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 power of God’s word.
Available every day.
Consideration
Since Jesus’ death, the cross of Jesus has been an integral part of the Christian’s life. Those who want to follow Him meet the temptations He Himself went through in the desert, namely: to save his life; to win the whole world; to reach the glory of God. To follow Him is to “go his Way, let go, lose, deny Himself, be crucified, in order through it all to go up with Him to Easter. Truly a true conversion. His words are addressed not only to the apostles but to each of us.
FIRST READING Dt. 30, 15-20
Behold, I hold before you today life and happiness.
From the Book of Deuteronomy
Moses took the floor and spoke to the people :
“I hold before you today life and happiness ,
but also death and misfortune.
“If you listen to the commandments of the Lord your God ,
which I give unto you this day,
if ye love the Lord your God,
go his ways and keep his commandments,
rules and regulations,
then shall ye live and be multiplied
and the Lord thy God shall bless thee
in the land, which thou wilt take possession of.
“But if thy heart go astray ,
if thou listen not and be tempted,
so that thou bow down and worship other gods,
then I announce unto thee this day,
that you will perish and that you will not live long
on the ground which you are going to take possession of after the crossing.
“I take this day heaven and earth as witnesses against thee.
“Life and death I hold before thee, blessing and curse.
“Choose life then,
and thou and thy descendants shall have life,
by loving the Lord thy God,
listening to Him and remaining attached to Him.
“For upon this it depends, whether ye shall live
And whether ye shall dwell long upon the ground ,
which the Lord gave to thy fathers,
to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob by oath.”
INTERLUDIUM Ps. 1, 1-2, 3, 4, 6
Happy is the man who puts his hope in the Lord
(Ps. 40(39), 5a).
Happy is the man who refuses to do
What wicked men advise him ;
Who does not go the ways of sinners,
does not sit in the midst of mockers.
He is like a tree, planted by the water ,
which bears fruit in its time;
In summer his leaves do not wither,
but whatever he does brings him prosperity.
The wicked do not fare so well:
the wind blows them away like chaff.
For the Lord watches the way of the righteous
the way of sinners is a dead end.
VERS FOR THE GOSPEL Ps. 95(94), 8 ab
Listen today to the voice of the Lord,
and be not obstinate.
GOSPEL Lk. 9, 22-25
Whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.
From the holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to
Luke
At that time Jesus said to his disciples :
“The Son of Man ,
must suffer much
and be rejected by the elders,
high priests and scribes,
but after being put to death
He will rise on the third day.”
But to all He spoke:
“Whoever wants to be my follower ,
must follow Me by denying himself
and by taking up his cross every day.
“For whoever wants to save his life will lose it.
“But whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.
“What use is it for a man to gain all the world,
if by so doing he causes himself his ruin and death?”
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Laudato Si
Encyclic of
POPE FRANCIS-
On the care of the common home
90. This does not mean making all living beings equal and depriving human beings of the special value that at the same time carries with it a heavy responsibility. Nor does it mean a deification of the earth that would deprive us of our vocation to cooperate with her and protect her fragility. These views would eventually lead to a new imbalance in an attempt to escape the reality that questions us. One sometimes sees an obsession with denying the human person any priority, and there is a struggle for the other species that we do not initiate to defend equal dignity among humans. Certainly, it should fill us with concern that the other living beings are treated in an irresponsible manner, but above all, we should be disturbed by the enormous inequality that exists among us because we continue to tolerate the fact that some consider themselves more worthy than others. We no longer notice that some drag themselves on in degrading misery, while others do not even know what to do with what they possess, vainly flaunting a supposed sense of superiority and leaving such a degree of waste that it would be impossible to generalize, without destroying the planet. We continue to allow some to feel more human than others, as if they were born with more rights.
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
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