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
We read one of the most beautiful gems from Paul’s correspondence. There are three characters. Paul, an old man in captivity. Philemon, a rich Christian converted by Paul. Onesimus, his slave. Onesimus has run away from Filemon, become a Christian through Paul and serves him in captivity. Paul dares to send Onesimus back and pleads for clemency and even release. Beneath all those lovely words of a short note lies the core of Christian doctrine: Onesimus is now no longer a slave but your beloved brother. What is Christianity, that in the empire of the time, it dares to say to a master: Your slave is your equal, as unique in God’s eyes as you are?
FIRST READING Philémon 7- 20
Welcome him, now no longer as a slave,
but as a beloved brother.
From the letter of the holy axis apostle Paul to Philémon
Dear one,
Much joy and comfort
I have already experienced from the love
with which thou hast refreshed the hearts of Christians.
Therefore,
though in Christ I also have every right to remind thee of thy duty,
I still prefer a request
and to appeal to thy love.
It is Paul who writes to you, an old man,
now moreover a prisoner of Christ Jesus,
and my request concerns the child
whom I have won for the Lord here in prison,
I mean Onésimus,
who has been of very little benefit to you in the past
but who is now duly useful,
both for you and for me.
I am sending him back to you
and with him all my love.
I would have liked to keep him here
as your deputy,
to take care of me
in my captivity for the gospel.
But I don’t want to do anything without your consent,
I don’t want to force anything :
Your goodness must be allowed to express itself spontaneously !
Perhaps that was the reason
why he was away from you for a time :
That you would get him back for good,
now no longer as a slave
but as much more than a slave,
as a beloved brother.
To me, he is all that,
how much more than to you,
as a man and as a Christian.
So if you feel connected to me
welcome him as you would me.
And should he have harmed thee or owe thee anything,
put it on my account.
Here is my signature :
Paul, I will pay . . . .
Or shall we say :Put it on your own account ?
You owe me anyway!
Come brother,
let me profit a little from you, for the Lord’s sake.
For Christ’s sake, set my heart at ease.
INTERLUDIUM Ps. 146(145), 7, 8-9a, 9bc-10
Happy he who seeks help from Jacob’s God.
The Lord always keeps His word,
He provides justice for the oppressed.
The Lord gives bread to the hungry,
He grants freedom to the captives.
The Lord opens the eyes of the blind,
He raises up the brokenhearted.
The Lord loves the righteous,
the Lord preserves the uprooted.
The Lord gives support to orphans and widows,
but sinners he lets go astray.
The Lord is king for ever,
your God, Zion, rules over all generations.
ALLELUIA I Thess. 2, 13
Alleluia.
Receive the divine word,
not as the word of men
but as what it is indeed : The word of God.
Alleluia.
GOSPEL Lk. 17, 20-25
The kingdom of God is in the midst of you.
From the holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to
Luke
When Jesus was asked the question by the Pharisees,
when the Kingdom of God would come, He answered them :
‘You cannot observe the coming of the Kingdom of God.
‘One cannot say : Look, here it is or there it is.
‘For the Kingdom of God is in the midst of you.’
Further, He said to His disciples :
‘A time will come when you will desire
to see one day of the Son of Man
but ye shall not see the Son of Man.
‘When it shall be said to you :
Behold, He is there, or : Behold, He is here ,
then do not go there and follow them.
‘For when his day comes
the Son of Man will be like the flashing lightning ,
which shines from one end of heaven to the other.
‘But first He must suffer much
and be rejected by this generation.’
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Fratelli tutti
Encyclical of
POPE FRANCISCUS
On brotherhood and social friendship
Open societies that integrate all
97. There are peripheries that are close to us, in the centre of a
city or in one’s own family. There is also an aspect of the universal openness
of love that is not geographical, but existential. It is the daily
ability to expand my circle, to reach out to those I spontaneously
do not feel part of my world of interests, although they are close to
me. On the other hand, any brother or sister who is suffering, abandoned
abandoned or ignored by my society, is an existential stranger,
even if he was born in the same country. It may be a citizen who
everything in order, but he can be treated as a stranger in
own country. Racism is a virus that easily mutates and instead of
disappear, it hides but is always lurking.
To be continued
Every day at 1 am
The Bible text in this issue is taken from The New Bible Translation,
©Dutch Bible Society 2004/2007.
Considerations from Liturgical suggestions for weekdays and Sundays
Fratelli tutti Official English translation
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