Pius X was pope from 1903 to 1914
Invitation
May I hereby draw your attention to
the daily reading of the Gospel?
This invitation wishes 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
This is an oracle against the shepherds of Israel, and at the same time a stand up for the sheep. The shepherd lives at the expense of his sheep. He symbolises here all rulers who abuse their power. God himself will strip them of that power, and henceforth be Shepherd of his people himself. The language here is unusually harsh, but there is a flip side: God’s great care for his people. Involuntarily, we think of the Good Shepherd with John, and of the shepherd looking for the lost sheep with Luke. Psalm 23 is rightly chosen here as the answering psalm.
FIRST READING Ez. 34, 1-11
I will claim my sheep
So that they no longer become prey to those shepherds.
From the Prophet Ezekiel
The word of the Lord was addressed to me :
“Son of man ,
thou must make a prophecy against the shepherds of Israel,
and thus speak to them, the shepherds :
Thus speaks God the Lord :
Woe to the shepherds of Israel ,
who care only for themselves !
“Should not the shepherds care for the sheep ?
“Ye drink their milk, ye clothe yourselves in their wool,
ye slaughter the fatted animal,
but for the sheep ye care not.
“The weakened animal ye strengthen not,
the sick thou healest not,
the wounded thou dost not bind up,
the lost thou wilt not bring back
and for the lost ye do not search.
“Ye manage the animals with harshness and violence.
“Thus they become scattered, for want of a shepherd ,
and they become the prey
of all the wild beasts of the field where they are scattered.
“On all the mountains and everywhere on the high hills
do my sheep roam ;
all over the earth my sheep are scattered
And there is no one to ask for them,
and there is no one to look for them.
“Therefore, shepherds, hear the word of the Lord!
“So where I live – speaks God the Lord –
I will get them !
“Because my sheep have been robbed ,
because my sheep, for want of a shepherd,
have become the prey of all the wild beasts of the field,
because my shepherds have not looked for the sheep
and the shepherds have cared only for themselves
and not for my sheep,
therefore, shepherds , ye must now hear the word of the Lord.
“Thus speaks God the Lord :
I will get them, the shepherds !
“I will claim my sheep from them
and I will put an end to their care for my sheep.
“The shepherds will no longer favour themselves.
“I will rescue my sheep from their teeth,
so that they will no longer become prey to those shepherds.
“For, thus speaks God the Lord :
Now is the time, that I myself am going to ask for my sheep
and myself am going to look after them.”
INTERLUDIUM Ps. 23(22), 1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6
The Lord is my shepherd, nothing do I lack.
The Lord is my shepherd, nothing do I lack ;
He makes me graze on green fields.
He brings me to water, where I can rest,
He restores my courage.
He guides my steps along straight paths
For His Name’s sake.
Though my way leads through dark gorges,
I fear no evil wherever You lead me.
Thy rod and Thy staff
give me courage and confidence.
Thou dost invite me to thy table,
to the annoyance of my enemies.
With oil Thou anointest my head,
my cup is overflowing.
Prosperity and blessing never leave me
every day of my life.
The house of the Lord shall be my dwelling
For all times to come.
ALLELUIA Ps. 119(118), 105
Alleluia.
Your word is a lamp to my feet, Lord,
it is a light in my path.
Alleluia.
GOSPEL Mt 20, 1-16a
Art thou evil because I am good ?
From the Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew
At that time, Jesus recounted the following parable :
“With the kingdom of heaven it is
as with a landowner who went out early in the morning
to hire labourers for his vineyard.
“He agreed with the workers for a tenner a day
and sent them to his vineyard.
“Around the third hour, he went out again
and saw others standing idly in the marketplace
To whom he said :
Go also to my vineyard
and I will give you what is fair.
“And they went.
“About the sixth and ninth hour he went out again
and did the same thing.
“Around the eleventh hour he went out again
and found others standing there again.
“He said to them :
What are you standing here idly all day?
“They answered him :
Nobody hired us.
“Thereupon he said to them :
Go ye also into my vineyard.
“At nightfall
spoke the owner of the vineyard to his steward :
Call the workers and pay them out,
beginning with the last and so on to the first.
“When the workers of the eleventh hour came
they each received a tenling ;
Now when the first also came the latter thought
that they would get more,
but they also each received the agreed tenling.
“They did take it,
but began to grumble at the landowner and said:
These here,
who came last
have worked only one hour,
and you equate them with us
who have borne the burden of the day
and the burning heat have borne.
“But he answered one of them :
Friend, surely I do thee no injustice ?
“‘Hast thou not agreed with me for a denarius ?
“Take what is due to thee and go away.
“I want to give to the one who came last
as much as to thee.
“May I not sometimes do with mine as I choose,
or are you angry because I am good?
“Thus the last will be the first
and the first will be the last.”
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Fratelli tutti
Encyclical of
POPE FRANCISCUS
On brotherhood and social friendship
12. “The opening to the world” is an expression that economics and
finance have made their own these days. It refers
exclusively to opening up to foreign interests or to the
freedom of economic powers to invest in all countries unimpeded or
to invest without complications. Local conflicts and indifference
towards the common good are instrumentalised by the global economy
instrumentalised to impose a single cultural model. That culture
unites the world, but divides individuals and nations, because “increasingly
globalised society makes us neighbours but not
brothers and sisters”.
We are more alone than ever in this standardised world, which privileges individual interests and weakens the communal dimension of existence. Rather, markets proliferate, where people play the role of consumers and spectators.
The advance of this globalism usually promotes the identity of the strongest, who protect themselves, but seeks to erode the identity of the weakest and poorest regions, making them more vulnerable and
more dependent. Thus, politics becomes increasingly weak in the face of the
transnational economies, applying “divide et impera”.
To be continued
Every morning at 1 am
©Netherlands Bible Society 2004/2007.
Considerations from Liturgical suggestions for weekdays and Sundays
Fratelli tutti Official English translation
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