One of the 12 apostles
Founder and first bishop of the Church
of Byzantium
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
Today’s readings are about the call we are all given to face misery and trial with open eyes, trusting that God will be near us. All Christians who once bore a heavy cross in their lives, wondering where God was in their misery, know what true faith is. They know that God is faithful to people – that He is far more faithful to us, than we are to Him. Those who continue to believe through trials make the greatest profession of faith there is. It is this personal confession that builds the Church.
FIRST READING Rom 10:9-18
Faith comes through preaching,
and preaching is commissioned by Christ.
From the letter of the holy apostle Paul to the Christians of Rome
Brothers and sisters,
If your mouth confesses that Jesus is Lord,
and if your heart believes
that God has raised Him from the dead,
you will be saved.
The faith of your heart brings righteousness
and the confession of your mouth brings salvation.
Thus says the Scripture:
“No one who believes in Him shall be disappointed.”
There is no difference between Jew and Gentile.
They all have the same Lord,
rich in gifts for all who call upon Him.
For whoever calls on the name of the Lord
shall be saved.
But how can one call upon Him
without believing in Him?
How can one believe in Him
without having heard of Him?
How can one hear of Him
if no one proclaims Him?
And how shall they proclaim Him
if they have not been sent?
As it is written:
“How beautiful are the feet
of those who bring the good news.”
But not all have heeded the good news.
Isaiah says:
“Lord, who has given faith to our preaching?
Thus faith is born of the preaching
and the preaching is by order of Christ.
But, I ask,
did they not hear it?
They did: “Their sound has spread over the whole earth
and their words have echoed to the ends of the earth.”
INTERLUDIUM Ps. 19(18), 2-3, 4-5
Over all the earth their cry is heard.
The heavens proclaim God’s glory,
the firmament shows us the work of his hands.
The day calls it to the next day,
the night passes on to the night.
Not a word is spoken, not a voice is heard,
not a sound is heard ;
yet their cry rings out over the whole earth,
their message penetrates to the edge of the world.
ALLELUIA Mt 4, 19
Alleluia.
Come, follow me;
I will make you fishers of men.
Alleluia.
GOSPEL Mt 4, 18-22
Immediately they let down their nets and followed him.
From the Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew
Once, when Jesus was by the Sea of Galilee,
He saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter
and his brother Andrew.
They were casting their nets into the lake;
for they were fishermen.
He said to them:
“Come, follow Me;
I will make you fishers of men.
Immediately they let down their nets and followed Him.
A little further on He saw two more brothers,
James, son of Zebedee, and his brother John;
with their father Zebedee they were in the boat
preparing the nets.
He called them,
and immediately they left the boat and their father
and followed him.
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Laudato Si
Encyclic of
POPE FRANCIS
On Care of the Common Home
Practical relativism
122. A misguided anthropocentrism leads to a misguided lifestyle. In the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, I noted that the practical relativism typical of our age is “even more dangerous than doctrinal relativism”. When human beings place themselves at the centre, they give absolute priority to immediate convenience and all else becomes relative. Hence we should not be surprised to find, in conjunction with the omnipresent technocratic paradigm and the cult of unlimited human power, the rise of a relativism which sees everything as irrelevant unless it serves one’s own immediate interests. There is a logic in all this whereby different attitudes can feed on one another, leading to environmental degradation and social decay.
To be continued
The Bible text in this edition is taken from
De Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling, ©Nederlands Bijbelgenootschap 2004/2007.
Recitals from Liturgical suggestions for weekdays and Sundays
Laudato Si Official English translation
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