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 this joy by opening his heart
to the healing effect of God’s word.
Available every day
CONSIDERATION
Where sin proliferated, there grace became immoderate. The Christian no longer needs a Law, no externally imposed rules. Christians have become free people thanks to Jesus’ resurrection. Once slaves to sin, they are now able to serve God. They are obedient to the Holy Spirit, who is at work in their innermost being. Submitting to what God wants is the only true freedom. Those who truly love spontaneously put themselves at the service of those they love.
FIRST READING Rom 6:12-18
Offer yourselves to God as men
who are risen from the dead to life.
From the letter of the holy apostle Paul to the Christians of Rome
Brothers and Sisters,
Let not sin reign in your mortal body,
do not obey it;
do not put your limbs at its service
as instruments of iniquity.
Offer yourselves to God
as men who are risen from the dead to life.
Sacrifice to Him your limbs
as instruments in the service of righteousness.
Sin must not rule over you,
for you are not under the law but under grace.
Does this mean that we are free to sin
because we are no longer under the law but under grace?
God forbid!
For it is clear
that you must obey that master as slaves
in whose service you are slaves:
Either you serve sin
– and this leads to death –
or you serve God,
– and obeying Him leads to righteousness.
But you are, thank God, no longer slaves to sin .
You have submitted with all your heart to the principles of the doctrine which has been handed down to you.
Thus you have been freed from the dominion of sin
and become servants of righteousness.
INTERLUDIUM Ps. 124(123), 1-3, 4-6, 7-8
We were saved by the Name of the Lord.
Had the Lord not been with us,
so may Israel say ;
had not the Lord been with us
when all turned against us ;
we would have been devoured alive,
scorched by the glow of their anger.
Then the flood would have swallowed us up,
the torrent had swept us away;
then we would have sunk lifeless
in foaming torrents.
Praise the Lord, He did not abandon us,
He took the prey from their teeth.
We fled like a bird,
escaped the net of the hunters.
The net of the fowler is torn,
we have come out of it.
We were saved by the Name of the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
ALLELUIA Ps. 119(118), 36a, 29b
Alleluia.
My heart is fixed on what you have ordained, Lord;
Give me your law as my guide.
Alleluia.
GOSPEL Lk 12, 39-48
Of everyone to whom much is given, much will be demanded.
From the Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to
Luke
In those days Jesus said to his disciples :
“Understand this :
If the owner of the house knew
at what hour the thief would come,
he would not allow his house to be broken into.
“Be ye also ready,
because the Son of Man is coming
at the hour when you least expect it.”
Peter now asked Him :
“Lord, do You mean this parable for us or for everyone?”
The Lord spoke :
“Who might this faithful and wise administrator be,
whom the Lord shall appoint over his servants
to give them their ration of corn at the appointed time?
“Happy the servant
who finds the lord busy at his arrival.
“Verily, I say unto you :
He will appoint him over all that he possesses.
“But says the servant to himself :
My lord will be away for some time,
and he starts beating the servants and maids,
and begins to indulge in food and drink,
then the master of the servant will come
on a day that he does not expect him
and at an hour which he knoweth not .
He shall punish him with the sword
and he will make him suffer the fate of the unfaithful.
“The servant who knew the will of his lord,
but made no provision nor did he act according to his will,
shall be severely punished.
“Who, however, in ignorance, hath done things deserving of punishment
shall be punished only lightly.
“He who has been given much, much will be demanded of him;
and of him to whom much has been entrusted
will be asked all the more.”
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Laudato Si
Encyclic of
POPE FRANCIS
On Care of the Common Home
85. God has written a precious book, “whose letters are the multitude of created things present in the universe”.[54] The Canadian bishops rightly pointed out that no creature is excluded from this manifestation of God: “From panoramic vistas to the tiniest living form, nature is a constant source of wonder and awe. It is also a continuing revelation of the divine”. The bishops of Japan, for their part, made a thought-provoking observation: “To sense each creature singing the hymn of its existence is to live joyfully in God’s love and hope”.] This contemplation of creation allows us to discover in each thing a teaching which God wishes to hand on to us, since “for the believer, to contemplate creation is to hear a message, to listen to a paradoxical and silent voice”. We can say that “alongside revelation properly so-called, contained in sacred Scripture, there is a divine manifestation in the blaze of the sun and the fall of night”. Paying attention to this manifestation, we learn to see ourselves in relation to all other creatures: “I express myself in expressing the world; in my effort to decipher the sacredness of the world, I explore my own”.
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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