A Catholic guide for saints, prayer, and practical devotional reading.
Thursday after Epiphany. Christmas. A clean reading layout for church, prayer, or preparation.
The Roman Catholic readings for this date are shown below on-site. Use plain reading mode if you want clearer modern wording, or switch back to the original Douay-Rheims wording at any time.
On-site scripture text: Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition. Plain mode is a built-in reading aid that modernizes older wording for easier understanding while keeping the same Roman Catholic reading references for the day.
1 John 4:19–5:4
Read this as the first big movement of the day. Notice what God is doing, who is speaking, and what part of the story or teaching should stay with you.
Full on-site text is not available for this reference yet, so use the reference above and the official link below.
Psalm 72:1-2, 14 and 15bc, 17
The psalm is meant to be prayed, not rushed. If the wording feels older, focus on the main movement of the prayer: trust, praise, sorrow, gratitude, or hope.
1A psalm on Solomon.
2Give to the king your judgment, OH God: and to the king's son your righteousness: To judge your people with righteousness, and your poor with judgment.
17Let his name be blessed for evermore$1 his name continueth before the sun. And in him shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed: all nations shall magnify him.
Luke 4:14-22
The Gospel is the center of the reading set. Pay close attention to what Jesus says, what Jesus does, and what response he is asking for.
14And Jesus returned in the power of the spirit, into Galilee, and the fame of him went out through the whole country.
15And he taught in their synagogues, and was magnified by all.
16And he came to Nazareth, where he was brought up: and he went into the synagogue, according to his custom, on the sabbath day; and he rose up to read.
17And the book of Isaias the prophet was gave to him. And as he unfolded the book, he found the place where it was written:
18The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. Therefore he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, he has sent me to heal the sorry of heart,
19To preach rescue to the captives, and sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of reward.
20And when he had folded the book, he restored it to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.
21And he began to say to them: This day is fulfilled this scripture in your ears.
22And all gave teaching to him: and they wondered at the words of grace that proceeded from his mouth, and they said: Is not this the son of Joseph?
This page uses the Catholic Readings API for the day's references and liturgical celebration data, while the on-site scripture text is rendered from the public-domain Douay-Rheims Bible distributed through the Open Bibles project.