Spanish saint. Mystic. Born 24 June
1542 at Fontiveros. Died on 14 December 1591 at Ubeda
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
‘He who watchfully looks forward to Christ is delicate, ardent and anxious in spirit; he is awake, alert, observant, full of zeal to seek and honour Him. In everything he seeks to discover Him no matter what, and he would not be surprised or overly excited or upset if he found that Christ came immediately. So this is watchful waiting: Being detached from what is now present and living in the unseen; living with the thought of Christ as He once came and as He will come again; from our tender and grateful remembrance of His first coming longing for His second coming.’
(John Henry Newman)
FIRST READING Isa 41:13-20
I, the Holy One of Israel, I am your redeemer, says the Lord.
From the Prophet Isaiah
Thus speaks the Lord :
‘I am the Lord your God ,
ho has taken you by your right hand
And who says to you :
Do not be afraid ; I am helping you.
‘Do not be afraid, little worm Jacob,
little nation of Israel !
‘I Myself am your helper, says the Lord,
I am your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
‘I will make you a threshing sledge,
new and well-sharpened, with sharp teeth.
‘Thou shalt thresh mountains and crush ,
make hills into chaff ;
thou castest them up ; the wind carries them away,
the storm scatters them.
‘Ye yourselves, however, rejoice in the Lord
And praise thyself for the sake of the Holy One of Israel.
‘The poor and needy seek for water
and it is not there ;
their tongue is parched with thirst.
‘I, the Lord, I hear them,
I, the God of Israel, I will not forsake them !
‘On the barren lands I make rivers spring up
and springs in the rocky gorges.
‘From the desert I make a land of water,
From the thirsty soil a spring-field.
‘In the desert I make cedars grow,
acasias, myrtles and oleasters,
‘In the barren land I will set up cypresses
and ash trees and palms, a multitude of trees.
‘Then they will see and acknowledge,
fully understand and comprehend,
that the hand of the Lord has done that,
that Israel’s Holy One created that.’
Thus speaks Almighty God.
INTERLUDIUM Ps. 145(144), 1, 9, 10-11, 12-13ab
The Lord is full of love and compassion,
longsuffering and most gracious.
You I want to praise, my God and King,
glorifying your Name forever.
The Lord is concerned for every man,
merciful to all that He made.
Your works shall praise You, Lord,
thy pious ones shall praise thee.
They cry out the glory of Your rule,
thy power they proclaim.
They make Your power known to men,
the splendour of Your kingdom.
Your kingdom is a kingdom for all ages,
your rule is for every generation.
ALLELUIA
Alleluia.
Come to us Lord, with your peace,
that with an upright heart
may rejoice in You.
Alleluia.
GOSPEL Mt 11, 11-15
No one has risen who is greater than John the Baptist.
From the holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to
Matthew
At that time Jesus said to the crowd :
‘Verily, I say unto you :
Among those born of women
no one has risen who is greater than John the Baptist.
‘Nevertheless, the smallest in the kingdom of heaven is
greater than he.
‘From the days of John the Baptist until now
the kingdom of heaven breaks forth with violence,
and violent men seize it.
‘For all the prophets and the Law, until John,
have only foretold it ;
but if ye will take it from Me :
This is the Elijah that was to come.
‘He who has ears, he listens!’
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Fratelli tutti
Encyclical of
POPE FRANCISCUS
On brotherhood and social friendship
125. Moreover, this implies a different way of understanding relations and
exchange between nations to be understood. If every person has an
inalienable dignity, if every person is my brother or sister and
if the world truly belongs to all, it is of no consequence whether a person is born here
or lives outside the borders of his own country. My nation, too, is
partly responsible for his development, although it can fulfil this responsibility
in different ways: by generously
welcome, when he is in urgent need of it, by supporting him in
his own country, by not using or exhausting the natural resources of
whole countries or depleting them and thus corrupting systems
that hinder the dignified development of peoples.
This applies to nations and also applies to the different regions
of each country, between which serious forms of inequality often
exist. But the inability to recognise equal human dignity
sometimes causes the most developed regions of
certain countries strive to free themselves from the ‘ballast’ of the poorest
regions to further increase their consumption levels.
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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