. The Psalm

13. He is like a tree that is planted
beside the flowing waters,
that yields its fruit in due season
and whose leaves shall never fade;
and all that he does shall prosper.
The Psalm

14. Anyone who
follows you, O
Lord, will have the
light of life. The Psalm

15. Not so are the wicked, not so!
For they like winnowed chaff
shall be driven away by the wind.
for the Lord guards the way of the
just but the way of the wicked
leads to doom.
The Psalm

16. Anyone who
follows you, O
Lord, will have the
light of life. The Psalm

17. Alleluia, alleluia!
See, the king, the Lord of the
world, will come.
He will free us from the yoke
of our bondage.
Alleluia! Gospel Acclamation

18. The Lord be with you.
And with your spirit.
A Reading from the holy Gospel
according to Matthew 11:16-19
Glory to you, O Lord.
The Gospel

19. Jesus spoke to the crowds:
‘What description can I find
for this generation? It is like
children shouting to each
other as they sit in the market
place: “We played the pipes

20. for you, and you wouldn’t
dance; we sang dirges, and
you wouldn’t be mourners.”
‘For John came, neither eating
nor drinking, and they say,
“He is possessed.” The Son of

21. Man came, eating and
drinking, and they say, “Look,
a glutton and a drunkard, a
friend of tax collectors and
sinners.” Yet wisdom has
been proved right by her

22. actions.’

23. The Gospel of the Lord
Praise to you, Lord
Jesus Christ.

24. Prayer for the earth
God of love, teach us to care
for this world, our common
home. Inspire government
leaders as they gather in
Paris:

25. to listen to and heed the cry of
the earth and the cry of the
poor; to be united in heart and
mind in responding
courageously; to seek the
common good and protect

26. the beautiful earthly garden you
have created for us, for all our
brothers and sisters, for all
generations to come. Amen