Invitation
May I draw your attention to
The daily reading of the Gospel
This invitation seeks to convey the joy
of the Gospel. Everyone, without exception
can experience that joy by opening his or her heart
to the healing power of God’s word.
Available every day.
Recital
Consideration
They will never enter my rest. The thought of Psalm 95 continues in the reading. Here it uses the image of God resting from His work after six days of labour. To that Sabbath rest – with God – to which we are invited, if we listen to His Word and are not obstinate. So it is for man at the end of his life. This is how it is for mankind at the end of history. Rest here is the opposite of work and a symbol of eternal happiness with God. Let us think of our funeral liturgy: requiem aeternam; eternal rest we wish our dear departed. Remember Augustine: irrequietem est cor nostrum. Restless is our heart until it finds rest in Thee.
FIRST READING Heb 4.1-5.11
Let us try to enter God’s rest.
From the letter to the Hebrews
Brothers and sisters,
As long as God’s promise of rest is still in force
we must see to it
that none of you think it is too late.
For we too have heard the good news
as they,
who had been brought out of Egypt under Moses.
But the word of proclamation they heard
did not benefit them
because it was not accompanied by faith among the hearers.
We who have believed ,
enter that rest of which the Lord has said:
‘I have sworn in my wrath :
they shall never enter into my rest’.
God’s work, however, was already complete from the creation of the world.
We infer this from what we read about the seventh day:
‘And God rested on the seventh day from all His work’.
And here we read :
‘They shall never enter into my rest’.
Let us therefore strive to enter into that rest.
Let no one
follow the bad example of their unbelief.
INTERLUDIUM Ps. 78(77), 3, 4bc, 5, 6, 7
Let us never forget what God has done.
All that we have heard and understood
what was spoken to us by the fathers,
the glory of the Lord, his deeds,
the miraculous signs he has done.
He gave his commandment in Jacob
and established as law in Israel
That what he revealed to the fathers
was to be made known to the children;
So that they also who are born after this
would come to know it and in turn
and in turn would pass it on to their children.
For they too must trust in God and never forget what He has done.
And never forget what He has done,
but keep His commandment.
HALLELUYA Ps. 95(94), 8ab
Alleluia.
Listen today to the voice of the Lord
And do not be stubborn.
Alleluia.
GOSPEL Mk 2, 1-12
The Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins.
From the Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to
Mark
When Jesus returned to Capernaum
and it was heard that He was at home
the people gathered in such numbers
that they could not even fit into the space in front of the gate
when He proclaimed His teachings to them.
Someone came and brought him a paralytic
who was carried by four men.
Because of the crowd, they saw no way to bring him to Jesus.
To bring him to Jesus,
They opened the roof of the place where he was,
made an opening in it
and lowered the bed on which the paralytic was lying.
Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralytic:
‘My son, your sins are forgiven you’.
And there were some scribes among them.
They said to each other:
‘What is that man saying over there?
‘He is speaking blasphemy!
‘Who can forgive sins if not God alone?
Jesus immediately saw that they were reasoning like that.
And said to them
‘What are you reasoning with yourselves?
‘What is easier, to say to the paralytic :
Your sins are forgiven you ,
o :
Get up, take up your bed and walk.
‘So that you may know
that the Son of Man on earth has power to forgive sins ,
– he said to the paralytic
‘I say to you
get up, take up your bed and go home’.
He got up, took up his bed
and immediately went out in front of all eyes.
They were all amazed
and glorified God and said:
‘We have never seen anything like this before’.
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Fratelli tutti
Encyclical of
Pope Francis
On brotherhood and social friendship
161. Another sign of the decline of popular leadership is concern for short-term advantage. One meets popular demands for the sake of gaining votes or support, but without advancing in an arduous and constant effort to generate the resources people need to develop and earn a living by their own efforts and creativity. In this regard, I have made it clear that “I have no intention of proposing an irresponsible populism”. Eliminating inequality requires an economic growth that can help to tap each region’s potential and thus guarantee a sustainable equality. At the same time, it follows that “welfare projects, which meet certain urgent needs, should be considered merely temporary responses”.
Continued
Every day at 7am
The Bible text in this issue is taken from The New Translation of the Bible,
The New Bible Translation, ©Dutch Bible Society 2004/2007.
Reflections on liturgical suggestions for weekdays and Sundays
Fratelli tutti Official English translation