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
Joseph is invited to accept Mary’s child as a fruit of the Holy Spirit. He is asked to trust and engage in God’s plan. This plan consists in saving people from their sins. In this, God’s gracious justice exists. He wants to be a ‘God with us’. In Jesus, Jeremiah’s prophecy is fulfilled. The time is fulfilled: Jesus is the legitimate scion of David, who leads His people ‘with competence’, ‘justly and honestly’. To the weak, He gives life again. The Lord be praised (Ps 72.13.18) Does He also bring us back into God’s friendship?
FIRST READING Jer. 23:5-8
A lawful descendant of David do I raise up.
From the prophet Jeremiah
‘Believe Me, the time is coming – so speaks the LORD –
that I will raise up a legitimate descendant of David.
He will rule with ability
and govern the land justly and fairly.
Then Judah will be liberated, Israel will live safely.
This is the name people give Him:
God the LORD, our righteousness.
One day the time will come – so speaks the LORD –
when one no longer says:
Behold God lives!
who led the Israelites out of Egypt,
but: so where God lives, who brought the descendants of Israel back from the north,
from all the lands to which He had driven them.
On their own soil they shall dwell again.’
INTERLUDIUM Ps. 72(71) 2, 12-13, 18-19
Righteousness will blossom in his days
and prosperity everywhere till the end of the months.
My God, grant the king your wisdom,
the king’s son your justice.
May he rule your people justly,
your poor with equity.
The poor who seek support he will deliver,
the unfortunate without help.
He will take care of the deprived,
the weak he will restore life to them.
Praised be the Lord, Israel’s God,
who performs miracles like no other;
Praised be his holy Name forever,
his glory fill the earth.
ALLELUIA
Alleluia.
leader of the house of Israel :
Moses on Sinai thou gavest the Law ;
come and deliver us with thy strong arm.
Alleluia.
GOSPEL Mt 1:18-24
Jesus was born of Mary, the betrothed of Joseph, son of David.
From the holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew
The birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way.
When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph,
she, before they went to live together,
pregnant with the Holy Spirit.
Because Joseph, her husband, was righteous
and did not want to compromise her,
he considered
quietly divorcing her.
While he was contemplating this,
an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream
who spoke to him:
‘Joseph, son of David,
do not be afraid to take Mary, your wife, to yourself;
the child in her womb is of the Holy Spirit.
She will give birth to a son whom you must name Jesus,
for He will save His people from their sins.’
All this was done so that it might be fulfilled
what the Lord spoke through the prophet, saying:
‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive
and give birth to a son
and they will give Him the name Immanuel.’
That is in translation:
God with us.
Awakened from sleep
Joseph did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him
and took his wife to himself.
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Fratelli tutti
Encyclical of
POPE FRANCISCUS
On brotherhood and social friendship
131. It is important for all those who have arrived and
integrated into the social context, to apply the concept of ‘civil right’
apply, which is based on the equality of rights and duties
under the protection of which all enjoy justice. Therefore, it is
necessary to work towards establishing in our societies the concept
of full civil right and to abandon the discriminatory
use of the term minorities, which carries with it the seeds of
feeling isolated and of inferiority; this paves the way for
enmity and discord and deprives some citizens of achievements
and religious and civil rights by discriminating against them.’
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