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 except,
can experience that joy by opening his heart
to the healing power of God’s word.
Available every day
Consideration
Dreams are exquisite moments in Scripture when God makes known to people a promise or a mission. The words that sound in Jacob’s dream actually actualize the covenant with Abraham and Isaac. It has become an image to express the intimate prayerful intercourse between man and God. This evokes the verse from Psalm 127: “God’s friends receive it sleeping.”
FIRST READING Gen. 28, 10-22a
In his dream, Jacob saw a ladder
that stood on earth and reached heaven.
From the Book of Genesis
At that time Jacob left Berseba and went to Haran.
Coming to a certain place,
he wanted to spend the night there,
after the sun had already set.
One of the stones that lay there
he took as a pillow and fell asleep in that place.
He had a dream
and saw a ladder standing on the earth
and whose top reached heaven.
Along that ladder, God’s angels went up and down.
Suddenly the Lord stood with him and said :
“I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham
and the God of Isaac.
“The land, upon which thou liest,
I will give to you and to your descendants.
“Your descendants shall be like the dust of the earth ;
thou shalt expand to the west and to the east,
to the north and to the south ;
through thee and thy descendants shall come blessing
upon all the generations of the earth.
“I am with thee;
I will preserve thee wherever thou goest,
and bring thee back to this land.
“For I will not leave you until I have fulfilled My promise.”
Jacob awoke and exclaimed :
“Truly, the Lord is in this place and I did not know it.”
He became fearful and said :
“Awesome is this place!
“This cannot be other than the house of God
and the gate of heaven.”
The next morning Jacob put the stone
which had been under his head
as a holy stone and poured oil over it.
He called that place Betel ;
formerly that city was called Luz.
Jacob made the following vow:
If God is with me and protects me
on the journey, I am now undertaking,
if He gives me food to eat
and clothing to cover me,
and if I return to my parents’ house safely,
then the Lord will be my God.
And this stone, which I erect as a holy stone,
shall be the house of God.
INTERLUDIUM Ps. 91(90), 1-2, 3 4, 14-15ab
To you is the Lord: my God, in whom I trust.
You who enjoy the protection of the Highest
and who dwells in the shadow of the Almighty,
for thee is the Lord: My refuge, my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.
For He loosens you from the snare of the hunters,
He will rescue you from the danger of death.
He will protect thee with his wings,
under his wings, thou shalt find refuge.
Whoever counts on Me I will deliver,
I will protect him who acknowledges Me.
When he calls upon Me, I will hear him,
stand by him in every need.
ALLELUIA Jak. 1, 21
Alleluia.
Accept with meekness the word of God
which was planted in you
and possesses the power
to save your souls.
Alleluia.
GOSPEL Mt. 9, 18-26
My daughter has just died :
But come and she shall be made alive again.
From the Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to
Matthew
Once, while Jesus was speaking to the crowd
a superior came to Him,
threw himself before Him and said:
“My daughter has just died :
but come and lay your hands on her
then she will be made alive again.”
Jesus got up and went with Him,
accompanied by His disciples.
Suddenly a woman approached Him from behind
who had been suffering from fluxes for twelve years,
and touched the hem of His cloak.
For she said to herself :
“If I can only touch His cloak
I will already be healed.”
But Jesus turned around,
and when He saw her He spoke:
“Have good courage daughter,
your faith has healed you.”
And from that moment the woman was healthy.
When Jesus came into the house of the superior
and saw the flute players and the people making a noise
He spoke :
“Go!
for the girl has not died but sleeps.”
Yet they laughed at Him.
When all the people had been put out,
He drew near,
took her hand
and the girl stood up.
The story of this spread throughout that region.
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Laudato Si
Encyclic of
POPE FRANCIS
On the care of the common home
226. We are speaking of an attitude of the heart, one which approaches life with serene attentiveness, which is capable of being fully present to someone without thinking of what comes next, and which accepts each moment as a gift from God to be lived to the full. Jesus taught us this attitude when he invited us to contemplate the lilies of the field and the birds of the air, or when seeing the rich young man and knowing his restlessness, “he looked at him with love” (Mk 10:21). He was completely present to everyone and to everything, and in this way he showed us the way to overcome that unhealthy anxiety which makes us superficial, aggressive and compulsive consumers.
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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