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
The Battle of the Golden Spurs is a historical fact. But Hendrik Conscience recounts the event with a romantic glow and colours everything. It is often like that with the exodus story. Many generations will retell it and make it more fantastic each time. The desert journey also shares this oriental exaggeration. Through it all, historical fingerprints are left behind, and they cannot be invented centuries later. Both the manna and the quails go back to certain natural phenomena in the desert. Israel described these phenomena in such a way that the special assistance of the Lord and His caring presence were vividly remembered. That is the message of these stories.
FIRST READING Ex. 16,1-5,9-15
I will make bread rain down from heaven for you.
From the Book of Exodus
From Elim, the whole community of the Israelites went on
and reached the desert of Sin, between Elim and Sinai.
It was the fifteenth day of the second month
after their departure from Egypt.
When they were in the desert,
the entire community of the Israelites began to murmur
against Moses and Aaron.
The Israelites said to them :
“If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in Egypt
where we sat by the flesh pots and could eat plenty of bread.
“You have only brought us to the desert
so that all these people might perish of hunger.”
Then the Lord spoke to Moses :
“I will cause bread to rain down for you from heaven.
“The people must go out daily
and gather the quantity for one day.
“Then I can determine whether or not they want to follow My guidance.
“But on the sixth day, they are to gather and prepare
it as much as on the other days.”
And Moses spoke to Aaron :
“Say to all the community of the Israelites the following :
Draw near to the Lord, for He has heard your murmurings.”
While Aaron was speaking,
the whole community of the Israelites
turned to the desert.
And there appeared to them in a cloud
the glory of the Lord.
The Lord spoke to Moses:
“I have heard the murmuring of the Israelites.
“You must tell them this:
By evening you will be able to eat meat
and tomorrow morning you will have plenty of bread.
“Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.
And it was evening,
when quails came flying
and fell down all over the camp.
The next morning the dew hung around the camp.
And when it had risen, there lay over the desert
a fine layer of grain, as if the ground were covered with hoarfrost.
The Israelites saw it and asked :
“What is that?”
They really did not know what it was.
Moses explained to them :
“This is the bread that God the Lord is giving you to eat.”
INTERLUDIUM Ps. 78(77), 18-19, 23-24, 25-26,27-28
The Lord gave His people bread from heaven.
They defied Him in their pride
and demanded that He satisfy their hunger.
They spoke of God without faith:
Can He prepare a meal in the steppe?
Yet He commanded the clouds above
and opened the floodgates of heaven:
It rained manna as food for them,
they received bread from heaven.
Man was allowed to eat the bread of the Mighty One,
He sent them enough for the journey.
The east wind He let loose from heaven,
He drove a storm from the south towards them.
Then flesh descended upon them like dust,
a swarm of birds like a sandstorm.
They fell down in the camp
and lay round about the tents.
ALLELUIA Ps. 119(118), 88
Alleluia.
Be merciful to me and let me live, Lord,
and I will be faithful to your decrees.
Alleluia.
GOSPEL Mt 13,1-9
The yield of the seed
that fell on good ground was a hundredfold.
From the Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew
One day Jesus had left his home
and sat by the lake.
Then a crowd gathered around Him, so numerous
that He had to get into a boat and sit down,
while the whole crowd stood along the shore.
He spoke to them of many things in parables.
“Once – so He began –
a sower went out to sow.
“As he was sowing, a portion fell on the road
and the birds came and ate it up.
“Another part fell on the rocky places
where it did not have much earth;
it shot up quickly because it was in shallow ground.
“When the sun had risen it suffered from the heat,
so it withered for lack of root.
“Another portion fell under the thistles
and these sprang up, so that it choked.
“Finally, another portion fell on good soil
and brought forth fruit :
Some a hundred, some sixty, some thirty.
“He who has ears, let him listen.”
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Laudato Si
Encyclic of
POPE FRANCIS
On Care of the Common Home
242. At her side in the Holy Family of Nazareth, stands the figure of Saint Joseph. Through his work and generous presence, he cared for and defended Mary and Jesus, delivering them from the violence of the unjust by bringing them to Egypt. The Gospel presents Joseph as a just man, hard-working and strong. But he also shows great tenderness, which is not a mark of the weak but of those who are genuinely strong, fully aware of reality and ready to love and serve in humility. That is why he was proclaimed custodian of the universal Church. He too can teach us how to show care; he can inspire us to work with generosity and tenderness in protecting this world which God has entrusted to us.
To be continued
The Bible text in this edition is taken from De Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling,
©Nederlands Bijbelgenootschap 2004/2007.
Recitals from Liturgical suggestions for the week days and Sundays
Laudato Si Official English translation
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