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.
Opening word
For forty days, we are moving towards Easter.
The Holy Spirit will lead us,
as He led Jesus into the desert
to be tested there.
It was a forty-day trial.
Jesus was able to persevere and angels served Him.
Then a new era dawned
In which He announced the Kingdom of God.
May Lent be for us
be a time of revival and renewal.
Let us respond to the call
to repentance and reversal.
FIRST READING Gen 9:8-15
God’s covenant with Noah,
who was spared from the waters of the flood.
From the Book of Genesis
This God said to Noah and his children:
“Now I make My covenant with you and with your descendants
and with all living creatures that are with you,
with the birds and the four-footed beasts,
with all the beasts of the earth that are with you,
with all that came out of the ark,
all the beasts of the earth.
“I make a covenant with you
That never again will any living creature
shall be exterminated by the waters of the flood
and that never again
a flood shall arise to destroy the earth.”
And God said:
“This is the sign of the covenant
which I am instituting between Me and you
and all living creatures that are with you,
for all generations.
“I set My bow in the clouds ;
which shall be the sign of the covenant
between Me and the earth.
“When I gather the clouds together on the earth
and the bow becomes visible in the clouds ,
then I will remember the covenant
between Me and you and all living creatures;
everything that has life.
“The waters will never again swell
Into a flood to destroy all that lives.
Responsorial Ps. 25(24), 4-5ab, 6-7, 8-9
Refrain
The ways of God are good and trustworthy.
Show me your ways, Lord,
Teach me to know your paths.
Guide me according to Your Word,
for Thou art my God and Redeemer.
Remember Your mercy, Lord,
Your ever-given compassion.
Remember not the evil of my youth,
but remember me with mercy.
The Lord is good and righteous,
therefore He shows sinners the way.
He leads the humble along honourable paths,
He teaches the simple what to do.
SECOND READING 1 Peter 3:18-22
You have been conformed to Christ through baptism.
From the first letter of the holy apostle Peter
Dearly beloved,
Christ is
once and for all
died for sins
-the Just for the unjust –
to bring us to God.
Slain according to the flesh
He was raised to life according to the spirit.
So He went and preached to the spirits in the dungeon,
who before, in the days when Noah built the ark,
had been recalcitrant,
while God in His longsuffering exercised patience.
In the ark, only a few, no more than eight people, remained
preserved in the midst of the water.
This was a foreshadowing of the baptismal water
by which ye are now saved.
Baptism does not aim at the removal of physical uncleanness
but the union with God of a good conscience,
by virtue of the resurrection of Jesus Christ
who, having ascended into heaven, sits at God’s right hand,
after angels and powers and forces
are subject to Him.
Verse for the Gospel Mt 4, 4b
Praise and honour be to You, Lord Jesus.
Not from bread alone does man live
but from every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
Praise and honour be to You, Lord Jesus.
GOSPEL Mk. 1, 12-15
He was tested by Satan
and the angels rendered Him their services.
From the holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to
Mark
At that time, the Spirit drove Jesus into the desert.
Forty days He spent in the desert,
while He was tested by Satan.
He stayed with the wild animals
and the angels rendered Him their services.
After John was captured,
Jesus went to Galilee
and proclaimed God’s Good News.
He said:
“The time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God is at hand;
Repent and believe in the Good News.”
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Laudato Si
Encyclical by
POPE FRANCISCUS
On caring for the common home
201. The majority of the planet’s inhabitants declare themselves to be religious, and this should encourage religions to enter into a dialogue with each other aimed at caring for nature, protecting the poor, building a network of respect and fraternity. Dialogue between the sciences themselves is also indispensable, as each is used to confining itself within the limits of its own language and specialisation tends to become isolation and absolutisation of its own knowledge. This prevents the problems of the environment from being adequately addressed. Similarly, an open and respectful dialogue becomes necessary between the different ecological movements, where there is no lack of ideological struggle. The gravity of the ecological crisis demands all of us to think of the common good and continue along the path of dialogue, which calls for patience, asceticism and generosity, remembering that “reality is more important than the idea”.
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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