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.
Considerations
Today and tomorrow we read from the apocalyptic part of Daniel. The two readings make up one whole. Today there is the vision; tomorrow the explanation. It is not so important for us to identify all these beasts and horns into historical kings. The author’s intention is all too clear. He lives at the time of the vevolution of Antiochus IV and of the Maccabean revolt. He wants to encourage the afflicted people by announcing God’s salvation. What words do we speak to people who are being tried ?
FIRST READING Dan. 7, 2-14
With the clouds of heaven
I saw one coming who looked like a Son of Man.
From the prophet Daniel
In those days Daniel spoke:
“In my nightly vision I saw
that the four winds of heaven
stirred up the great sea
And four great beasts rose out of it.
“The first one looked like a lion, but had eagle wings.
“I saw that its wings were torn out,
after which it was raised from the earth
and set like a man on two feet
and was given a human heart.
“Then came another animal, the second one, which resembled a bear ;
it raised itself up on one side
and held between the teeth in its maw three ribs.
“One said to the animal : On ! Eats a lot of meat!
“Then I saw another animal ,
which resembled a leopard;
it had four bird wings on its back
and it had four heads.
“Dominion was given to it.
“Finally, in my night vision, I saw a fourth animal;
it was terrifying, fearsome and tremendously strong;
it had great iron teeth, with which it ate and ground,
and what it left behind it trampled with its paws.
“It differed from all other animals and it had ten horns.
“As I looked at those horns,
I saw how between those horns an eleventh,
a small horn, advanced
and how three were torn out
to make way for the little horn.
That horn had human eyes and a mouth full of grandiloquence.
And as I continued to watch
I saw that thrones were placed
and a Highborn sat down;
his robe was white as snow
and his head hair white as wool.
His throne was made up of flames,
its wheels of blazing fire.
A stream of fire welled up and flowed before Him.
A thousand times thousands served Him
and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him.
The court sat down and the books were opened.
Then I saw that the fourth beast
because of the boasting of the hearer
was slain, and its carcass was given up to the fire
and was thus destroyed.
The other beasts were also robbed of their power,
but they were left alive for a short time.
In my night vision I then saw
approaching with the clouds of heaven someone
Who resembled a Son of Man.
He went to the Most High and was led before Him.
Then dominion was given to Him,
glory and royal power;
all nations, tribes and languages paid homage to Him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion
that never perishes,
His kingdom never perishes.”
INTERLUDIUM Dan. 3, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81
Praise the Lord, praise and exalt Him forever.
Praise Him, mountains and hills,
all that grows there, praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord, all springs,
seas and streams, praise Him.
Praise the Lord, all that lives in the water,
birds of the air, praise Him.
Praise Him, wild and tame animals,
praise and exalt Him forever.
ALLELUIA John 14, 5
Alleluia.
I am the way, the truth and the life, says the Lord ;
no one comes to the Father except through Me.
Alleluia.
GOSPEL Lk 21:29-33
When you see all these things
know then that the kingdom of God is at hand.
From the holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to
Luke
At that time Jesus made a comparison
and said to his disciples:
“Look at the fig tree and at all the other trees:
As soon as they sprout you will automatically know, when you see,
that summer is coming.
Likewise, when you see all these things,
then know that the Kingdom of God is near.
Verily, I say unto you:
This generation shall not pass away until all this is done.
Heaven and earth shall pass away
but my words shall not pass away.”
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Laudato Si
Encyclic by
POPE FRANCIS
On caring for the common home
123. The culture of relativism is the same disease that leads one to take advantage of someone else and treat them purely as objects by forcing them into forced labour or enslaving them because of a debt. The same logic leads to sexually abusing children or abandoning the elderly who are of no use to one’s own interests. It is also the inner logic of those who say: let the economy be regulated by the invisible forces of the market, because its harmful effects on society and nature are inevitable. If beyond the satisfaction of one’s own aspirations and immediate needs, there are neither objective truths nor fixed principles, what limits can human trafficking, organised crime, drug trafficking, trade in blood diamonds and skins of animals in danger of extinction have? Is it not the same relativistic logic that justifies buying organs from the poor to sell or use for experiments, or discarding children because they do not conform to their parents’ wishes? It is the same logic of “use and discard” that produces so much waste just because of the disordered desire to consume more than what one really needs. And then we should not think that political programmes or the force of law will be enough to avoid behaviour that affects the environment; for when culture degenerates and people no longer recognise any objective truth or universally valid principles, laws will only be understood as something arbitrarily imposed, and as obstacles, to be avoided.
To be continued
The Bible text in this issue is taken from The New Translation of the Bible,
©Dutch Bible Society 2004/2007.
Considerations from Liturgical suggestions for weekdays and Sundays
Laudato Si Official English translation
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