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
Christ was a friend to all people, without exception . All who, wherever they are in the world, love Christ, together form one great community seeking to imitate him in mutual friendship. From that communion, they can contribute to the healing of the wounds from which humanity suffers. Without imposing themselves, they can promote global solidarity, excluding no nation and no person. Sometimes this community in mutual friendship is very visible, for instance at international meetings. But such events are only occasional. Yet everywhere on earth you can find a small particle of this community, however shabby. It is impossible to live your faith all alone. Faith always begins with an experience of community, with the realisation that Christ is the source of unlimited unity. Local communities, prayer groups, churches are meant to constantly grow in friendship! They should become places of warm welcome and support for one another, caring for the small and weak, for strangers and for those who do not share our ideals.
(Brother Aloís, Taizé 2014)
FIRST READING Heb 7:25-8:6
Once for all, our High Priest offered a sacrifice
when He offered Himself as a sacrifice.
From the letter to the Hebrews
Brothers and sisters,
Christ is able to save those
who approach God through His intervention,
are saved forever
since He always lives to intercede for them.
We needed such a high priest too :
One who is holy, guiltless, unstained,
separate from sinners,
high above the heavens.
Nor does he have to be like the high priests,
to offer sacrifices every day first for his own sins
and then for those of the people,
for this He did once before
when He offered Himself as a sacrifice.
The law appoints as high priests men, afflicted with weakness ;
but the oath pronounced after the law
designates the Son, who is perfect for all eternity.
The crux of our argument now is
that we have such a high priest.
Seated at the right side of the throne of majesty in heaven
He serves the true sanctuary,
the tent stored up by the Lord and not by any man.
Every high priest’s task is to dedicate gifts and sacrifices ;
therefore He too must have something to offer.
If He stayed on earth, He would not even be a priest,
since there are already priests present
offering the gifts prescribed by the law,
though these priests perform service in a sanctuary
which is only a copy
and a shadow of the heavenly reality.
When Moses went to manufacture the tent
he was therefore told by God :
‘Take care that you make everything according to the model
which was shown to you on the mountain.’
In fact, however
the ministry that fell to Jesus is far more exalted ,
as are the covenant of which He is the mediator
and the promises on which it rests.
INTERLUDIUM Ps. 40(39), 7-8a, 8b-9, 10, 17
I come, Lord, to do Thy will.
Gift and offering have Thou never desired,
but thou hast opened my ears to thy voice.
Thou askest no burnt offering, no kissing offering from me ;
so I said : Yea, I come, as it is written of me .
To do Thy will, my God, that is my joy ,
your law is engraved in my heart.
In the assemblies I have preached righteousness ,
my lips not closed, Lord, Thou knowest.
Let them rejoice and be glad who seek Thee,
and cry : Glory to the Lord, who look forward to Thy help.
ALLELUIA Ps. 119(118), 36a, 29b
Alleluia.
My heart be set on what You ordain, Lord ;
Give me Thy law as my guide.
Alleluia.
GOSPEL Mk. 3, 7-12
The unclean spirits cried out : Thou art the son of God.
But He expressly forbade them to make Him known.
From the holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to
Mark
At that time Jesus set out with his disciples
towards the lake,
but a large crowd of people from Galilee went after Him.
Many people also came from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea,
from the Overjordan
and from the region around Tyre and Sidon came to Him,
because they heard all that He was doing.
He instructed His disciples
to ensure that a boat was at hand for Him,
as a precaution against the crowds pressing in.
For He had healed many,
with the result that all those suffering from ailments
urged on Him to touch Him.
Even the unclean spirits fell
when they saw Him,
before Him and cried out :
‘Thou art the Son of God.’
But He emphatically forbade them from making Him known.
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Fratelli tutti
Encyclical of
POPE FRANCISCUS
On brotherhood and social friendship
167. Educational commitment, the development of habits of solidarity, the
ability to think more integrally about human life, the
spiritual depth are things needed to give human relations
quality so that society itself responds to its own
injustices, aberrations, abuses of power in economics, technology
politics and media. There are liberal visions that ignore this factor of human
fragility and imagine a world that responds to
a particular order that is in itself capable of ensuring the future and the
solution of all problems.
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.
Liturgische suggesties voor week- en zondagen
Fratelli tutti Official English translation
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