Two major groups who gave their lives for Christ.
Gave their lives in Back Asia between 1798 and 1861.
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
The Apocalypse is full of symbolic numbers: seven letters, seven seals, seven trumpets, 12 tribes, twenty-four elders on thrones. The number of the 144,000 signed standing by the lamb is obviously symbolic like most numbers in the Apocalypse. 12 x 12 x1000 symbolises the completed people of God of the end times: the 12 tribes of old and new Israel.
FIRST READING Apok. 14, 1-3.4b-5
They bore the name of Christ
and the name of his Father written on their foreheads.
From the Revelation of the holy apostle John
I, John, looked on and behold :
there stood the Lamb on Mount Zion
and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand.
They bore His name and the name of His Father
written on their foreheads.
And I heard from heaven a sound
like the thumping of many waters and the thundering of thunder.
And the sound I heard ,
was the sound of zither players playing on their zithers.
And they sang a new song
before the throne and before the four beasts and the elders.
And no one could learn the song but only
the one hundred and forty-four thousand ransomed from the earth.
They follow the Lamb wherever it goes.
They are redeemed
as the firstfruits of mankind before God and the Lamb.
And in their mouths no lie is found :
they are without blemish.
INTERLUDIUM Ps. 24(23), 1-2, 3-4ab, 5-6
This is the generation that turns to the Lord.
To God belongs the earth and all that is upon it,
the disk of the earth and all that dwells therein;
For He founded her on the water,
established her on the sea.
Who shall ascend the mountain of the Lord,
who shall stand in his sanctuary ?
Who is pure of hands and pure of heart,
sets not his mind on what is evil,
does not deceive his equals.
He will be blessed by the Lord,
rewarded by God, his redeemer.
So does the generation that turns to Him,
that stands before the face of Jacob’s God.
ALLELUIA Mt 24, 42a, 44
Alleluia.
Be vigilant
for the Son of Man is coming at the hour
When thou expectest not.
Alleluia.
GOSPEL Lk. 21, 1-4
A needy widow threw two pennies into the offering box.
From the holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to
Luke
In those days it happened that Jesus looked up
and saw the rich throwing their gifts into the sacrificial chest,
but He also saw a needy widow
who threw in two pennies.
And He spoke :
‘Truly, I say to you :
that poor widow has thrown in the most of all.
‘Those people have all
thrown in something of their abundance with the gifts for God,
but she offered from her poverty everything she had to live on.’
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Fratelli tutti
Encyclical of
POPE FRANCISCUS
On brotherhood and social friendship
108. There are societies that partially accept this principle.
They accept that everyone should be given opportunities, but having stated this
they claim that everything depends on everyone. According to this partial perspective
it would make no sense ‘to invest in ensuring that those who are left behind ,
the weak or the less gifted, can find their way in
life’. Investing in vulnerable people may not be profitable,
may lead to less efficiency. It requires a present and active
state and institutions of civil society that go beyond the
freedom from the efficiency-oriented mechanisms of certain
economic, political, ideological systems, because they focus first and foremost
focus on people and the common good.
To be continued
Every day 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 and Sundays
Fratelli tutti Official English translation