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 that joy by opening their hearts
to the healing power of God’s word.
Available every day.
Opening word
The Lord gathers us here as his disciples.
He calls us all by name.
He needs workers to be
In today’s world,
to live in such a way that it becomes visible
that the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.
In the awareness of our smallness and brokenness
we ask the Lord at the beginning of this celebration
first for his mercy.
FIRST READING Ex. 19, 2-6a
You shall be my priestly kingdom and my holy people.
From the Book of Exodus
In those days the Israelites came into the Sinai Desert
where they set up camp close to the mountain.
Moses went up the mountain to God.
When he was at the top, the Lord spoke to him there and said:
“This thou must say to the house of Jacob
and make known to the children of Israel:
With your own eyes, ye have seen
how I have acted against Egypt,
how I carried you on eagles’ wings
and brought you here to Me.
“If ye obey My word
and keep My covenant,
then you shall – though the whole earth belongs to Me –
of all nations will be My property in a special way.
“You shall be My priestly kingdom
and My holy people.”
RESPONSORIAL Ps. 100(99), 2, 3, 5
Refrain
We are God’s flock, his people.
Rejoice before the Lord, all nations,
serve the Lord with joy,
tread before his face with jubilation.
Truly, the Lord is God,
He is the Creator and Master,
we are his flock, his people.
He is good to us,
endless is his mercy,
his faithfulness from generation to generation.
SECOND READING Rom. 5, 6-11
If we are reconciled to God through the death of his Son,
the more surely we shall be saved by his life.
From the letter of the holy apostle Paul to the Christians of Rome
Brothers and sisters
Christ died for the ungodly
at the appointed time,
when we were still completely helpless.
One will not easily find someone
who gives his life for a righteous person,
though perhaps someone in a particular case
obtain this from himself.
God, however, proves his love for us precisely by this,
that Christ died for us
while we were still sinners.
All the more surely will we,
having once been justified by his blood,
we will escape wrath thanks to Him.
When we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son;
all the more surely, once reconciled,
be saved by His life.
And not only that:
Already now we rejoice in God
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
through whom we have received reconciliation.
Verse for the Gospel Mk. 1, 15
Alleluia.
The Kingdom of God is at hand;
repent and believe in the Good News.
Alleluia.
GOSPEL Mt 9:36-10.8
He called his twelve disciples to him and sent them out.
From the Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew
At that time, on seeing the crowd, Jesus was
moved by pity,
because they were lying waste like sheep without a shepherd.
Then He spoke to His disciples:
“The harvest may be great,
but laborers are few.
“Therefore ask the Lord of the harvest
send laborers to reap.”
He called his twelve disciples to him
and gave them the power
to cast out the unclean spirits
and heal all diseases and ailments.
These are the names of the 12 apostles:
First Simon who is called Peter,
with his brother Andrew,
James, the son of Zebedee, with his brother John;
Philip and Bartholomew, Tomas and Matthew the tax collector,
James the son of Alphaeus, and Taddeus,
Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Him.
These 12 Jesus sent out with the command:
“Do not go among the Gentiles
and enter not into a city of Samaritans;
rather you must go
to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
“Proclaim on your journey:
The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
“Heal the sick, raise the dead,
cleanse lepers, and cast out devils.
“For nothing hast thou received,
for nothing ye must give…”
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Laudato Si
Encyclic of
POPE FRANCIS
On caring for the common home
204. The current global situation engenders a feeling of instability and uncertainty, which in turn becomes “a seedbed for collective selfishness”. When people become self-centered and self-enclosed, their greed increases. The emptier a person’s heart is, the more he or she needs things to buy, own and consume. It becomes almost impossible to accept the limits imposed by reality. On this horizon, a genuine sense of the common good also disappears. As these attitudes become more widespread, social norms are respected only to the extent that they do not clash with personal needs. So our concern cannot be limited merely to the threat of extreme weather events, but must also extend to the catastrophic consequences of social unrest. Obsession with a consumerist lifestyle, above all when few people are capable of maintaining it, can only lead to violence and mutual destruction.
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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