Italian Catholic religious
Born 21/3/1470, 1474 or1475
Died 27/1/1540 Brescia. Foundress Ursulines
Invitation
May I hereby call your attention to
the daily reading of the Gospel?
This invitation wants to share with you the joy of the Gospel.
Everyone, no one excepted,
can experience that joy by opening his heart
to the healing effect of God’s word.
Available every morning from 7 a.m.
Consideration
The text presupposes a community that suffers tribulation and can still expect it. The initial period is over. A lot has happened (though no martyrdom). There was apparently great solidarity. Christians had to make fundamental decisions: what matters? What should and should not be lost? It comes down to perseverance and trust. Hence as an answer song psalm 37.
FIRST READING Heb 10:32-39
You have endured a severe test ;
do not throw your confidence overboard now.
From the letter to the Hebrews
Brothers and sisters,
Remember the days of the past,
when you received the light
and were immediately put to a severe test of suffering.
Some of you were openly rebuked and persecuted,
while others faithfully stood by them in their hour of need.
For you have remained in solidarity with those who were arrested.
You have even cheerfully endured
the confiscation of your property.
You were aware that you possessed something that was worth more
and that will never be lost.
Do not throw this trust away,
it is so richly rewarded!
What you need is perseverance,
to do God’s will and to win the promises.
For, says the Scriptures :
“A very short time remains
and He who is to come will come without delay.
My righteous one will save his life through faith,
but he who backslides cannot please Me.”
But we are not among those who flinch and are lost ;
we have faith and by faith win life.
INTERLUDIUM Ps. 37(36), 3-4, 5-6, 23-24, 39-40
The salvation of the pious comes from the Lord.
Trust in the Lord and do what is right,
then thou shalt safely inhabit thy land.
Seek your happiness from the Lord,
He gives what your heart desires.
Entrust to the Lord your way of life,
trust in Him, He will provide.
Thy honor shall shine like the dawn,
your right as the noonday sun.
Man’s walk receives its strength from God,
his path is guarded by the Lord.
Even if he stumbles he will not fall,
for God supports his hand.
The salvation of the pious comes from the Lord ;
He is their refuge in times of affliction.
The Lord stands by them and delivers them,
He saves those who turn to Him.
ALLELUIA Mt 4, 4b
Alleluia.
Not from bread alone does man live,
but from everything that comes from the mouth of God.
Alleluia.
GOSPEL Mk. 4, 26-34
The sower sows, he sleeps and rises,
and meanwhile the seed germinates and shoots up, but he does not know how.
From the Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to
Mark
At that time Jesus said to the crowd :
“It goes with the kingdom of God
as with a man who sows his land ;
he sleeps and rises, night and day,
and meanwhile the seed germinates and sprouts,
but he does not know how.
“By its own power the earth brings forth fruit ,
first the green culm, then the ear,
“As soon as the fruit allows it, he strikes the sickle,
for it is time for the harvest.”
And further :
“What comparison can we find for the kingdom of God
and in what parable shall we represent it ?
“It is like a mustard seed.
“When that is sown in the ground,
it may be the smallest seed on earth;
but once sown, it blossoms
and it grows bigger than all the plants in the garden,
and it gains large branches
so that the birds may nest in its shade.”
In many such parables He proclaimed to them his teaching
in the way they could understand.
Other than in parables, He did not speak to them ,
but once with his disciples alone
He explained everything.
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Laudato Si
Encyclic of
POPE FRANCIS
On the care of the common home
The light offered by faith
63. Taking into account the complexity of the ecological crisis and its numerous causes, we should recognise that solutions cannot come from one way of interpreting and changing reality. It is also necessary to resort to the various cultural resources of peoples, to art and poetry, to inner life and spirituality. If one really wants to build an ecology that allows us to restore all that we have destroyed, then no branch of the sciences, no form of wisdom should be neglected, nor that of religion with its own language. Moreover, the Catholic Church is open to dialogue with philosophical thought and this allows her to establish various syntheses between faith and reason. As for social issues, one can observe this in the development of the Church’s social teaching , called to constantly enrich itself, starting from new challenges.
To be continued
The Bible text in this issue is taken from The New Bible Translation,
©Dutch Bible Society 2004/2007.
Considerations from Liturgical Suggestions for Weekdays and Sundays
Laudato Si Official English translation