Marian Message.
Announcement of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ
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.
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 passage of the angel Gabriel’s visit to Mary has all the hallmarks of a vocation story. The initiative comes from God; there is a greeting with the promise of God’s nearness; Mary is actually given a new name that expresses her mission: ’the Gifted’. In Christ, God will make us free from sin, and we will partake of the glory of his divine life. True freedom is Mary’s yes. Can we surrender to the message of Jesus with the same yes?
FIRST READING Isa 7:10-14
Behold, the virgin will receive.
From the Prophet Isaiah
In those days Isaiah spoke to Achaz :
“Ask the Lord your God for a sign ,
either high in heaven or deep in hell.”
But Achaz replied :
“I do not ask for a sign ;
I do not want to test the Lord.”
And Isaiah spoke :
“Listen then, house of David ,
is it not enough for thee to vex men,
that ye would be vexed also my God ?
“Therefore the Lord also gives you an unsolicited sign :
Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son ,
and she shall name him ,Immanuel’: ,God-with-us’.”
INTERLUDIUM Ps. 40(39), 7-8, 9, 10, 11
Yes, I come, Lord, to do Thy will.
Gift and offering Thou hast never desired,
but thou hast opened my ears to thy voice.
Thou askest no burnt offering, no kissing offering from me ;
so I said : yea, I come, as it is written of me :
Thy will to do, my God, that is my joy,
thy law is engraved in my heart.
In the assemblies I have preached righteousness,
not closed my lips, Lord, Thou knowest.
I did not keep Your benefits hidden in my heart,
Your faithfulness, Your assistance I made known.
Thy favours I did not keep secret,
nor thy faithfulness, from those around me.
SECOND READING Hebrews 10, 4-10
In the scroll it is written about me:
I have come, O God, to do your will.
From the letter to the Hebrews
Brothers and sisters,
It is out of the question
that the blood of bulls and goats would take away sins.
That is why Christ therefore says, when He comes into the world :
“Sacrifices and gifts hast Thou not wanted ,
but thou hast prepared for me a body.
“Burnt offerings and kissing offerings could not please Thee.
“Then I said :
Here I am.
“As it is written about me in the scroll :
I have come, O God, to do Thy will.”
First He says :
“Sacrifices and gifts ,
burnt offerings and kissing offerings Thou hast not wanted ;
these could not please Thee
though the law required them to be brought.”
And then He says :
“Here I am ,
I have come to do Thy will.”
So He abolishes the first in order to assert the second.
By that will we are sanctified, once for all,
through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ.
VERS FOR THE GOSPEL John 1, 14ab
(Alleluia.)
The Word became flesh
And has dwelt among us.
And we have beheld his glory.
(Alleluia.)
GOSPEL Lk. 1:26-38
Thou shalt conceive and bring a son into the world.
From the holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to
Luke
At that time
the angel Gabriel was sent by God
to a city in Galilee, Nazareth,
to a virgin who was betrothed to a man named Joseph,
from the house of David;
the virgin’s name was Mary.
He entered her and spoke :
“Rejoice, Gifted One, the Lord is with thee,
Thou art the blessed one among women.”
She was startled by that word
and wondered what that greeting could mean anyway.
But the angel said to her :
“Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God.
“Behold, thou shalt conceive and bring forth a son
And thou must give Him the name Jesus.
“He shall be great
And be called Son of the Most High.
“God the Lord will give Him the throne of His father David
and He shall be King over the house of Jacob for ever and ever
and His kingship will never come to an end.”
Mary, however, spoke to the angel :
“How shall this come about since I know no man?”
To this the angel answered her :
“The Holy Spirit will come upon you
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you ;
Therefore whatever is brought into the world
shall be called holy, Son of God.
“Know that even Elisabeth, thy kinswoman,
in her old age conceived a son
And, though she was called barren ,
she is now in her sixth month ;
for before God nothing is impossible.”
Now Mary said :
“Behold the handmaid of the Lord ;
unto me according to thy word.”
And the angel went from her.
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APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION LAUDATE DEUM
FROM THE HOLY FATHER
POPE FRANCISCUS
TO ALL PEOPLE
OF GOOD WILL
1. “Praise God for all his creatures”. This was the message St Francis of Assisi proclaimed through his life, his hymns and all his actions. Thus he accepted the invitation of the biblical psalms and reflected Jesus’ sensitivity to his Father’s creatures: “Look at the lilies of the field, how they grow; they do not toil and spin, but I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these” (Mt 6:28-29). “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight” (Lk 12:6). How can we not admire this tenderness of Jesus for all the creatures that accompany us along the way!
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 Deum Official English translation
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