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
Who is my neighbour? This is how we asked the question last Monday. We referred to the Good Samaritan in Luke. My neighbour is any person I meet on my way. We also referred to the gospel of the day. Unlike the first reading, my neighbour is not just the people’s companion, but the hungry, the thirsty, the sick, the naked, the stranger in whom Christ meets me.
Today, the gospel goes even further. Can Christ go even further than this? The neighbour is also the enemy whom I must love. Only Christianity proclaims this message that is absurd to most people.
FIRST READING Deut. 26, 16-19
Thou shalt be a people devoted to the Lord.
From the Book of Deuteronomy
Moses spoke to the people :
“Today the Lord your God commands you
to fulfil these precepts and provisions.
“You must carry them out punctually ,
with all your heart and all your soul.
“Thou hast this day received from the Lord the assurance ,
that He will be thy God,
if thou at least go his ways,
keep his precepts, commandments and ordinances
and listen to Him.
“And the Lord hath received from you this day the assurance ,
that, as He has promised,
shall be His own people and keep all His commandments.
“Therefore He will bestow on you greater honour, fame and glory
Than to the other nations which He has created,
and you shall be a people devoted to the Lord your God,
as He has promised.”
INTERLUDIUM Ps. 119(118), 1-2, 4-5, 7-8
Happy those who go forth according to the law of the Lord.
Happy those whose way of life is pure,
who proceed according to the law of the Lord.
Happy who heed what He decrees,
seeking Him with all their hearts.
You have given your commands
That one may faithfully fulfil them.
May my ways be straight,
directed to what Thou hast ordained.
I will praise Thee in all sincerity,
accepting what Thou hast ordained.
To Thy decrees I will keep ;
then do not leave me alone.
VERS FOR THE GOSPEL Ps. 51(50), 12a and 14a
Create in me a pure heart, my God,
give me again the opulence of Your blessing.
GOSPEL Mt 5, 43-48
Be perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect.
From the holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to
Matthew
At that time, Jesus said to his disciples :
“Ye have heard that it was said :
Thou shalt love thy neighbour and hate thy enemy.
“But I say to you :
Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you ,
that ye may become children of your Father in heaven,
For he causeth the sun to rise on the wicked and the good
and makes it rain on the just and the unjust.
“For if ye love those who love you ,
what right have ye to wages?
“Do not tax collectors do the same?
“And if thou only salute thy brother ,
what extraordinary thing dost thou do?
“Do not the heathen do the same?
“Be ye therefore perfect,
as thy Father in heaven is perfect.”
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Laudato Si
Encyclic by
POPE FRANCIS
On caring for the common home
207. The Earth Charter called on us all to leave behind a phase of self-destruction and start anew, but we have not yet developed a universal consciousness that makes this possible. That is why I dare to raise this challenge again: ‘Never before in history has our common destiny called us so clearly and emphatically to seek a new beginning (…). Let our time go down in history as an era of the turn towards a new reverence for life, the determination to achieve sustainable development, an intensification of the struggle for justice and peace and the joyful celebration of life.”
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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