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
Opening word
For forty days, we prepare for the feast of Easter.
This preparation time has been given to us
to become more and more people after God’s heart
and to practise ourselves in prayer, fasting and sharing.
This requires effort and great perseverance.
After all, like Jesus, we must resist the voice
that makes us waver and doubt.
When we trust rock solidly in God alone ,
we will never be disappointed.
FIRST READING Deut. 26, 4-10
Creed of the chosen people.
From the book of Deuteronomy
In those days, Moses spoke to the people:
‘The priest shall take the basket with the first field fruits
from you
and place it before the altar of the Lord your God.
Then, standing before the Lord your God, you must say:
‘My father was a wandering Aramean.
‘He went to Egypt with a small number of people.
‘But while he stayed there as a stranger,
he became a great, powerful and numerous people.
‘When the Egyptians treated us badly,
oppressed us and imposed hard slave labour on us,
we cried out to the Lord, the God of our fathers.
‘And the Lord heard us and turned to our humiliation,
our toil and our affliction.
‘He led us out of Egypt with a strong hand,
with uplifted arm,
under great terrors, signs and wonders.
‘He has brought us to this place
and gave us this land,
a land of milk and honey.
‘Therefore I now bring the first fruits of the ground,
which Thou, the Lord, hast given me.’
And Moses added:
‘Then you must lay them down before the Lord your God
and bow down before Him’.
Responsorial Ps. 91(90) 1-2, 10-11,12-13, 14-15
Refrain
Stand by me, Lord, in every need.
He who enjoys the protection of the Most High
and who dwells in the shadow of the Almighty,
he says to the Lord: ‘My refuge, my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust’.
Evil will not reach you,
disaster will remain far from your tent.
He has charged his angels,
in all your ways to guard you.
They will carry thee on their hands,
no stone shall hurt thy feet.
Thou mayest tread on serpents and vipers,
face lions and dragons.
Whoever counts on Me I will deliver,
I will protect him who acknowledges Me.
When he calls on Me I will hear him,
stand by him in every need,
save him and give him glory.
SECOND READING Rom. 10:8-13
The profession of faith of those who believe in Christ.
From the letter of the holy apostle Paul to the Christians of
Rome
Brothers and sisters,
Scripture says this:
‘The word is near ,
it is in your mouth,
it is in your heart’,
namely, the word of faith that we proclaim.
For if your mouth confesses that Jesus is Lord ,
and if your heart believes
that God raised Him from the dead ,
ye shall be saved.
The faith of thy heart brings righteousness
and the confession of thy mouth brings salvation.
Thus Scripture says:
‘No one who believes in Him will be disappointed.’
There is no difference between Jew and Gentile.
They all have the same Lord,
rich in gifts for all who call on Him.
For all who call on the name of the Lord,
shall be saved.
Verse for the Gospel Mt 4, 4b
Praise and honour be to You, Lord Jesus.
Not from bread alone does man live
but from every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.
Praise and honour be to You, Lord Jesus.
GOSPEL Lk. 4, 1-13
He was led by the Spirit into the desert and put to the test.
From the Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to
Luke
At that time, Jesus filled with the Holy Spirit,
away from the Jordan River.
He was led by the Spirit into the desert,
where He stayed for forty days
and was tested by the devil.
During those days He ate nothing
and when they were over, He became hungry.
The devil now said to Him:
‘If thou art the Son of God ,
then command that stone there that it be turned into bread.’
Jesus answered him:
‘It is written:
Man does not live by bread alone.’
Thereupon the devil carried Him up
and showed Him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world.
And the devil spoke to Him:
‘I will give You all power over these glorious realms
for they have been given to me ,
and I will give them to whom I will.
‘If, therefore, Thou fallest down in worship before me ,
all this shall be Thine.’
Then Jesus answered him:
‘It is written:
The Lord thy God shalt thou worship and serve Him alone.’
Then the devil brought Him to Jerusalem,
placed Him on the superstructure of a temple gate
and spoke to Him:
‘If thou art the Son of God ,
then cast Him down from this place;
for it is written:
To his angels shall he give command concerning thee
To protect thee
And they shall take thee on their hands
lest thou dash thy foot on a stone.’
But Jesus answered him:
‘It has been said:
Thou shalt not put the Lord thy God to the test.’
Then the devil gave up all his attempts to tempt Him
and he removed himself from Him until the appointed time.
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Fratelli tutti
Encyclical of
POPE FRANCISCUS
On brotherhood and social friendship
212. When something always remains meritorious for the good functioning
of society, is it not because there is an enduring truth
behind it that reason can understand? In the very reality of man
and of society, in their deepest nature, there is a set of fundamental
structures that support their development and survival.
From these flow certain requirements that, thanks to dialogue, one can
discover, even if they are not in a strict sense the result of consensus.
The fact that certain norms are indispensable for social life is
an external indication for it that they are something intrinsically good. Consequently
no need to set social adequacy, consensus and the reality of an
objective truth in opposition to each other. All three can be harmoniously
united, when people have the courage to get to the bottom of an issue through dialogue.
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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