One of the greatest theologians of the Byzantine tradition,
died in 749
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
Long before the coming of Jesus, people were ‘expecting’, ‘longing’, ‘wishing’, ‘hoping’ for the coming of God’s kingdom. We too live in expectation of the salvation He will bring it to us through Jesus Christ. Millions of people on this earth live in the same expectation, perhaps without ready realising it. People who have never met Christ, who do not even know of his existence, but in whom God is at work, go looking. Please open our hearts to all those who want to set out in search and work for the vision of peace.
FIRST READING Isa 2:1-5
The Lord gathers all nations into his kingdom of peace.
From the prophet Isaiah
On that day
the shoot of the Lord
will be a glorious ornament
and the fruit of the land will become
a glorious glory
for those who have been preserved from Israel.
Then it will be so,
that all the survivors in Zion,
all survivors in Jerusalem
will be called holy,
all those who have been
are written down in Jerusalem.
When the Lord will have washed away
the filth of the daughter Zion,
when He will have washed away
the bloodstains of Jerusalem
by the breath of judgment
and the breath of destruction,
then the Lord will come,
and over all Mount Zion
and over all who are gathered there
He will create a cloud of smoke by day
and a bright glow of fire by night,
and the Glory of the Lord
shall cover them all
as a shelter and a tent,
giving shade against the heat of the day
and providing protection from thunder and rain.
INTERLUDIUM Ps. 122(121), 1-2, 3-4a, 8-9
How happy was I, when I was called :
We are going to God’s house!
How happy was I when I was called:
We are going to God’s house!
Now my foot may enter Jerusalem,
enter your gates.
Jerusalem, walled city,
so densely built:
To Thee do the tribes march,
the tribes of God’s people.
For the sake of my brothers and my companions
I wish you peace;
for the sake of the house of our God
I pray for you for blessing.
ALLELUIA Ps. 80, 4 (79.4)
Alleluia.
God of hosts, raise us up again ;
smile upon us again and we shall be saved.
Alleluia.
GOSPEL Mt 8:5-11
Many will come from east and west and sit down in the kingdom of heaven.
From the holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew
At that time when Jesus had arrived in Capernaum ,
a hundred men came to Him
who called on His help saying:
“Lord ,
my servant lies paralysed in my house and is in terrible pain.”
He spoke to him:
“I will come and heal him.”
But the hundred-man replied:
“Lord, I am not worthy of Thou coming under my roof;
but a single word from Thee is sufficient
to cause my servant to be healed.
For though I myself am a subordinate ,
again I have men under me;
and to one I say: Go, and he goes;
and to another: Come, and he comes;
and to my servant: Do this, and he does it.”
When Jesus heard this He stood amazed
and said to those who followed Him:
“Verily, I say unto you:
With no one in Israel have I found such great faith.
I say to you,
that many will come from the east and the west
and with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob
shall sit down in the kingdom of heaven.”
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Laudato Si
Encyclic by
POPE FRANCIS
On the care of the common home
126. Let us also pick up something from the long monastic tradition. At the beginning, they in a sense favoured escape from the world by thus seeking to remove themselves from the decadence of the city. Therefore, the monks sought the desert, convinced that it was the appropriate place to recognise the presence of God. Next, Saint Benedict of Norcia wanted his monks to live in community, uniting prayer and study with manual work (Ora et labora). This introduction of handiwork imbued with spiritual meaning proved revolutionary. People learned to seek maturation and sanctification in an interweaving of contemplation and labour. This way of experiencing labour makes us more capable of caring and respecting the environment, fulfils our relationship with the world of a healthy sobriety.
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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