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
Repentance and joy belong together. We need to repent, and celebrate this turnaround joyfully. Yes, we are small, broken people, and yes, we sometimes resist when God goes ways with us that we don’t want to go. But we get to taste the joy because Jesus forgives sin: because he patiently walks beside us and brings us back to the Father when our paths come to a dead end. To free us from helplessness and littleness, from sin and darkness, He will give His life for us. This is why Christians attach joy to a cross. Can a greater paradox be imagined?
FIRST READING Isa 58, 9b-14
When you no longer pursue your advantage, you will find joy in the Lord.
From the Prophet Isaiah
Thus speaks God the Lord :
“When ye remove from among you the oppression
and the threatening fingers and evil speaking,
when thou openest thine heart to the hungry
and satiate the gloomy ,
then thy light shines in the darkness,
then thy night becomes like noon.
“Then shall the Lord continue to guide thee ;
He will saturate thee in barren places
and to your bones He will give strength.
“As a sprinkled garden thou shalt then become,
like a spring, whose waters never stay away.
“Then thou shalt rebuild the old ruins
And restore ye the foundations of old.
‘The breaker’ thou shalt be called,
’the one who brings life to the streets again’.
“When on the Sabbath ye
undertake no more journey
and on my holy mountain
no longer pursue your advantage,
when ye call the Sabbath your delight
and observe the holy day of the Lord,
when ye observe that day
by not pursuing your business
and not seeking your advantage
and doing no trading,
then ye shall find joy in the Lord ;
then I will carry you over all the mountains of the earth
and I will let you enjoy
of the inheritance of Jacob thy father.”
Truly, by the mouth of the Lord
is this word spoken !
INTERLUDIUM Ps. 86(85), 1-2, 3-4, 5-6
Teach me your way, Lord, to follow it faithfully.
Hear my prayer, Lord, and will answer me,
I am unhappy and poor.
Protect me, for you I am devoted,
Take care of Your servant, he counts on You.
My God be Thou, have mercy on me,
continually I cry out to Thee.
Delight the heart of Your servant, Lord,
I turn to Thee with confidence.
For Thou art good and merciful, Lord,
merciful to every one who calls upon Thee.
Listen then, Lord, to my prayer,
heed my pleading voice.
VERS FOR THE GOSPEL Ez. 18, 31
Cast away all transgressions, which thou hast committed,
from thee, saith the Lord,
and renew thy heart and thy mind.
GOSPEL Lk. 5, 27-32
I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, that they may repent.
From the holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to
Luke
At that time,
coming to the toll house, Jesus fixed his gaze
on a tax collector who was sitting there,
a certain Levi.
He said to him :
“Follow Me.”
The man got up, left everything behind and followed Him.
Levi now offered Him a great feast in his house,
at which, among others, numerous tax collectors dined with them.
The Pharisees,
especially the scribes among them,
grumbled about this to His disciples :
“Why
-they said
do ye eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners ?”
But Jesus took the floor and spoke :
“It is not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick.
“I have not come to call the righteous
but sinners ,
that they may repent.”
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Laudato Si
Encyclical by
POPE FRANCISCUS
On caring for the common home
200. On the other hand, whatever technical solution that the sciences pretend to offer will not be able to solve the serious problems of the world, if humanity loses its course, if it forgets the great motivations that make communal living, sacrifice, goodness possible. In any case, it will be necessary to appeal to the faithful to live in accordance with their faith and not go against it with their actions, it will be necessary to insist on reopening to the grace of God and drawing deeply from one’s own convictions regarding love, justice and peace. If a poor understanding of our principles has sometimes led us to justify the abuse of nature or a despotic domination of creation by the human being or wars, injustice and violence, then we can acknowledge as believers that in so doing we have been unfaithful to the treasure of wisdom we should have been guarding. Often the cultural boundaries of different times have defined such an awareness of one’s own ethical and spiritual heritage, but it is precisely the return to its respective sources that allows religions to better respond to current needs.
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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