Readings for Celebrating Advent

“My soul declares that the Lord is great,
⁴⁷ my spirit exults in my savior, my God.
⁴⁸ He saw his servant-girl in her humility;
from now, I’ll be blessed by all peoples to come.
⁴⁹ The Powerful One, whose name is Holy,
has done great things for me, for me.
⁵⁰ His mercy extends from father to son,
from mother to daughter for those who fear him.
⁵¹ Powerful things he has done with his arm:
he routed the arrogant through their own cunning.
⁵² Down from their thrones he hurled the rulers,
up from the earth he raised the humble.
⁵³ The hungry he filled with the fat of the land,
but the rich he sent off with nothing to eat.
⁵⁴ He has rescued his servant, Israel his child,
because he remembered his mercy of old,
⁵⁵ just as he said to our long-ago ancestors—
Abraham and his descendants forever.”