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
Both Moses and Jesus (as well as the response psalm) speak of a fundamental choice that every human being has to make. One chooses life or death, happiness or ruin. On closer inspection, Jesus’ word penetrates much deeper. First of all, this fundamental choice must be made true every day. It is never finished. Furthermore, life has a deeper meaning here. It is no longer about ‘living happily in the land you were promised’. It is about a life one must daily give up, lose, deny, in order to gain true, authentic life over death.
FIRST READING Deut. 30, 15-20
Behold, I hold before you today life and happiness.
From the Book of Deuteronomy
Moses took the floor and spoke to the people :
“I hold out to you today life and happiness ,
but also death and misfortune.
“If you listen to the commandments of the Lord your God ,
which I give you this day,
if ye love the Lord your God,
go his ways and keep his commandments,
precepts and ordinances,
then shall ye live and be multiplied
and the Lord thy God will bless thee
in the land which ye are about to take possession of.
“But if thy heart stray,
if thou listen not, and art tempted,
so that thou bow down to other gods and worship them,
then I announce to thee this day,
that you will perish and not live long
on the ground which, after the crossing of the Jordan
will take possession of.
“I take this day heaven and earth as witnesses against thee.
“Life and death I hold before thee, blessing and curse.
“Choose life then,
then thou and thy descendants shall possess life,
by loving the Lord thy God,
listening to Him and remaining attached to Him.
“For on this it depends, whether ye shall live
And whether ye shall dwell long upon the ground ,
which the Lord gave to thy fathers,
to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob by oath.”
INTERLUDIUM Ps. 1, 1-2, 3, 4, 6
Happy is the man who puts his hope in the Lord;
(Ps. 40(39), 5a)
Happy is the man who refuses to do
What wicked men advise him ;
Who does not go the ways of sinners,
does not sit in the midst of mockers.
He is like a tree, planted by water,
which bears fruit in its time;
In summer his leaves do not wither,
but everything it does brings it prosperity.
The wicked do not fare so :
the wind blows them away like chaff.
For the Lord watches the way of the dishes,
the way of sinners is a dead end.
VERS FOR THE GOSPEL Ps. 95(94), 8 ab
Listen today to the voice of the Lord,
and be not obstinate.
GOSPEL Lk. 9, 22-25
Whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.
From the holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke
At that time, Jesus said to his disciples :
“The Son of Man ,
must suffer much
and by the elders,
high priests and scribes,
but after being put to death
He will rise on the third day.”
But to all He spoke :
“Whoever wants to be My follower ,
must follow Me by denying himself
and by taking up his cross every day.
“For whoever wants to save his life will lose it.
“But whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.
“What use is it for a man to gain all the world ,
if by so doing he causes himself his ruin and death ?”
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Laudato Si
Encyclic of
POPE FRANCIS
On caring for the common home
198. Politics and economics tend to blame each other for poverty and environmental degradation. But what we are waiting for is for them to acknowledge their own mistakes and find forms of interaction aimed at the common good. While some do their utmost only for economic benefit and others are only possessed of maintaining or increasing power, what we are left with is wars and ambiguous agreements, where what both sides are less interested in is protecting the environment and caring for the weakest. Here too, the principle that “unity prevails over conflict” applies.
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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