Invitation
May I hereby draw your attention to
the daily reading of the Gospel?
This invitation wants to share with you the joy of the Gospel.
Everyone, no one except,
can experience this joy by opening his heart
to the healing effect of God’s word.
Available every day.
Consideration
After the stoning of Stephen, church persecution erupted violently. We can see three things in this; as a discerning historian, Luke observes that the persecution and spread is a core to mission. But as a faithful theologian, he looks even deeper. Stephen’s sacrifice is not fruitless. He places the story of his burial between two remarks on persecution. Finally, he places the name of Paul next to that of Stephen: The martyr next to the persecutor of the church. It is as if he were already foretelling the conversion and the calling of the missionary to the Gentiles: The persecutor of the church who would one day become a martyr.
FIRST READING Acts 8, 1-8
They went about proclaiming the word of the Good News.
From the Acts of the Apostles
After the death of Stephen
a fierce persecution broke out
against the Church in Jerusalem.
All spread out over the countryside of Judea and Samaria,
except for the apostles.
Pious men buried Stephen and held a great mourning over him.
Saul, however, raged against the church,
breaking into house after house, dragging men and women away
and delivered them up to be put in prison.
Now those who had scattered went about proclaiming the word of the Good News.
So Philip came to the city of Samaria
and there he preached the Messiah.
Philip’s words met with universal approval
when the people heard what he said
and when they saw the signs he performed.
The unclean spirits came out of many possessed people with loud screaming
and many lame men and cripple were healed.
There was great joy in that city.
INTERLUDIUM Ps 66(65), 1-3a, 4-5, 6-7a
Rejoice before God, all the nations of the earth,
sing to the glory of his name.
Rejoice before God, all the countries of the earth,
sing the glory of his name.
Give Him your homage, and say unto your God :
Marvel at all thy deeds.
All the earth must worship You,
sing to thy holy Name.
Come and see what God has done,
astonishing deeds among men.
He made the sea a dry valley,
they went on foot through the bed.
Let us rejoice for Him
who reigns forever by his power.
ALLELUIA John 10, 14
Alleluia.
I am the good shepherd, says the Lord.
I know my own and my own know Me.
Alleluia.
GOSPEL John 6, 35-40
This is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son should have eternal life.
From the Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to
John
At that time Jesus said to the crowd :
“I am the bread of life :
Whoever comes to Me will never be hungry again,
and whoever believes in Me will never thirst again.
“But I told you already that you do not believe,
though ye have seen Me.
“All that the Father gives Me will come to Me,
and whosoever cometh unto Me I will not cast out.
“For I am come down from heaven,
not to do my own will
but the will of Him who sent Me ;
and this is the will of Him who sent Me,
that I will not let anything of what He has given Me go to waste
but raise it up at the last day.
“This is the will of my Father,
that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him
will have eternal life;
and I will raise him up at the last day.”
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Laudato Si
Encyclic of
POPE FRANCIS
On Care of the Common Home
151. It is necessary to provide public spaces, perspectival frameworks and urban reference points that reinforce our sense of belonging, our experience of rooting, our “feeling at home” within the city that contains and unites us. It is important for the different parts of a city to be well integrated and for residents to be able to have a general overview, rather than locking themselves into a neighbourhood and thus refraining from experiencing the whole city as a private space shared with others. Any intervention in urban or rural areas should take into account how the different elements of place form a whole that is experienced by residents as a framework coherent with its wealth of meanings. Thus, the other ceases to be a stranger and can be seen as part of an “us” that we form together. For this reason, in both urban and rural environments, it is expedient to reserve only spaces where human interventions, which constantly change them, are avoided.
To be continued
The Bible text in this edition is taken from The New Translation of the Bible,
©Nederlands Bijbelgenootschap 2004/2007.
Recitals from Liturgical suggestions for the weekdays and Sundays
Laudato Si Official English translation
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