Praying Brother of the Christian Schools
Born 20/3/1841 Died 30/1/1917
Canonised 10/12/1989
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
Faith is mentioned in the letter to the Hebrews in the same breath as tribulation, and perseverance in tribulation. Those who have gone before us were ordinary people of flesh and blood, who received powers from God that went far beyond what was human. We are not asked to copy their actions and lives: God has given us talents and gifts that help us to persevere in our faith in our lives, in the circumstances we face. And when those circumstances become very hard to bear, when our desires and dreams collapse because of misfortune, evil or sickness, the Lord will stand by us and give us the strength to persevere in the trial. He hears all who call upon Him.
FIRST READING Heb. 11, 32-40
By faith
our forefathers overthrew kingdoms.
God has something better in mind for us.
From the letter to the Hebrews
Brothers and sisters,
What more can I say?
I lack the time to tell stories of Gideon,
Barak, Samson and Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets.
By faith they overthrew kingdoms,
exercised justice,
enforced the fulfillment of promises.
They have shut lions’ mouths,
extinguished the glow of fire,
they escaped the sharp of the sword.
Their weakness became strength,
they became mighty in war,
and drove the enemy armies to flight.
Women regained their dead through resurrection from the dead.
Others were tortured to death
and rejected their release
to gain a better resurrection.
Still others endured mockery and beatings
and shackles and confinement.
They were stoned,
sawn in half,
executed with the sword.
They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins,
prey to deprivation, persecution, abuse.
They were too good for this world.
They fled in deserts and on mountains,
they hid in caves and holes in the ground.
They too have all
acquired a name by their faith.
Yet none of them saw the promise fulfilled.
God had something better in mind for us and did not want
that they would reach their consummation without us.
INTERLUDIUM Ps. 31(30), 20, 21, 22, 23, 24
Take courage and be fearless
all of you who hope in the Lord.
How great are your benefits, Lord,
which Thou hast destined for those who fear Thee.
Thou givest them to every one that cometh to Thee,
perceptible to all men.
The radiance of thy Face protecteth him always
when men turn against him.
Thou takest him in thy tent,
sheltered from evil tongues.
Blessed be the Lord, for his wondrous goodness
has protected me like a fortified city.
Defeated and despondent I have said :
Thou hast completely lost sight of me.
But no, Thou hast heard my pleading,
my voice crying out to Thee.
Then love the Lord, all his pious ones,
the Lord preserve all those who remain faithful to Him.
But whoso turneth against Him in pride
He repays with usury.
ALLELUIA cf. Lk. 8, 15
Alleluia
Blessed are those who keep the word of God which they have heard
in a good and noble heart
and bring forth fruit by their constancy.
Alleluia
GOSPEL Mk. 5, 1-20
Unclean spirit, get out of that man.
From the Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Mark
In those days Jesus and his disciples came
to the other side of the lake
in the land of Gerasenes.
Hardly had He stepped out of the boat,
when out of the caverns there stepped a man who was in the power of an evil spirit.
He dwelt in the tombs and no one was able
to bind him even with a chain,
for he had been repeatedly
been shackled in foot and handcuffs,
but the handcuffs he had pulled apart
and the footcuffs shattered.
So no one was in a position to overwhelm him.
Day and night he was continuously
in the tombs and in the mountains screaming
and pounding himself with stones.
When he saw Jesus in the distance
he rushed at Him and fell on his foot.
Screaming loudly he cried out :
“What have You to do with me, Jesus,
Son of God, the Most High?
“I beseech thee by God, torment me not!”
For Jesus had said to him :
“Unclean spirit, depart from that man.”
Thereupon Jesus asked him :
“What is thy name ?”
He answered :
“My name is Legion
for we are many.”
And he pleaded with Jesus urgently
that He would not drive them out of the region.
Now there, against the mountainside, they were
herding a large herd of boars.
They pleaded with Him :
“Send us into those swine and let us go in them.”
He allowed them to do so.
The unclean spirits went out of the possessed one,
entered into the pigs
and the troop plunged from the steep bank into the lake,
about two thousand,
and they drowned.
The boar herders took flight
and told in the city and in the country.
Thereupon the people came to see
what had happened.
They came to Jesus and saw the possessed man sitting down,
clothed and in his right mind,
the same one who had been in the power of Legion ;
and they were seized with fear.
Those who had seen it
told them how it had gone with the possessed man,
and told them also of the pigs.
Then they began to urge Him
to leave their region.
But when Jesus got into the boat
asked the man who had been possessed
asked to stay with Him.
Jesus, however, did not allow this,
but told him :
“Go home ,
to your own
and tell them all that the Lord has done to you
and how He has shown you mercy.”
The man went and began to proclaim in Dekapolis all
what Jesus had done to him.
And all stood amazed.
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Laudato Si
Encyclic of
POPE FRANCIS
On the care of the common home
66. The creation stories in the book of Genesis, in their symbolic and narrative language, contain a deep teaching on human existence and its historical reality. These stories suggest that human existence is based on three fundamental, closely linked relationships: the relationship with God, that with one’s neighbour and that with the earth. According to the Bible, these three vital relationships are broken, not only outside us, but also within us. This rupture is sin. The harmony between Creator, humanity and all creation has been destroyed because we have had the pretence of taking the place of God. This fact has also changed the nature of the task of subduing this earth and working and guarding it. As a result, the originally harmonious relationship between human being and nature has turned into a conflict. Therefore, it is significant that the harmony that St Francis of Assisi experienced with all creatures has been interpreted as a healing of this rift. St Bonaventure said that through the universal reconciliation with all creatures, St Francis was somehow restored to the state of original innocence. Far from that model, sin in all its destructive power is visible today in wars, in the various forms of violence and abuse, in the abandonment of the most vulnerable, in attacks on nature.
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 the weekdays and Sundays
Laudato Si Official English translation