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
The uniqueness of Jesus and his relationship with the Father are further developed after the event with the paralytic. But we look briefly at the first reading. In rich imagery, there is talk here of the end of the exile, of the protection on the retreat, of the division of the land as at the time of the entry. In short, there is a clear allusion to the first Exodus from Egypt. The last verse is particularly poignant. “Can a woman forget her infant? Does not a mother have more to do with the child of her womb? And though a mother would forget her child, no, I never forget you!”
FIRST READING Isa 49:8-15
I will form you and make you the man of the Covenant, to restore the land again.
From the Prophet Isaiah
Thus speaks the Lord :
“In the time of my good pleasure I will hear you,
in the day of salvation I will come to help you.
“I will form you and make you
Into the man of the covenant,
to restore the land again,
to redistribute the languishing land,
to say to the handcuffed : Come out !
and to those who sit in darkness : Show yourselves !
“Along the roads they shall graze,
on the barren ground they shall graze.
“They shall suffer neither hunger nor thirst,
no glowing wind, no burning sun that harms them,
for the One who takes care of them,
He guides them,
He brings them to the springs of water.
“Of all My mountains I make lanes
and My paths are levelled.
“There are those who come from afar ;
others come from the north and from the sea side,
and still others from Sinim.
“Heavens, rejoice, and you, earth, rejoice !
“Mountains, break forth in jubilation,
for the Lord has come to comfort his people,
come to have mercy on his poor faithful.
“Zion thinks : ,The Lord has forsaken me,
my God has forgotten me.’
“Can a woman forget her infant?
“Does not a mother have more to do
with the child of her womb ?
“And though a mother would forget her child ,
nay, I never forget thee!”
INTERLUDIUM Hymns Ps. 145(144), 8-9, 13cd-14, 17-18
The Lord is full of love and compassion.
The Lord is full of love and compassion,
longsuffering and most gracious.
The Lord is concerned for every man,
merciful to all that He made.
True is God in all His words
and holy in all that He does.
The Lord sustains those who are in danger of falling,
raises up all who are burdened.
The Lord is just in all His ways,
and holy in all His ways.
Near is the Lord to all who call upon Him,
to each one who prays sincerely to Him.
VERS FOR THE GOSPEL John 6, 64b and 69b
Your words, Lord, are spirit and life ;
your words are words of eternal life.
GOSPEL Jn 5, 17-30
As the Father raises the dead and makes them alive,
so also the Son makes alive whom He will.
From the holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to
John
At that time
Jesus defended himself against the Jews with the words :
“To this day
My Father is constantly at work
and I too do not cease working.”
For this reason, the Jews were even more bent on killing Him .
After all, He did not merely attack the Sabbath ,
but He even called God His own Father
and thereby made Himself equal to God.
At this, Jesus took the floor again and spoke :
“Verily, verily, I say unto you :
the Son can do nothing of Himself
but only that which He sees the Father doing.
“And everything that He does
does the Son likewise.
“Surely the Father loves the Son
and shows Him all that He does.
“Even greater works than these He will show Him,
so that ye may be amazed.
“For as the Father raises the dead and makes them alive,
so also the Son quickeneth whom He will.
“The Father judges no one ,
but He has
placed the judgment wholly in the hands of the Son,
that all may honour the Son as they honour the Father.
“Whoever does not honour the Son
neither honours the Father who sent Him.
“Verily, verily, I say unto you :
Whoever listens to My word
and believes in Him who sent Me,
has eternal life and is subject to no judgement;
For he has already passed from death to life.
“Verily, verily, I say unto you :
An hour will come, yea it is already here ,
when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God
and those who hear her shall live.
“As the Father has life in Himself ,
so He also gave to the Son
to have life in Himself.
“He has given Him power to execute judgment ;
For He is the Son of Man.
“Do not marvel at this :
An hour will come
when all who are in the graves
will hear His voice.
“Then those who did good
will emerge from it to the resurrection to life,
but those who did evil until the resurrection to judgment.
“I can do nothing of Myself :
I judge according to what I hear
And My judgment is righteous ,
because I do not seek my own will
but the will of Him who sent Me.”
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Laudato Si
Encyclic by
POPE FRANCIS
On caring for the common home
225. On the other hand, no one can mature into happy sobriety if he is not at peace with himself. And part of a right understanding of spirituality is to expand our understanding of peace, which is much more than absence of war. A person’s inner peace is closely linked to concern for ecology and the common good because, when authentically lived, it is reflected in a balanced lifestyle linked to a capacity for wonder that leads to a depth of life. Nature is full of words of love, but how will we be able to listen to them amid constant noise, constant and greedy scattering or the cult of appearances? Many people experience a deep imbalance that drives them to do things very quickly to feel occupied, in a constant rush that in turn leads them to run over everything that surrounds them. This affects the way people interact with the environment. An integral ecology requires spending a little time restoring a serene harmony with creation to reflect on our lifestyle and ideals, to contemplate the Creator, who lives among us and in what surrounds us, and whose presence “must not be manufactured, but discovered, revealed”.
To be continued
The Bible text in this issue is taken from The New Bible Translation,
©Dutch Bible Society 2004/2007.
Considerations from Liturgical suggestions for weekdays and Sundays
Laudato Si Official English translation
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