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
We humans still tolerate general admonitions, but when they become too personal we start protesting. Those who continue to insist on the same thing and put their finger on the wound await resistance. Jeremiah and Jesus experienced it. Rejection and humiliation were their portion. But they persevered, out of their sense of mission. They did not speak in their own name, but in the name of the Lord. Those who choose the Lord may lose many ‘friends’. Do we accept that even today there are believers who speak in God’s name, working unity and peace, pointing out evil, shaping God’s infinite mercy? What do we do with them?
FIRST READING Jer. 20, 10-13
The Lord is with me as a mighty warrior.
From the Prophet Jeremiah
I hear many whispering :
“There you have dismay – everywhere.”
Bring it on, yes, we bring it on.
All my friends want nothing more
than to bring me down.
They say :
Maybe he will be deceived,
then we’ll overpower him
and we can take revenge on him.
God the Lord is with me as a mighty warrior.
My pursuers fall down, they will not overcome.
They are deeply shamed, never achieving anything.
Their shame lasts forever, it is never forgotten !
God of the heavenly powers,
who justly examines all things,
who searches hearts and minds,
let me see how Thou dost avenge Thyself on them.
For I have placed my cause in Your hands.
Sing a song, a song of praise to the Lord thy God,
for He has delivered the life of the poor
from the power of evildoers.
INTERLUDIUM Ps. 18(17), 2-3a, 3bc-4, 5-6, 7
I turned to the Lord in my distress,
His ear caught my cries of distress.
Lord, You I love, my strength be You,
my refuge, my fortress, my deliverer.
My God, the rock where I find refuge.
My shield, my preservation, my protection.
When I call on the Lord, He be praised,
then no enemy harms me.
For waves of mortal danger enclosed me,
a torrent of doom terrified me.
The net of the kingdom of the dead held me captive,
the snare of death was already around me.
Then I turned to the Lord in my distress
and called on my God for help.
He heard my voice in his high palace,
his ear caught my cries of distress.
VERS FOR THE GOSPEL Lk 15, 18
I will go again to my father
And I will tell him :
Father, I have transgressed against heaven and against you.
GOSPEL Jn 10:31-42
The Jews try to seize Jesus again, but He puts Himself beyond their reach.
From the holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to
John
In those days the Jews were picking up stones to stone Jesus.
But Jesus told them :
“I have done before you many good works
Which proceed from the Father ;
for which of these works do ye wish to stone Me ?”
The Jews answered Him :
“Not for a good work do we stone thee
but for a blasphemy :
That thou, a man, makest thyself God.”
Jesus answered them :
“Is it not written in thy law :
I have said : thou art gods ?
“She called those to whom the word of God was addressed
called gods,
and the Scriptures have binding force.
“But why then do you accuse Me,
who was sanctified by the Father and sent into the world,
of blasphemy if I call Myself the Son of God?
“If I do not do the works of My Father
need ye not believe Me,
but if I do them
then believe those works if ye will not believe Me.
“Then ye shall see and acknowledge ,
that the Father is in Me and I am in the Father.”
Then they tried again to seize Him
but He put Himself beyond their reach.
He went back across the Jordan,
to the place where John had initially baptised
and stayed there.
Many came to Him, for they said :
“John may not have done any sign ,
but everything he said about this man was true.”
And many began to believe in Him there.
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Laudato Si
Encyclic by
POPE FRANCIS
On caring for the common home
234. St John of the Cross taught that all that is good in the things and experiences of the world is “eminently infinite in God, or rather He is each of these greatnesses proclaimed”. 3 Not because the limited things of the world are truly divine, but because the mystic experiences the intimate bond that exists between God and all beings, and thus “feels that God is everything to him”. 4 When he admires the height of a mountain, he cannot separate it from God and becomes aware that this inner admiration he experiences is based on the Lord: “The mountains have peaks, they are high, imposing, beautiful, lovely, flowery and fragrant. The Beloved is like those mountains to me. The lonely valleys are peaceful, charming, fresh, shady, rich in fresh water. The variety of their trees and the pleasant songs of the birds invigorate and entertain the senses, and in their solitude and silence they offer refreshment and tranquillity: the valleys are for me my Well-Beloved”.
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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