Invitation
May I ask for your attention for
reading the Gospel every day?
This invitation is to share the joy
of the gospel with you. Everyone, without exception,
can experience that joy by opening their heart
to the healing power of God’s word.
Available every day.
Consideration
Jesus comes to his hometown of Nazareth, but his own fellow citizens drive him out of the city and even want to kill him. Jesus says that no prophet is accepted in his own hometown. This is a very sharp rebuke and it is reinforced by the reference to Elijah and Naaman, where salvation went out to the Gentiles. At the same time, we are approaching the big decision of Holy Week, but also the universal message of Christianity that is intended for all: God does not only address the members of Israel, but everyone who believes in his signs.
FIRST READING 2 Kings 5:1-15a
There were many lepers in Israel, yet not one of them was cleansed, except Naaman the Syrian.
From the second book of Kings
In those days Naaman,
captain of the host of the king of Aram,
was a very honourable man in his own eyes, and highly regarded by his master,
for through him God the Lord had brought deliverance to Aram.
He was a great soldier,
but the man suffered from a skin disease.
Now Aramean bands had once
undertaken a raid in Israel
and in the process captured a young girl;
she was now in the service of Naaman’s wife.
She said to her mistress:
‘Oh, if only my lord could go to the prophet
who lives in Samaria,
he would rid him of his disease.”
Na’aman went to tell his lord
what the girl from Israel had said.
Then the king of Aram said:
‘Go there;
I will give you a letter for the king of Israel.’
He set off, taking with him ten talents of silver,
six thousand shekels of gold and ten festive robes,
and presented himself with the letter to the king of Israel.
It read:
‘I am sending my servant Naaman to you with this letter;
I ask you to heal him of his skin disease.‘
As soon as the king of Israel had read the letter,
he tore his clothes and said:
’Am I God, with power over life and death,
that he should send someone to me
whose skin disease I should heal?
‘Mark my words:
‘He is trying to start a fight with me.’‘
When Elisha the man of God
heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes,
he sent word to the king:
’Why have you torn your clothes?
Send him to me.
Then he will know that there is a prophet in Israel.’
Then Naaman went on his way with his horses and chariot
and stopped before the house of Elisha.
Elisha sent a messenger to say to him:
‘Go seven times over to the Jordan,
and your skin will be restored and you will be clean.
Then Naaman became angry and went away.
He said:
’I had thought
He will come out and stand before me.
‘Then he will call on the name of the Lord his God,
and put his hand over the spot and cure me of my disease.
’Are not the Abana and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus,
better than all the waters of Israel?
“Can I not wash in them and be clean?’
He turned around and indignantly left.
But his servants went to him and said:
‘Father, suppose the prophet had commanded you to do something difficult,
would you not have done it?
’So why not do what he says and wash
to be made clean?’
Then he went to the Jordan and immersed himself seven times,
as the man of God had said.
His skin became like that of a small child again
and he was cleansed.
He returned with all his entourage to the man of God,
entered the house,
stood before him and said:
“Now I know that there is only one God in Israel,
and nowhere else on earth.’
INTERLUDIUM Ps. 42(41), 2, 3, 43(42),3, 4
My soul thirsts for God, the God who lives,
will I ever reach Him and see His face?
As the deer seeks out the streams,
so my spirit seeks you, my God.
My soul thirsts for God, the God who lives,
will I ever reach Him and see His face?
Send me your light, your support to guide me,
to lead me to your mountain and into your tent.
Then I will go to your altar, God who gives joy,
and praise you on the zither, God, my God.
VERSE BEFORE THE GOSPEL John 2:25a and 26
I am the resurrection and the life, says the Lord;
whoever believes in me will never die.
GOSPEL Luke 4:24-30
Like Elijah and Elisha, Jesus is not only sent to the Israelites.
From the Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to
Luke
When Jesus came to Nazareth,
he said to the people in the synagogue:
‘Truly I tell you,
no prophet is accepted in his own hometown.
’And what I say to you is true:
In the days of Elijah,
when the heavens remained shut for three years and six months
and a great famine came over the entire land,
there were many widows in Israel;
yet Elijah was not sent to any of them
except to a widow at Zarephath in the land of Sidon.
“And in the time of Elisha the prophet
there were many lepers in Israel;
yet not one of them was cleansed,
except Naaman the Syrian.”
When they heard this
all who were in the synagogue were filled with rage.
They jumped to their feet
and rushed out
and chased him
to the brow of the hill on which their town was built
in order to throw him off the cliff.
But he passed right through the crowd and went on his way.
Fratelli tutti
Encyclical of
POPE FRANCIS
On fraternity and social friendship
Fratelli tutti
Encyclical of
POPE FRANCISCUS
On brotherhood and social friendship
227. Indeed ‘truth is an inseparable companion of
justice and mercy. All three together are essential
for building peace and, on the other hand, each prevents
the others from being compromised. […] In fact, truth should not lead to
revenge, but rather to reconciliation and forgiveness. Truth is to tell the families affected by
grief-stricken families to tell what happened to their disappeared
family members. Truth is confessing what happened to the minors
recruited by the perpetrators of violence. Truth is acknowledging the pain
acknowledging the pain of the women who have been victims of violence and
abuse. […] Every violence committed against a human being is a wound in
the flesh of humanity; every violent death ‘makes’ us
‘less’ as persons. […] Violence begets violence, hatred begets hatred
forth and death leads to another death. We must break this chain that
seems inescapable, break it’.
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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