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
Samson and John the Baptist are a gift from God: To their parents, but even more so to the people of Israel. Both came there at the initiative of God. Their origins lie far beyond a human initiative. In them it becomes visible that God cares deeply about the salvation of his people. On that front, no word proves impossible for God. Their parents, however, react differently. Manoah and his wife are trusting. Zacharias is rather sceptical. And Elisabet contemplates the meaning of her pregnancy in secret for five months, until she realises in faith: This is what the Lord has done for me. What do we expect the Lord to do for us? What do we want to ask him when he enters our world, our lives?
FIRST READING Law. 13, 2-7.24-25a
The birth of Samson, announced by an angel.
From the Book of Judges
In those days
there lived in Torah a Danite called Manoah.
His wife was barren and had never had children.
The angel of the Lord appeared to that woman and said :
“Thou hast always been barren
and have never borne a child ,
but now thou shalt conceive
and give birth to a son.
“Take care that thou drink neither wine nor strong drink
and eat nothing that is unclean.
“Thou shalt conceive and bring a son into the world.
“Over the head of the boy shall not pass a razor,
because he is consecrated to God from his mother’s womb.
“The deliverance of Israel from the power of the Philistines
will begin with him.”
The woman went to tell this to her husband and said :
“A man of God has been with me;
he looked extremely impressive,
like an angel of God.
“I did not dare ask him where he came from ,
and he did not tell me his name.
“He said to me :
Thou shalt conceive and give birth to a son.
“From henceforth thou shalt not drink wine or strong drink
and eat nothing that makes unclean ;
for the boy shall be consecrated to God
from his mother’s womb until his death.”
The woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson.
The boy grew up, and the Lord blessed him.
And the Spirit of the Lord moved him for the first time.
INTERLUDIUM Ps. 71(70) 3-4a, 5-6ab, 16-17
My mouth was filled with Your praise,
You I praised from early to late.
Be to me a refuge, a safe place ;
my rock and my fortress thou hast always been.
Deliver me, my God, from the hands of sinners.
For Thou, my God, art my expectation,
my hope art Thou, Lord, since my earliest youth.
From the mother’s womb I have leaned on Thee,
Thou art my protector since my birth.
God’s power I will tell
And praise Thy righteousness, Lord.
From childhood I have experienced it,
and still now I praise Your deeds.
ALLELUIA
Alleluia.
Root of Jesse, standard of nations :
Come free us, will wait no longer.
Alleluia.
GOSPEL Lk. 1, 5-25
The birth of John the Baptist, by the angel Gabriel
announced.
From the holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to
Luke
In the days of Herod, king of Judea,
there lived a priest called Zacharias
who belonged to the class of Abia.
He had a wife from among the daughters of Aaron
and her name was Elisabeth.
Both were righteous in God’s eyes and lived blamelessly
according to all the commandments and precepts of the Lord.
They had no children
for Elisabeth was barren
and both were already at an advanced age.
When Zacharias was allowed to act as priest before God
because his class had the turn,
it happened that he,
-as was customary among priests-
was appointed by lot
to enter the temple of the Lord
and bear the incense offering.
All the people
stood outside praying at the hour of the incense offering.
An angel of the Lord appeared to him
on the right side of the altar of incense.
When Zacharias saw him he was terrified
and was overcome by fear.
But the angel spoke to him :
“Fear not Zacharias, for your prayer has been heard ;
your wife Elisabeth will give you a son
whom thou must name John.
“Thou shalt rejoice and exult
and many people shall rejoice over his birth.
“He shall be great in the eyes of the Lord ;
wine or strong drink shall he not drink
and still in his mother’s womb
he will be filled with the Holy Spirit.
“Many sons of Israel he shall bring back to the Lord their God.
“He will go forth before Him with the spirit and strength of Elijah
to bring back the mind of the fathers
return in the children
and the disobedient
to bring to the constitution of the righteous ,
and so to form for the Lord a well-prepared people.”
But Zacharias said to the angel :
“To what shall I acknowledge this?
“I am old and also my wife is already at years.”
The angel answered him :
“I am Gabriel standing before the face of God ,
and I have been sent to speak to you
and to announce to you this glad tidings.
“Behold, ye shall be silent and unable to speak
until the day when it shall come to pass,
because thou hast not believed my words ;
these, however, shall be fulfilled in their time.”
Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zacharias
and they marvelled that he stayed in the sanctuary for so long.
When he came out
he was unable to speak to them
and they understood that he had seen an apparition in the sanctuary.
But because he remained mute, he could only gesticulate to them.
When the time of his temple service was up
he went back home
and some time later his wife Elisabeth became pregnant.
She kept hidden for five months and then she spoke:
“This the Lord has done for me
when it pleased Him
to take away my shame from men.”
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Laudato Si
Encyclic by
POPE FRANCIS
On caring for the common home
141. Economic growth, for its part, tends to produce predictable reactions and a certain standardization with the aim of simplifying procedures and reducing costs. This suggests the need for an “economic ecology” capable of appealing to a broader vision of reality. The protection of the environment is in fact “an integral part of the development process and cannot be considered in isolation from it”.We urgently need a humanism capable of bringing together the different fields of knowledge, including economics, in the service of a more integral and integrating vision. Today, the analysis of environmental problems cannot be separated from the analysis of human, family, work-related and urban contexts, nor from how individuals relate to themselves, which leads in turn to how they relate to others and to the environment. There is an interrelation between ecosystems and between the various spheres of social interaction, demonstrating yet again that “the whole is greater than the part”.
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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