Invitation
May I hereby draw your attention to
the daily reading of the Gospel?
This invitation seeks to convey 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
Isaiah has taught us from the beginning that fasting is not an individual thing. Fasting is about fellow human beings, about community. Today’s liturgy reaches out to us with some important attitudes that define our relationship with our neighbour. It is remarkable how these commandments in the first reading are based on God himself and not on consideration of reason: ‘I am the Lord’: God wants us to have love and consideration for our neighbour. In the gospel, Jesus goes even further. He not only founds the benevolent attitude towards neighbour. He identifies with the neighbour, especially the most vulnerable: “Everything you did for one of these least of these, you did for Me”.
FIRST READING Isa 55:10-11
My word does not return until it has accomplished my will and fulfilled its mission.
From the Prophet Isaiah
This is how God the Lord speaks :
“As the rain and snow fall from heaven
and do not return there
When they have watered the earth,
have fertilized it so that it becomes green,
when they have given the seed to the sower
and the bread to the eater,
so shall it be with the word
that comes out of My mouth ;
it does not return to Me fruitlessly ;
it returns only when it has accomplished My Will
and has fulfilled its mission.”
INTERLUDIUM Ps. 34(33), 4-5, 6-7, 16-17, 18-19
To the pious who cry out, the Lord listens
and rescues them from every need.
Glorify the Lord together with me
and let us worship His Name in unison.
I went to the Lord and He heard me,
He saved me from all that I feared.
Abide in Him, then you will become happy,
for He will not fail you.
Those crying out in distress, to them the Lord listens
And rescues them from their misery.
The eye of the Lord is upon the pious,
His ear turned to their pleading.
From evildoers He turns His face away,
they are forgotten on earth.
To the pious who cry out the Lord listens
And rescues them from every need.
The Lord is near to grieving hearts,
he helps those who acknowledge their guilt.
VERS FOR THE GOSPEL Mt 4, 4b
Not from bread alone does man live,
but from all that proceeds from the mouth of God.
GOSPEL Mt. 6, 7-15
Thou must pray thus.
From the holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to
Matthew
At that time Jesus said to his disciples :
“When ye pray
do not use repetition like the pagans ;
for they think
that by their multitude of words they will be heard.
“Therefore do not follow their example ,
For before you ask Him
your Father knows what ye need.
“Thou must therefore pray thus :
Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy Name;
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but preserve us from evil.
“For if you forgive to men their faults
your heavenly Father will also forgive you ;
but if ye forgive not men
neither will your heavenly Father forgive your faults.”
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Laudato Si
Encyclical by
POPE FRANCISCUS
On caring for the common home
Focusing on a different lifestyle
203. As the market tends to produce a compulsive consumptive mechanism, to dispose of its products, people end up getting sucked into a whirlwind of purchases and unnecessary spending. Obsessive consumerism is a subjective reflection of a techno-economic paradigm. What happens is what Romano Guardini has already signalled: Man “accepts utensils and lifestyles as they are imposed on it by rational plans and standardised machine products, and it does so generally with the feeling that all this is reasonable and right”. This paradigm leads all to believe that they are free as long as they maintain a perceived freedom of consumption, when in reality, those who possess that freedom when they are part of a minority that holds economic and financial power. In this confusion, postmodern humanity has not found an understanding of itself that can give it direction, and one experiences this lack of identity with anxiety. We have too many resources for few and meagre purposes.
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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