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 day.
CONSIDERATION
What needs to disappear and be removed from our midst? Threatening, falsely accusing fingers? Lies and injustice? People who are oppressed and hungry? What then comes into the midst of us? Light and joy, life, strength and hope. The image of rebuilding ruins is not just the image of destroyed Jerusalem. It is the image of God himself who is violated in every human being and must be restored again and again. Closing breaches where people have grown apart, bringing life again where it has been hurt and bruised, that is the task par excellence for our Lent. Follow me, Jesus says in the Gospel.
FIRST READING Isa 58, 9b-14
When you no longer pursue your gain, you will find joy in the Lord.
From the Prophet Isaiah
Thus speaks God the Lord :
“When you remove from your midst the oppression
and the threatening fingers and the evil speaking,
when you open your heart to the hungry
and satiate the sorrowful ,
then your light shines in the darkness,
then your night becomes like the afternoon.
“Then the Lord will continue to guide you ;
He will saturate thee in dry places
and to thy bones He will give strength.
“As a watered garden shalt thou then become,
like a spring, whose waters never cease to run.
“Then shalt thou rebuild the old ruins
and restore ye the foundations of old.
‘The restorer shall be called thee,
“the one who brings life to the streets again.
“When ye on the Sabbath
no longer undertake a journey
and on my holy mountain
no longer pursue thy advantage,
when ye call the Sabbath your joy
and observe the holy day of the Lord,
when ye keep that day in honour.
By not pursuing your affairs
and not seeking your advantage
and doing no business,
then ye shall find joy in the Lord ;
then I will carry you over all the mountains of the earth
and let you enjoy
of the inheritance of Jacob thy father.”
Truly, by the mouth of the Lord
this word is spoken !
INTERLUDIUM Ps. 86(85), 1-2, 3-4, 5-6
Teach me your way, Lord, to follow it faithfully.
Hear my prayer, Lord, and will hear me,
I am unhappy and poor.
Protect me, for I am devoted to you,
take care of your servant, for he is counting on You.
Surely my God be Thou, have mercy on me,
for I cry unto Thee continually.
Rejoice in the heart of your servant, Lord,
I turn to Thee in confidence.
For Thou art good and merciful, Lord,
merciful to all who call upon Thee.
Listen then, Lord, to my prayer,
hear my pleading voice.
VERSE FOR THE GOSPEL Ez 18, 31
Cast away all the transgressions which ye have committed
from thee, saith the Lord,
and renew your hearts and your minds.
GOSPEL Lk. 5, 27-32
I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, that they may repent.
From the holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to
Luke
At that time,
coming to the house of tolls, Jesus turned his gaze
at a tax collector who was sitting there,
a certain Levi.
He said to him :
“Follow Me.”
The man got up, left everything, and followed Him.
Now Levi offered Him a great feast in his house,
among other things, many tax collectors joined them.
The Pharisees, especially the scribes among them, complained about this to His disciples:
“Why
-said they –
eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”
But Jesus took the floor and spoke :
“It is not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick.
“I have not come to call the righteous
but sinners,
that they may come to repentance.”
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Laudato Si
Encyclic of
POPE FRANCIS
On the care of the common home
92. On the other hand, when the heart is truly open to universal fellowship, nothing and no one is excluded from that fellowship. Consequently, it is also true that indifference or cruelty to the other creatures of this world is always ultimately transferred in one way or another to the treatment we reserve for other human beings. The heart is only one side, and it will not be long before the misery that leads one to mistreat an animal also becomes apparent in one’s relationship with other persons. Any mistreatment of any creature “is contrary to human dignity.” We cannot think of ourselves as people who truly love if we exclude a part of reality. “Peace, justice and the preservation of creation are three issues that are intimately connected, which one will never be able to separate, so that they can be dealt with separately, on pain of falling once again into reductionism. Everything is in relation to each other and all of us, human beings, are united as brothers and sisters in a miraculous pilgrimage, linked by the love that God has for each of his creatures and which also unites us among ourselves with tender affection to sister sun, brother moon, brother river and mother earth.
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