Was a prominent overseer, shepherd, teacher and prolific writer
Greatest preacher in the Greek church
Invitation
May I hereby draw your attention to
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
We read a section from chapter 9, an apologetic of Paul. What does it mean to him to be a ‘free’ man? It is this freedom he wishes for the Corinthians. Their Hellenistic conceptions of freedom need to be adjusted and redefined in a Christian context of both community and individual life.
FIRST READING I Cor. 9, 16-19.22b-27
I am for saving everyone at all costs
save a few.
From the holy apostle Paul’s first letter to the Christians
of Corinth
Brothers and sisters,
That I preach the gospel is no reason for me to boast of it:
I cannot do otherwise.
Woe is me if I do not proclaim the gospel!
If I did it of my own accord, I would be entitled to wages;
But it’s not like that:
It is a task entrusted to me.
What then is my merit?
That I proclaim the gospel free of charge
and do not avail myself of the right attached to that preaching.
Independent of all, I have enslaved myself to all
to win as many people to Christ as possible.
With the weak, I have become weak
to win the weak.
I am all for all
To save a few at any cost.
And I do everything for the gospel
To be part of it myself.
Thou knowest:
The runners in the stadium all run
but only one wins the race.
Run so that you win!
And athletes deny themselves all sorts of things while training.
They do so for a fleeting crown,
we do it for an imperishable one.
So I don’t run blind,
I don’t box like someone punching in the air.
I stomp on my body and hold it in check
lest, having preached to others, I myself be rejected.
INTERLUDIUM Ps. 84(83), 3, 4, 5-6a, 8a, 12
How dear to me is your dwelling, Lord of heavenly powers.
My soul longs and yearns for your sanctuary.
My heart and all my being
go out joyfully to You, the God who lives.
For even the sparrows find shelter,
the swallows a nest for their offspring ;
to me that is Your altar, Lord of heavenly powers,
my King and my God!
Happy those who dwell in Your house, O Lord,
who may praise Thee there always.
Happy those who may lean on You,
he shall continue his way with renewed strength.
For God the Lord is like a sun and like a shield,
He gives us blessing and protection.
ALLELUIA Col 3:16a, 17c
Alleluia.
May the word of Christ
dwell among you in full riches ;
Thank God the Father through Him.
Alleluia.
GOSPEL Lk 6:39-42
Can sometimes a blind man lead another?
From the holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to
Luke
At that time, Jesus held out this parable to his disciples:
‘Can sometimes one blind person lead another?
Do not both then fall into the pit?
The disciple is not above his master ;
but he will be fully formed if he is like his master.
‘Why do you look at the mote in your brother’s eye
and why do you not pay attention to the beam in your own eye?
‘How can you say to your brother :
‘Brother, let me take the mote out of thy eye ,
while you do not notice the beam in your own eye?
Hypocrite,
first remove the beam from your own eye;
then you will see clearly enough
To remove the mote
that is in your brother’s eye.
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Fratelli tutti
Encyclical of
POPE FRANCISCUS
On brotherhood and social friendship
35. However, we quickly forget the lessons of history, ‘the teacher
of life’. When the health crisis is over,
the worst reaction would be to fall into even more feverish consumerism
and new forms of selfish selfishness.
May heaven allow us that eventually there will no longer be ‘the others’ but only
an ‘us’; that it has not been yet another serious historical event
from which we have not been able to learn; that we do not forget the
elderly who died due to lack of respirators
partly as a result of health systems that year after year have been
dismantled; that such great sorrow is not meaningless, that we take a leap
to a new way of life and discover once and for all
that we need and owe each other, so that humanity can be
across the boundaries we have created, reborn with all
the faces, all the hands and all the voices.
To be continued
Every morning at 1 am
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
Fratelli tutti Official English translation
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