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
With the seven plagues, God’s wrath reaches its climax. Again, we can say: what is disaster for the wicked means salvation for the pious. The reference to the plagues, to Moses and to the sea is abundantly clear. The plagues of Egypt and the passage through the Red Sea represented disaster for the Egyptians, salvation for Israel. The pious sing the song of Moses, the song of their salvation. They sing not their own victory, but the power of God.
FIRST READING Apok. 15, 1-4
They sang the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb.
From the Revelation of the holy apostle John
I, John, saw a sign in heaven, great and wonderful :
seven angels with seven plagues, the last ,
for with these God’s wrath reaches its end.
Also I saw a sea as of glass, mixed with fire.
And those who spoke of the Beast and his image
and over the number of his name had triumphed
I saw standing by that sea.
They played the harps of God
and they sang the song of Moses the servant of God
and the song of the Lamb :
‘Great and wonderful are your deeds,
Lord, God, Omnipotent.
‘Righteous and true are thy ways,
O King of the ages.
‘Who, O Lord, should not fear
and not glorify thy name?
‘For Thou alone art holy.
‘And all nations shall come and worship Thee
Because Thy righteous judgments have been made manifest.’
INTERLUDIUM Ps. 98(97), 1, 2-3ab, 7-8, 9
Great and wonderful are Your deeds,
Lord, God, Omnipotent (Apok. 15, 3b)
Sing to the Lord a new song
Because He did wonders.
His hand asserted itself mightily,
the power of His holy arm.
His benefits He made known to us,
His justice to the nations.
Once again His goodness and faithfulness proved
in favour of Israel’s house.
The sea agrees with all its beasts
the earth with all that lives there ;
the streams gurgle with acclaim,
the mountains jubilate along.
They salute the Lord, who comes near,
who approaches as King of the Earth.
Righteously He rules the world,
the peoples with equity.
ALLELUIA Lk 21, 36
Alleluia.
Be vigilant and pray at all times
and that we may stand firm
before the face of the Son of Man.
Alleluia.
GOSPEL Lk 21:12-19
You will be an object of hatred to all
for my Name’s sake :
not a hair of your head shall be lost.
From the holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to
Luke
At that time, Jesus said to his disciples :
‘They will seize you and persecute you ;
they will hand you over to the synagogues and imprison you,
bring you before kings and governors
for my Name’s sake.
‘It will end up for you in giving testimony.
‘Well, impress it on thee
That then ye should not prepare your defence.
‘For I will give you a language and a wisdom
which none of thy adversaries
will be able to resist or contradict.
Thou shalt even by parents and brothers,
by kinsmen and friends
and some of you will have them put to death.
‘You will be an object of hatred to all
for the sake of my Name :
not a hair of your head will be lost.
‘By being steadfast you will gain your life.’
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Fratelli tutti
Encyclical of
POPE FRANCISCUS
On brotherhood and social friendship
110. The fact is that ‘simply positing economic freedom
when real conditions prevent many from truly
using it, and limiting access to work, becomes a contradictory
story’. Words like freedom, democracy or fraternity
lose their meaning. Because in fact, ‘as long as our economic-social
system creates even one victim and even one
person is discarded, there will be no celebration of universal brotherhood
be possible’. A humane and fraternal society is able to
ensure in an efficient and stable manner that all on their
path of life are guided, not only to meet basic needs
but also so that they can give the best of themselves, even if
their efficiency will not be the best, even though they will progress slowly
even though their efficiency will be of little importance.
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