Invitation
May I draw your attention to
The daily reading of the Gospel
This invitation seeks to convey the joy
of the Gospel. Everyone, without exception
can experience that joy by opening his or her heart
to the healing power of God’s word.
Available every day.
Consideration
Today’s gospel is a great prayer of praise prayed by Jesus. It is also a prayer of joy and thanksgiving. At the heart of his prayer is the joy of revealing the Father to everyone. But will everyone recognise Him? This requires the attitude of a child. How difficult is this for those who think they are wise and sensible?
FIRST READING Isa 10:5-7,13-16
Does the axe sometimes resist the man who chops with it?
From the prophet Isaiah
Thus speaks the Lord
“Assur is the rod of my wrath
The rod of my wrath!
“I send him against an unfaithful people;
I send him out
against the people against whom I am angry
To plunder and rob there
and to trample that people
like mud on the streets.
“But Assur himself does not mean it that way,
he does not see it that way in his heart:
his heart desires only destruction,
to destroy many nations,
for he has said:
By my own strength I have done it
and by my own understanding,
for I know what I am doing.
“I have moved the borders of the nations
and plundered their treasures.
“Like a mighty hero
I have overthrown the proud.
“My hand has seized the riches of the nations
like a bird’s nest
and I have seized the whole earth
Like one who grabs abandoned eggs:
No one beat with a wing
opened his beak and squawked!
“For – so goes the divine saying –
does the axe sometimes stand up
Against the man who bites with it?
“Or will the saw devise something
Against him who wields it?
“It would be
as if a stick swung against the one who wields it,
as if a stick would lift someone
Who is not of wood!
“Therefore the Lord, the Lord of heavenly powers!
sends the king of Assyria the tering in his fatness
and under his glory shall
under his glory kindle a fire, a blazing flame”.
INTERLUDIUM Ps. 94(93), 5-6, 7-8, 9-10, 14-15
The Lord will never disown his people.
The outcasts trample on your people, O Lord,
your inheritance is cruelly mistreated.
Strangers and widows are beaten and orphans are killed.
They kill the fatherless.
They say: surely the Lord does not see,
He does not even notice, O God of Jacob.
Use your wits, you short-sighted
you fools, when will you become wise?
He who gave us ears, would He not hear?
Would He who made the eye not see?
He who rebukes the nations, will He not punish?
He who teaches us, would He know nothing?
The Lord will never disown His people,
He will not abandon His inheritance.
Once the judges judge justly
And all the righteous shall fall by the wayside.
Alleluia Ps 119(118), 88
Alleluia.
Be merciful to me and let me live, Lord
Then I will be faithful to what You command.
Alleluia.
GOSPEL Mt 11, 25-27
These things have you, Father
hidden from the wise and prudent
but revealed to children.
From the holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to
Matthew
At one point, Jesus took the floor and spoke:
“I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
because You
have hidden from the wise and prudent ,
but to children You have revealed them.
“Yes, Father, so it has pleased You.
“Everything has been given to Me by My Father.
“No one knows the Son but the Father,
and no one knows the Father but the Son
and to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.”
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To be continued.
Every morning at 1 am
The Bible text in this issue is taken from The New Bible Translation,
©Dutch Bible Society 2004/2007.
Reflections on liturgical suggestions for weekdays and Sundays
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