Born in 1271
Queen of Castile
Invitation
May I hereby draw your attention to
the daily reading of the Gospel?
This invitation wishes 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.
Considerations
In the story of the storm on the lake, many spiritual guides have given meaning to its various elements: The boat, the storm, and its stilling. The boat is our lifeboat that often does run into a storm. Pope Benedict XVI saw in the boat and the storm the situation of the Church today. Perhaps the point of this story is that amid the storm, Jesus remains unshakable and in all storms and winds we can and should always trust in Him. He sails with us. He can calm the storm.
FIRST READING Gen 19:15-29
God the Lord sent down from heaven sulfur and fire
rained down on Sodom and Gomorrah.
From the Book of Genesis
In those days,
the angels urged Lot to hurry and said:
“Forward, take thy wife and both thy daughters ;
lest thou become a victim of the city’s punishment.
When Lot was still hesitating, the men seized himself,
his wife and both his daughters by the hand,
for the LORD wanted to spare them,
and they brought them out of the city.
And when they had brought them out of the city,
one of them said:
“Get yourself to safety,
for your life is at stake;
look not round, stay nowhere near,
but flee into the mountains, lest ye perish.”
But Lot said to them:
“Not that, LORD!
Surely thou hast been very good to thy servant
and have done me a great favour
by leaving me alive,
but I cannot possibly flee to the mountains.
Their calamity would overtake me
and I would find death anyway.
Look, there is a city not far from here;
I want to flee there;
it is a small town.
Let me take refuge there;
it’s small anyway.
And then I will make it out alive.”
God spoke to him:
“In this also I will be kind to you;
I will not destroy the city you mean.
“Now flee there hastily, for I can do nothing
until thou hast arrived there.”
So it came to pass that that city was called Soar.
As soon as the sun had risen and Lot had arrived in Soar,
God the LORD sent down from heaven sulfur and fire
rained down on Sodom and Gomorrah.
He destroyed those cities and the whole region,
with all the inhabitants and all that grew there.
Lot’s wife, who was walking behind him,
turned around and turned into a lump of salt.
Early in the morning, Abraham went to the place
where he had stood with the LORD.
He looked down at Sodom and Gomorrah
and all the region of Jordan
and saw a cloud of smoke rising from the earth,
like the smoke of a smelter.
Thus, in destroying the cities of that region of the land, God took
heeded Abraham’s wish and allowed Lot to escape,
when He destroyed the cities where he had lived.
INTERLUDIUM Ps 26,(25) 2-3, 9-10, 11-12
Always I have your love before me, Lord.
Search me, Lord, and test me,
verify what is in my heart.
Always I have your love before me
and direct my conduct according to your word.
Destroy me not then with sinners,
as Thou doest with murderers;
whose hands are stained by injustice,
tainted by bribery?
But I go my way without fault,
deliver me and be merciful to me.
I stand with my feet on solid ground,
I will glorify You among men.
ALLELUIA II Thess. 2, 14
Alleluia.
God has called us
through the proclamation of the gospel,
that we might obtain the glory
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Alleluia.
GOSPEL Mt 8:23-27
Jesus addressed with a compelling word
to the winds and the sea, and the waters became perfectly still.
From the holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew
When Jesus got into the boat, his disciples followed him.
Suddenly the sea became in violent turmoil
so that the waves beat over the boat;
He, however, was asleep.
They went to Him
and woke Him up saying:
“Lord, save us, we are perishing!”
He spoke to them:
“Why are ye afraid, little believers?”
Then He stood up,
addressed the winds and the sea with a compelling words,
and the waters became perfectly still.
The people stood amazed and said:
“What kind of person is that,
that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”
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Laudato Si
Encyclic of
POPE FRANCIS
On caring for the common home
220. This conversion calls for several attitudes which together foster a spirit of generous care, full of tenderness. First, it entails gratitude and gratuitousness, a recognition that the world is God’s loving gift and that we are called quietly to imitate his generosity in self-sacrifice and good works: “Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing… and your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (Mt 6:3-4). It also entails a loving awareness that we are not disconnected from the rest of creatures, but joined in a splendid universal communion. As believers, we do not look at the world from without but from within, conscious of the bonds with which the Father has linked us to all beings. By developing our individual, God-given capacities, an ecological conversion can inspire us to greater creativity and enthusiasm in resolving the world’s problems and in offering ourselves to God “as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable” (Rom 12:1). We do not understand our superiority as a reason for personal glory or irresponsible dominion, but rather as a different capacity which, in its turn, entails a serious responsibility stemming from our faith.
To be continued
The Bible text in this issue is taken from The New Translation of the Bible,
©Dutch Bible Society 2004/2007.
Considerations from Liturgical suggestions for weekdays and Sundays
Laudato Si Official English translation
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