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
When some Christians focus only on God and neglect their neighbour, they must be cutting out half of the gospel. But right now, the pendulum is swinging in the other direction. People often identify Christianity with love and attention to neighbour and rarely talk about God. Our task is to hold these two poles and never separate them. Then we too will not be far from the Kingdom of God.
FIRST READING Hos. 14, 2-10
We shall never again say to the creature of our hands : Thou art our God !
From the prophet Hosea
Thus speaks the Lord :
“Repent, Israel, to the Lord your God,
for for your sins you have stumbled.
“Come with your words as a gift,
Repent to the Lord and tell Him :
Surely thou forgive all guilt ;
accept also our good will :
we will give our words as sacrificial animals .
“Assur cannot save us ;
we shall ride horses no more
and never again say to the work of our hands: Thou art our God.
“For thou, Lord, art the one
from whom the orphan finds mercy.
“I want to heal them of their infidelity
and give them my love with all my heart.
“My wrath has turned away from them.
“I want to be to Israel as the dew :
like a lily it will blossom
and he will shoot roots, as on the Lebanon.
“His shoots sprout,
its splendor equals that of the olive tree,
its fragrance that of the Lebanon.
“They will sit again in its shade ;
they shall be able to grow corn,
they shall blossom as the vine
and be renowned as the wine of Lebanon.
“What then have I to do with the idols, Ephraim?
“It is I who hear him
and who looks after him.
“I am like the evergreen cypress tree:
To Me your fruits are due.
“Who is so wise that he is aware of this,
who is so wise as to realize this?
“Indeed, straight are the ways of the Lord :
The righteous walk in them,
but rebels fall in them.”
INTERLUDIUM Ps. 81(80), 6c-8a, 8bc-9, 10-11, ab,14, 17
I am the Lord, your only God,
hear then, my people, when I warn you !
Now I hear a voice, which I never heard :
I have taken the burden from your shoulders.
Thy hands left the carrying baskets ;
thou hast called Me, I have delivered thee.
Out of thunderclouds I answered thee,
At Meriba I put you to the test.
Hear then, my people, when I warn you,
Israel, listen to me!
Never should there be a foreign god with you,
do not worship gods from other lands.
For I am the Lord, your only God,
who brought you out of Egypt.
Ah, if only my people would listen to me,
if only Israel would walk in my ways;
I would feed my people with wheat flour,
saturate them with honey from the rock.
VERSE FOR THE GOSPEL Ps. 95(94), 8ab
Listen today to the voice of the Lord,
and do not be obstinate.
GOSPEL Mk 12, 28b-34
The Lord our God is the only Lord; you shall love Him with all your heart.
From the holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to
Mark
At that time a scribe came to Jesus
and put to Him the question :
“What is the very first commandment?”
Jesus answered :
“The first is :
Hear, Israel !
“The Lord our God is the only Lord.
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
all your soul, all your mind and all your strength.
“The second is this:
Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
“There is no other commandment more important than these two.”
Then the scribe said to Him :
“Right Master, rightly have You said :
He is the only one and there is no other besides Him ;
and love Him with all his heart,
with all his mind and all his strength
and love your neighbor as yourself
that is above all fire and casualties.”
Seeing that he had spoken wisely, Jesus said to him :
“Thou art not far from the kingdom of God.”
And no one dared to ask Him another question.
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Laudato Si
Encyclic by
POPE FRANCIS
On the care of the common home
112. However, it is possible to broaden the view again and human freedom is capable of constraining technology, giving it a direction and putting it at the service of a different type of progress, healthier, more humane, more social and more integral. In fact, liberation from the prevailing technocratic paradigm occurs on a few occasions. For example, when communities of small producers choose less polluting systems of production, supporting a non-consumptive model of life, happiness and coexistence. Or when technology aims first and foremost to solve the concrete problems of others, working to help them live with more dignity and less suffering. And also, when the creative search for the beautiful and its contemplation succeed in transcending objectifying power in a kind of salvation that comes about in the beautiful and in the person who beholds it. Authentic humanity, inviting a new synthesis, seems to dwell, as it were, barely perceptible amid technological civilisation like a mist filtering under a closed door. Despite everything, will it remain an enduring promise, emerging as a persistent resistance of what is authentic?
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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