St Irenaeus is the first great theologian
and church father of the Christian church
Originated from Asia Minor, Bishop
of Lyon. Lived from 135-202.
Born in Smyrna (Turkey)
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
Today’s first reading bears witness to horrific events, though common in the Israel of that time. So this is the end of the last king of Israel,the end of a dynasty destined by God to rule forever. Does God abandon his people? The answer to that question is found in the future: the people will return from exile, and they will fill the finest pages of the Bible. Isn’t the answer to Jesus’ cry on the cross – “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me”- also to be found in the future: the resurrection? But how hard it is to believe in that when one is in the middle of the night!
FIRST READING 2 Kings 25, 1-12
So Judah was carried off from his land into exile.
From the second Book of Kings
In the ninth year of Sidkiah’s reign,
in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month,
Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, went up in person
with all his forces against Jerusalem;
he encamped there and threw a rampart around it.
The siege lasted until the eleventh year of Sidkiah’s reign.
On the ninth day of the month,
when the famine had already become so acute
that there was no more bread for the people of the land,
a breach was made in the city wall.
Although the Chaldeans were surrounding the city,
the warriors left the city at night
through the gate between the two walls near the royal garden
and fled in the direction of the Araba.
The army of the Chaldeans pursued King Sidkiah
and caught up with him on the plain of Jericho,
after his army had disintegrated.
They captured the king
and brought him to the king of Babylon in Ribla.
The latter pronounced sentence on him.
Sidkiah’s sons were slaughtered before his eyes
and then he had Sidkiah’s eyes gouged out
and had him handcuffed with two bronze chains
carried away to Babel.
In the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month
in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign,
the king of Babylon,
pulled Nebuchadnezzar,
commander of the bodyguard
and adjutant of the king of Babylon,
entered Jerusalem.
He set fire to the temple of the Lord, the royal palace
and all the houses of Jerusalem on fire;
all the great buildings he set ablaze.
The army of the Chaldeans,
which was commanded by the commander of the bodyguard,
demolished the wall of Jerusalem.
What was left of the people in the city,
as well as those who had defected to the king of Babylon,
the rest of the population,
was taken away by Nebuzaradan, the commander of the bodyguard,
carried off into exile.
Only the poorest of the people
the commander of the bodyguard left behind
to take care of vineyards and fields.
Interludium Ps 137(136), 1-2, 3, 4-5, 6
May my tongue stick in my mouth
When I think of you no more!
We sat by Babylon’s streams and wept
Thinking of Zion;
and on the willows standing there
hung the citrons.
Our captors demanded songs,
our oppressors a merry song:
sing to us of Zion!
Could we then sing of the Lord
here in this strange land?
If I, Jerusalem, ever forget you
May my hand be paralysed.
May my tongue stick in my mouth
If I no longer think of you;
if I would trade Jerusalem
for some pleasure.
Alleluia cf Eph. 1:17-18
Alleluia
The God of our Lord Jesus Christ
May enlighten our inner eye,
to see how great is the hope
To which He calls us.
Alleluia.
GOSPEL Mt 8, 1-4
If Thou wilt, Lord, Thou canst cleanse me.
From the holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to
Matthew
When Jesus had descended from the mountain
A numerous crowd followed Him.
A leper came to Him
and begged Him on His knees:
‘If Thou wilt, Lord, Thou canst cleanse me.’
Jesus reached out, touched him and said:
‘I will, become clean.’
And immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy.
Jesus spoke to him:
“Take care not to tell anyone ,
but go and show yourself to the priest
and offer the gift prescribed by Moses,
to give them the proof.”
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To be continued.
Every morning at 1 am
This edition’s Bible text is from the New Translation of the Bible,
The Bible text of this edition is from the New Bible Translation, © Nederlands Bijbelgenootschap 2004/2007.
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