Remembering the martyrdom of the
innocent little boys of Bethlehem.
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
Those who do not accept the light, lock themselves up in a blind and unreasonable darkness. Also today, countless people are innocent victims of that. Those who do accept Jesus, however, are saved from the spiral of evil. Innocent blood turns everything for the better for us. This is the blood of Christ that cleanses us from all sin, from everything that separates us from God. This is also the blood of the innocent children of Bethlehem, who – without knowing it – died for Christ. That is also the blood of many after them. Every day, in every corner of the world, innocent children lose their lives: Innocent victims in a world that does not always offer them protection and security.
FIRST READING I John 1,5 -2,2
The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin.
From the First Letter of the Holy Apostle John
My friends,
This is the message that we have heard from Jesus
and have passed on to you:
God is light,
there is no trace of darkness in Him.
If we claim to be partakers of His life
while our ways are dark,
we lie in word and in deed.
But if we walk in the light
– as He himself is in the light –
then we have part in each other’s lives,
while the blood of his Son Jesus cleanses us from all sin.
If we claim to be without sin
we deceive ourselves
and the truth does not dwell in us.
If we confess our sins,
He is so faithful and merciful
that He forgives our sins
and cleanses us from all evil.
But if we say that we have committed no sin,
we make Him a liar;
then his word does not dwell in us.
Children,
I write to you
with the intention that ye sin not.
But even if someone were to sin:
We have an advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ,
who is completely sinless,
who makes up for all our sins
and not only ours but of the whole world.
INTERLUDIUM Ps. 124(123), 2-3, 4-5, 7b-8
We are like a bird that has just fled,
escaped the net of the hunters.
Had not the Lord been with us
when all turned against us ;
we would have been devoured alive,
scorched by the glow of their fury.
Then the flood would have swallowed us up,
the torrent had swept us away;
then we would have sunk lifeless
in foaming torrents of water.
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.
Thee, God, we praise.
Thee, Lord, we praise.
You praise the pure army of martyrs
Alleluia.
GOSPEL Mt 2, 13-18
Herod had all the boys killed in Bethlehem.
From the Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew
After the departure of the Magi
an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream
and said:
“Arise, take the Child and his mother,
flee to Egypt and stay there until I warn you,
for Herod is coming to seek the Child and to kill Him.”
Joseph got up and left in the night for Egypt with the Child and his mother.
There he remained until the death of Herod,
that he might fulfil
what the Lord had spoken through the prophet:
“I have called my son out of Egypt.”
As soon as Herod realised
that he had been deceived by the Sages,
he flew into a fierce rage.
He sent men out and had all the boys, two years old and under,
killed in Bethlehem and in the whole area,
in accordance with the time
which he had accurately asked the Sages about.
Then was fulfilled
The word spoken by the prophet Jeremiah:
“A complaint was heard in Ramah,
weeping and loud wailing:
Rachel, weeping for her children,
will not be comforted,
because they are no more.”
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Laudato Si
Encyclic of
POPE FRANCIS
On Care of the Common Home
150. Given the interrelationship between living space and human behaviour, those who design buildings, neighbourhoods, public spaces and cities, ought to draw on the various disciplines which help us to understand people’s thought processes, symbolic language and ways of acting. It is not enough to seek the beauty of design. More precious still is the service we offer to another kind of beauty: people’s quality of life, their adaptation to the environment, encounter and mutual assistance. Here too, we see how important it is that urban planning always take into consideration the views of those who will live in these areas.
To be continued
The Bible text in this issue is taken from The New Bible Translation,
©Netherlands Bible Society 2004/2007.
Recitals from Liturgical suggestions for the week days and Sundays
Laudato Si Official English translation
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