WELCOME TO OUR LITURGY:  Imagine Mary and Elizabeth hugging in greeting and the two babies meeting.  Mary sings her song of gratitude.  We also sing:  Hail Mary full of Grace.  Hail Mary, woman of mystery, woman of prayer, Hail Mary, who reveals the secret of Christ within us, Hail Mary present at our hearth and table, Hail Mary with us at every birth, marriage, suffering and death.  Hail Mary with us at every resurrection.  Hail May the hidden of God.

First Reading:
Micah 5:1-4.   

1      Now you are walled about with a wall; siege is laid against us; with a rod they strike upon the cheek the ruler of Israel.
2     But you, O Bethlehem Eph'rathah, who are little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.
3     Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in travail has brought forth; then the rest of his brethren shall return to the people of Israel.
4     And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth.

Second Reading:
Hebrews 10:5-10.   

5     Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, "Sacrifices and offerings thou hast not desired, but a body hast thou prepared for me;
6     in burnt offerings and sin offerings thou hast taken no pleasure.
7     Then I said, `Lo, I have come to do thy will, O God, 'as it is written of me in the roll of the book."
8     When he said above, "Thou hast neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings" (these are offered according to the law),
9     then he added, "Lo, I have come to do thy will." He abolishes the first in order to establish the second.
10     And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Gospel Reading:
Luke 1:39-45.

39      In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a city of Judah,
40     and she entered the house of Zechari'ah and greeted Elizabeth.
41     And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit
42     and she exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!
43     And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
44     For behold, when the voice of your greeting came to my ears, the babe in my womb leaped for joy.
45     And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her from the Lord."