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
CONSIDERATION
Paul educates the Thessalonians – and all Christians – on two important attitudes that we need to master if we want to progress on the road to holiness. Yesterday, we heard the admonitions related to fornication and how married people should treat each other. Today Paul moves on to the second domain in which Christians can bear witness to the faith through their way of life: Brotherly love. It is at the heart of proclamation and comes from God himself. We should never fail to question ourselves on it – and be questioned on it!
FIRST READING I Thess. 4, 9-12
Ye yourselves have learned from God to love one another.
From the holy apostle Paul’s first letter to the Christians of Thessalonica
Brothers and sisters,
There is no need to write to you about brotherly love.
Ye yourselves have learned from God to love one another,
and ye therefore practice love
towards all the brethren throughout Macedonia.
We only exhort you, brothers and sisters,
to do this much more.
Take pride in looking after your own affairs quietly
and support yourselves with honest labour,
as we have commanded you.
Then your behaviour will
make a dignified impression on outsiders
and thou wilt be dependent on none.
INTERLUDIUM Ps. 98(97), 1, 7-8, 9
Righteously God governs the world,
the nations with equity.
Sing to the Lord a new song
because He did wonders.
His hand asserted itself mightily,
the power of His holy arm.
The sea agrees with all its beasts,
the earth with all that lives there;
the streams gurgle with acclaim,
the mountains rejoice.
They salute the Lord, who comes near,
who approaches as King of the Earth.
Righteously He rules the world,
the nations with equity.
ALLELUIA Ps. 95(94),8ab
Alleluia.
Listen today to the voice of the Lord
and be not obstinate.
Alleluia.
GOSPEL Mt 25, 14-30
Because ye were faithful over little :
Enter into the joy of the Lord.
From the Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew
At that time, Jesus spoke to his disciples in parables.
He said:
‘It will be with the kingdom of heaven
as with the man
who, on leaving for a foreign country
called his servants to him
to entrust them with his property.
To one he gave five talents,
to another two,
to a third one,
each according to his ability.
Then he left.
He who had received the five talents
immediately went to work with them and earned five more.
Likewise, the one who received the two
earned two more.
But the one who got the one
went to dig a hole in the ground
and hide his lord’s money.
A long time later, the lord of those servants came back
and held reckoning with them.
The one who had got five talents stepped forward
and offered five more talents saying:
Lord, five talents hast thou entrusted to me;
behold, five talents I have earned with it.
His master spoke to him:
Excellent, good and faithful servant,
over little art thou faithful, over much will I appoint thee.
Enter into the joy of thy lord.
Now the one of the two talents stepped forward and said:
Lord, two talents hast thou entrusted to me;
behold, two talents have I earned with it.
His master spoke to him:
Excellent, good and faithful servant,
over little art thou faithful, over much will I appoint thee.
Enter into the joy of thy lord.
Finally
also he who had received the one talent stepped forward and said:
Lord, I have experienced that thou art a hard man,
who reaps where thou hast not sown
and reaps in where thou hast not scattered.
Therefore I was afraid
and went to hide thy talent in the ground.
Here thou hast thy property back.
But his master answered him:
Poor and lazy servant,
so you knew that I reap where I have not sown
and bring in where I have not sown?
That is why you should have deposited my money with the bankers
then when I arrived
I would have recovered my property with interest.
So take that talent away from him
and give it to whoever has the ten talents.
For to every one who has will be given,
even be given in abundance;
but he who has not,
even what he has will be taken away from him.
And cast that unprofitable servant out into the darkness;
there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
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Laudato Si
Encyclic of
POPE FRANCIS
On caring for the common home
33. However, it is not enough just to think of different species as possible “resources” to be exploited, forgetting that they have a value in themselves. Every year, thousands of plant and animal species disappear that we will no longer be able to know, that our children will not be able to see, because they are lost forever. The vast majority die out for reasons to do with human activity of one kind or another. Because of us, thousands of species will no longer praise God with their existence, nor will they be able to communicate their message to us. We have no right to do so.
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
Laudato Si Official English translation
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