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 excepted,
can experience that joy by opening their hearts
to the healing power of God’s word.
Available every day.
Consideration.
We are familiar with the thought formulated by the prophet Malachi: Those who do evil seem to prosper. Those who, on the contrary, do good seem to be punished for it. It is the problem that recurs in many psalms, the theme of the book of Job, the question to which theology has sought an answer throughout the ages. Today’s reading reaches out for an answer: The day is coming when justice will be done. It is up to us not to judge ourselves, but to trust in God’s justice. This is not to say that our protests, our rebellion, our rearing in the face of injustice are pointless: we can entrust everything to a God who listens – and who will one day bring about justice himself.
FIRST READING Mal. 3, 13-20a
The day is coming that burns like a furnace.
From the prophet Malachi
“Thy words vex Me,” says the LORD.
Thou askest:
“What then in our conversations was against Thee?”
Thou hast said:
“It is useless to serve God.
What do we gain by keeping His commandments
and before the LORD of hosts
walk in penitential garments?
After all,
that we happily praise those who defy God;
those who do evil prosper
and those who tempt God bring it off well.”
Then those who fear the LORD spoke to one another.
And the LORD listened and heard.
And before him a memorial was drawn up
concerning those who fear the LORD,
those who honour his name.
“They shall be my property
– says the LORD of the heavenly powers –
in the day that I am going to make.
Then I will spare them,
as a man spares his son, when he serves him.
Then you will see again the difference
between the righteous and the wicked,
between the one who serves God and the one who does not serve Him.
For know this: the day is coming that burns like a furnace.
All those who defy God and all those who do evil ,
they will then become like chaff.
The day that is coming sets them on fire
– says the LORD of heavenly powers –
the day that leaves neither root nor branch of them.
But for you, who fear my name,
then rises the sun of righteousness,
which brings healing with its wings.”
INTERLUDIUM Ps. 1, 1-2, 3, 4, 6
Happy is the man who puts his hope in the Lord
Happy is the man who refuses to do
what wicked men advise him ;
who does not go the ways of sinners,
does not sit in the midst of mockers;
but who finds his happiness in the Lord’s law,
contemplating it day and night.
He is like a tree, planted by the water,
which bears fruit in its time;
in summer his leaves do not wither,
but all that he does brings him prosperity.
The wicked do not fare so :
The wind blows them away like chaff.
For the Lord watches the way of the dishes,
the way of sinners is a dead end.
ALLELUIA I Petr. 1,25
Alleluia.
The word of the Lord remains for ever;
and this word is the message
which has been proclaimed to you in the gospel.
Alleluia.
GOSPEL Lk. 11, 5-13
Ask and you shall be given.
From the holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke
At that time, Jesus said to his disciples:
“Suppose one of you has a friend.
In the middle of the night he goes to him and says:
Friend, lend me three loaves of bread,
for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey
and I have nothing to put in front of him.
Would the other person inside then reply:
Don’t bother me;
the door is already locked and my children and I are in bed;
I cannot get up to give it to you?
I tell you,
if he already does not get up and give it to him because he is his friend,
still he will get up and give him all he needs,
for his immodest insistence.
To you I say the same thing:
Ask and ye shall be given;
seek and ye shall find;
knock and it shall be opened.
For all who ask obtain; he who seeks finds;
and to him who knocks it will be opened.
Is there sometimes among you a father who will give a stone to his son,
if he asks him for bread?
Or if he asks for fish
will he not give him a snake instead of fish?
Or if he asks for an egg
will he not give him a scorpion?
So if thou – though thou art evil –
know how to give good gifts to thy children,
how much more will your Father in heaven
give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him for it.”
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Laudato Si
Encyclic by
POPE FRANCIS
On caring for the common home
73. The writings of the prophets invite us to regain strength in difficult moments by looking to the mighty God who created the universe. The infinite power of God leads us to flee before His fatherly tenderness, for in Him affection and strength unite. In reality, any healthy spirituality involves simultaneously receiving divine love and confidently worshipping the Lord for His infinite power. In the Bible, the God who delivers and saves is the same as the God who created the universe, and these two divine actions are closely and inseparably linked. “Ah, Lord my Lord! Thou hast made the heavens and the earth in Thy great power, with raised arm. Nothing is impossible for Thee (…) Thou hast brought thy people, Israel, out of Egypt with signs and wonders” (Jer. 32, 17.21) . “The Lord is a God of eternity, He has created the farthest corners of the earth. He neither tires nor exhausts, His insight cannot be fathomed. He gives strength again to the weary, to the powerless an abundance of strength” (Isa 40, 28b-29) .
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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