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
In loving, God is perfect. He makes the sun rise over bad and good. He loves without question. Reciprocity is not a condition for God to love. In that perspective, Jesus calls for love for the enemy. After all, we too can grow in perfect love and thus become children of the Father. After all, in concrete devotion to others, love shows its authenticity. Jesus himself preceded us in this. He became poor while he was rich, in order to make us rich through his poverty.
FIRST READING 1 Kings 21:17-28
Thou didst tempt the Israelites to sin
From the first Book of Kings
After the death of Nabot
came the word of the Lord to Elijah the Tisbite :
‘Go to Ahab the king of Israel, who dwells in Samaria ;
He has gone to the vineyard of Nabot
To take possession of it.
‘Tell him :
Thus speaks the Lord :
Come ye after a murder to take possession of the heritage ?
‘Then tell him :
Thus speaks the Lord :
In the place where the dogs licked up Nabot’s blood
they will lick up yours also.’
Then Ahab said to Elijah :
‘Has my enemy managed to find me again?’
He replied :
‘Yes, I have,
because you have allowed yourself to be used for that which displeases the Lord.
‘Therefore – saith the Lord –
I am going to bring calamity upon thee and blot thee out.
‘All that are men in the house of Ahab
I will destroy from high to low out of Israel.
‘I will do to your house the same
as I did to the house of Jeroboam,
the son of Nebat,
and with that of Baalah the son of Ahiah,
because thou didst taunt me
and tempted the Israelites to sin.
‘And concerning Izebel the Lord says :
The dogs shall devour Izebel
at the city wall of Jezreel.
‘Whoever from the house of Ahab dies in the city
shall be devoured by the dogs ,
and whoever dies in the open field
shall be devoured by the birds of the sky.’
Never before has anyone allowed himself to be so used
to do what displeases the Lord as Ahab,
tempted to do so by his wife Izebel.
He has behaved disgracefully
by serving idols ,
just as the Amorites had done,
whom the Lord drove out before the Israelites.
When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes,
put on a penitential garment over his naked body and fasted;
he walked around dejected
and laid himself to rest in his penitential garment.
Therefore the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite :
‘Hast thou seen how Ahab humbled himself before Me?
‘Because he humbled himself before Me ,
I will not bring calamity upon his house
not during his lifetime,
but during the life of his son.’
INTERLUDIUM Ps. 51(50), 3-4, 5-6a, 11, 16
God, have mercy on me in your mercy.
God, have mercy on me in your mercy,
Deliver my sinfulness in your mercy.
Wash my guilt utterly from me,
cleanse me from all my sins.
I acknowledge my wrongdoing,
always I have my offence before me.
Towards Thee alone have I sinned,
what is opposed to You I have done.
Turn away Your eyes from my faults,
absolve me of all my debts.
Keep me far from blood guilt, God my saviour,
then my tongue sings of Your wise policy.
ALLELUIA Ps. 27(26), 11
Alleluia.
Show me your way, Lord, in the face of opposition,
lead me along smooth paths.
Alleluia.
GOSPEL Mt 5, 43-48
Love your enemies.
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 causes 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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APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION LAUDATE DEUM
FROM THE HOLY FATHER
POPE FRANCISCUS
TO ALL PEOPLE
OF GOOD WILL
73. ‘Praise God’ is the title of this letter. Because when people want to take God’s place,
they become their own worst enemies.
Given at Rome, in the Basilica of St John of Lateran, on 4 October, the feast day of
Saint Francis of Assisi, in the year 2023, the eleventh of my pontificate.
FRANCISCUS
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The Bible text in this edition 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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