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
Jesus lived out God’s first covenant with His people according to His deepest intentions. Law and Prophets were perfectly fulfilled and completed in Him. We too can become servants of this new and unique covenant. God Himself makes us capable of it. After all, He gives His Spirit, who makes alive and strengthens confidence. God wants people to share in the happiness He has set aside for them. And He also shows the way to taste that happiness, namely the way of Jesus. Thus He also makes us capable of giving the best possible response to His love. therefore: You will show me the way of life to find all my joy with You.(Ps 16)
FIRST READING 1 Kings 18, 20-39
Answer, that this people may acknowledge that Thou, Lord,
be the true God, and so turn their hearts back to Thee.
From the first Book of Kings
In those days
King Ahab sent a message to all the Israelites
and had all the prophets assembled on Mount Carmel.
Elijah appeared before all the people and asked :
“How long will you continue to limp on two thoughts?
“If the Lord is God, follow Him ;
if it is Baal, then follow Baal.”
But the people did not answer him.
Then Elijah said to the people :
“I am the only prophet of the Lord left ;
the prophets of Baal are four hundred strong.
“Give us two bulls.
“Let the prophets of Baal choose one of the two bulls,
cut it to pieces and lay it on the wood ;
however, they must not light the wood.
“Then I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood ,
but not light the wood either.
“Then invoke the name of your god ;
I will invoke the name of the Lord ;
the god who answers by fire is the true god.”
And all the people cried out :
“That is good.”
Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal :
“Begin ye but to choose the bull
and prepare him, for ye are many.
“Then call on the name of your god ;
but thou mayest not light a fire.”
So they took the bull that was given to them,
prepared it and from morning till noon they called on
to the name of Baal :
“Baal, answer us!”
But there was no sound and no answer,
no matter how they jumped around the altar they had built.
When noon had come, Elijah mockingly called out to them :
“Do shout louder; after all, he is a god.
“Surely he is lost in thought
Or he has retired or is travelling ;
perhaps he is asleep and needs to be awakened.”
Then they shouted even louder
and carved themselves with swords and spears as usual,
until the blood dripped down their bodies.
The noon hour passed,
but they continued frantically
until the time of the evening sacrifice ;
but there was no sound and no answer :
They found no response.
Now Elijah said to the people :
“Come closer.”
And all came closer to him.
Then he raised the altar of the Lord ,
which had been overturned, again.
He took twelve stones,
according to the number of tribes
of the sons of Jacob,
to whom the Lord said :
Israel thou shalt be called.
Of those stones he built an altar to the Lord,
made a trench around the altar
with a content of two measures of sowing corn,
stacked the logs on top of each other,
cut the bull in pieces and laid it on the wood.
Then he said :
“Fill four jars with water
and pour them over the burnt offering and the wood.”
Then he said :
Do it again.”
And when they had done it again, he said :
“Now for the third time.”
When they had done it for the third time,
the water flowed down all sides of the altar ;
He also had the trench filled with water.
When the hour of the evening sacrifice had come ,
the prophet Elijah stepped forward and said :
“Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel ,
show this day that Thou art God in Israel,
and that I, Your servant, have done all this at Your command.
“Answer, Lord, answer,
that this people may acknowledge that Thou, Lord, art the true God,
and so turn their hearts back to Thee.”
Then the fire of the Lord struck down,
consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones and the dust;
it even licked up the water in the trench.
When the people saw this ,
they threw themselves forward on the ground and shouted :
“The Lord is the true god ! The Lord is the true god !”
INTERLUDIUM Ps. 16(15), 1-2a, 4, 5, 8, 11
Protect me, God, to You I take refuge.
Protect me, God, to Thee I take refuge ;
Thou art my Lord, I acknowledge it.
But he plunges himself into misfortune
Who pursues strange idols.
I will not offer them libations of blood,
their name shall not pass my lips
The Lord is my inheritance, my drink from the cup,
He holds my fate in His hand.
Always I keep my eyes on the Lord,
I do not fall, for He is beside me.
Thou shalt show me the way of life
To find all my joy with Thee,
everlasting happiness at Your side.
ALLELUIA Ps. 25(24), 4c, 5a
Alleluia.
Teach me your paths, Lord ;
Lead me according to your word.
Alleluia
GOSPEL Mt 5, 17-19
I have not come to lift up
but to bring fulfilment.
From the holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew
At that time, Jesus said to his disciples :
“Do not think that I have come
to lift up Law and Prophets
but to bring fulfilment.
“For verily I say unto you :
Sooner yet shall heaven and earth perish ,
than that one iota or scrap of the Law perish,
before all things are done.
“Whoever, therefore, one of these precepts,
even the slightest,
lifts up and so teaches men,
shall be esteemed the least in the kingdom of heaven,
but whoever upholds and teaches them
shall be esteemed great in the kingdom of heaven.”
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APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION LAUDATE DEUM
FROM THE HOLY FATHER
POPE FRANCISCUS
TO ALL PEOPLE
OF GOOD WILL
67. The Judeo-Christian vision of the cosmos defends the unique and central value of the
human being amid the magnificent concert of all God’s creatures, but today
we find ourselves forced to realise that it is only possible to adopt a “situated
anthropocentrism” to be maintained. In other words, recognising that human
life is incomprehensible and unsustainable without other beings. For “as part of the
universe… we are all connected by invisible ties and form
together a kind of universal family, a sublime community that fills us with a
sacred, loving and humble respect”.
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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