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
Both readings are about Jonah. The story of Jonah is exceptional in the Old Testament. God is concerned about the Ninevites, who are nevertheless pagans and not Jews. He wants their salvation; He wants them to repent. Strangely enough, they do. Not because Jonah performs miracles, but they respond to his call to repentance. They turn back from their unholy ways and God accepts their repentance. Jesus compares the Jews to the Ninevites. His call to repentance also resonates, but they demand a clear sign. This is not given to them. They receive no more than Jonah’s sign, i.e. the urgent call to repentance, and in the absence of repentance they are judged more severely than the Gentiles. The call to repentance applies to every one of us.
FIRST READING Jon. 3, 1-10
The inhabitants of Nineveh returned from their unholy ways.
From the prophet Jonah
The word of the Lord was
addressed to Jonah:
“Arise, go to Nineveh, the great city of Nineveh
and tell her what I have given you to say.”
Jonah got up and went to Nineveh,
as the Lord had commanded.
Nineveh was a big city;
It took three days to go through it.
Jonah began to enter the city, a day’s journey away.
Then he exclaimed:
“Forty more days ,
and Nineveh will be razed to the ground!”
But the Ninevites sought support from God;
They proclaimed a fast and
from great to small, put on penitential garments.
Jonah’s word also came to the ears of the king of Nineveh;
he rose from his throne, laid off his state robe,
put on a penitential garment and sat down in the dust.
He made an announcement in Nineveh:
“By order of the king and his imperial magnates!
“People and animals, large animals and small animals ,
they may not eat anything,
they must not graze or drink water.
“People and animals must put on penitential garments
and cry out to God with all their might;
each must turn back from his unholy ways
and from the iniquity that clings to his hands.
“Who knows whether God will not then return to his decision
And regret it;
Who knows whether He will not return to His flaming wrath,
lest we perish.”
And God saw what they did;
He saw how they returned from their unholy ways.
And God became sorry that He had threatened them with that calamity.
He did not let it happen.
INTERLUDIUM Ps. 51(50), 3-4, 12-13, 18-19
What I offer, God, is my repentance,
a shattered and humiliated heart that Thou dost not reject.
God, have mercy on me in Thy mercy,
Redeem my sinfulness in Thy mercy.
Wash my guilt utterly from me,
Cleanse me from all my sins.
Create in me a pure heart, my God,
Give me again a resolute spirit.
Cast me not away from Thy Face,
take not Thy Holy Spirit from me.
In gifts Thou hast no pleasure,
whatever I offer Thee, Thou wilt not.
What I offer Thee, God, is my repentance,
a shattered and humbled heart Thou wilt not reject.
VERS FOR THE GOSPEL Ez. 33, 11
I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked,
saith the Lord,
but rather that he repent and live.
GOSPEL Lk. 11, 29-32
No other sign will be given to this generation than the sign of Jonah.
From the holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to
Luke
At that moment,
as the people gathered, Jesus began to speak:
“This generation is a depraved generation: it desires a sign ;
but no other sign shall be given her
than the sign of Jonah.
“For as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites ,
so shall also the Son of Man be to this generation.
“The queen of the south shall rise at the judgment
together with the people of this generation;
And she shall judge them ,
For she came from the ends of the earth
To listen to the wisdom of Solomon.
Well, here is more than Solomon.
“The people of Nineveh shall rise at the judgment
together with this generation
And they shall condemn her,
for they have repented at the preaching of Jonah.
Well, here is more than Jonah.
___________________________________________________________”
Laudato Si
Encyclic of
POPE FRANCIS
On caring for the common home
204. The current state of the world “causes a sense of volatility and insecurity, which in turn encourages forms of collective egoism”. When people become self-centred and isolated in their conscience, they increase their own greed. The emptier a person’s heart is, the more need he has to buy, possess and consume objects. In this context, it seems impossible for a person to accept that reality puts a limit on him. Against this horizon, there is also no real common good. If this is the type of people who prevail in a society, norms are respected only insofar as they do not go against one’s own needs. This is why we think not only of the possibility of terrible climatic events or major natural disasters, but also of catastrophes arising from social crises, because the obsession with a consumerist lifestyle, especially when it is reserved for the few, will only cause violence and mutual destruction.
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
___________________________________________________________________