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
Nicodemus is searching, lifelong, day and night, for explanations for Jesus’ actions. Although a prominent Pharisee, he is sympathetic to Jesus. The questions he puts to Jesus show how difficult it was for the Jews to recognise in Jesus the presence of God, and to be born again of the Spirit in baptism. But it is precisely baptism that gives Jesus the opportunity to become human again and again among men. Do we dwell on this when we interact with other people-even those who are less like us?
FIRST READING Acts 4, 23-31
After prayer, all were filled with the Holy Spirit and boldly proclaimed the word of God.
From the Acts of the Apostles
In those days Peter and John
after their release to their own people,
and reported
of all that the high priests and elders had said to them.
When they heard this
they raised their voices in unison to God and prayed :
“Lord, it is You who made heaven and earth,
the sea and all that is in it,
Who through the Holy Spirit
said to your servant David:
Why do the peoples
and do the nations contrive to be idle?
The kings of the earth set themselves up
and the princes conspire
against the Lord and against his Anointed One.
“Indeed, they have conspired in this city
against your holy servant Jesus Whom you have anointed :
Both Herod and Pontius Pilate ,
together with the Gentiles and the tribes of Israel,
to do all things that thy hand and counsel
beforehand had determined should be done.
“But now Lord, give heed to their threats,
and give your servants that they may declare with all boldness
may proclaim your word,
and by the stretching out of thy hand
healings and miracles be done
through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”
After their prayer, the place where they were gathered trembled.
All were filled with the Holy Spirit
and boldly proclaimed the word of God.
INTERLUDIUM Ps. 2, 1-3, 4-6, 7-9
Happy those who revere the Lord.
Or : Alleluia.
Why are the peoples noisy,
are the nations plotting rebellion?
The rulers of the earth are rebelling,
the rulers find themselves
against the Lord and his anointed.
Let us break their chains,
their chains we cast off!
Who dwells in heaven, He laughs,
the Lord mocks them.
Then He sails out in his wrath
and smites them with terror for his wrath :
I myself have appointed my king
on Zion, my holy mountain.
This is the decree of the Lord :
He spake unto me, Thou art my son,
I have begotten Thee this day.
Ask me, I will give You the nations as an inheritance,
give you the earth as your property.
Break their resistance with iron scepter,
smash them to pieces like clay pots.
ALLELUIA Lk. 24, 46
Alleluia.
Christ had to suffer and die
and rise from the dead,
and thus enter into his glory.
Alleluia.
GOSPEL John 3, 1-8
If anyone is not reborn, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God.
From the holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to
John
There was among the Pharisees a person named Nicodemus.
He was among the foremost of the Jews.
Once this one came to Him in the night and said :
“Rabbi, we know that Thou hast come as a teacher from God,
for no one can do the signs which Thou hast done
unless God is with him.”
Jesus answered him :
“Verily, verily, I say unto thee :
If anyone is not born again
he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Nicodemus said to Him :
“How can a man be born when he is already old?
“Can he sometimes return into his mother’s womb
and be born again?”
Jesus answered :
“Verily, verily, I say unto you :
If any man be not born of water and of the spirit
he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
“What is born of the flesh is flesh
and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
“Marvel not that I said unto you :
Ye must be born again.
“The wind blows whithersoever it pleases ;
thou hearest its noise
but you do not know where it comes from, or where it is going;
so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
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Laudato Si
Encyclic by
POPE FRANCIS
On the care of the common home
142. If everything is interrelated, the state of health of a society’s institutions also brings consequences for the environment and the quality of human life: “Any damage to solidarity and friendship damages the environment”. In this sense, a social ecology is necessarily institutional and gradually reaches the various dimensions going through the local community and the nation from the primary social cell, the family, to international life. Within each social stratum and between its members, the institutions that regulate human relations develop. Everything that damages these brings harmful effects, such as the loss of freedom, injustice and violence. Several countries are governed by a shaky institutional system at the expense of the suffering of the people and for the benefit of those who earn from this state of affairs. Both within the national administration and in the various expressions of civil society or in the relations of the inhabitants among themselves, one observes unlawful behaviour with extraordinary regularity. Laws may have been properly enacted, but often they remain a dead letter. Can one then hope that legislation and standards concerning the environment are really effective? We know, for instance, that countries with clear legislation on forest protection remain silent witnesses to its regular violation. Moreover, what happens in one region directly or indirectly affects other regions. For instance, drug use in affluent societies causes a constant or growing demand for products coming from impoverished areas, where behaviour degenerates, lives are destroyed and people end up ruining the environment.
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
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