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
The liturgy places the Book of Wisdom and Psalm 34 side by side: ‘Let us lie in wait for the righteous man’ and ‘for they were anxious to kill him’. We are not dealing with a real prediction here, but with an impressive prefiguration. Mt. 27:32-43 would be even more impressive. Let us listen to the beautiful first reading sentence by sentence and we will recognise the Passion story in it.
FIRST READING Wisdom 2:1a.12-22
Let us condemn the righteous to a shameful death.
From the Book of Wisdom
In false delusion the wicked say to one another:
‘Let us attack the righteous man, for he is no use to us,
he goes against our works,
he accuses us of sins against the law
he accuses us of transgressing our upbringing.
“He pretends to have knowledge of God
and he calls himself a child of the Lord;
he has become a reproach to us for our views;
just to see him is a burden to us,
for his lifestyle is different from others
and his behaviour is unusual;
he considers us counterfeit money,
he avoids our ways as if they were impure;
he calls the end of the righteous blessed,
he boasts that God is his father.
‘Let us see if his words are true,
and let us test what happens when he is gone.
‘For if the righteous man is God’s son,
He will come to his aid
and rescue him from the hand of his adversaries.
’Let us deal with him brutally and torment him,
to see if he is really gentle
and to test his patience.
‘Let us condemn him to a shameful death,
after all, he will be protected, he says.’
That was their reasoning, but it led them astray,
because their wickedness blinded them.
They did not understand God’s secrets,
they did not hope for a reward for a holy life,
nor did they believe in a prize of honour for immaculate souls.
INTERLUDIUM Ps. 34(33), 17-18, 19-20, 21, 23
The Lord is near to the brokenhearted.
He turns his face away from the wicked,
they are forgotten on earth.
The Lord listens to the pious who call
and saves them from every need.
The Lord is near to the contrite heart,
He helps those who recognise their guilt.
Many disasters will threaten the pious,
from each of them the Lord saves him.
The Lord will watch over his bones
so that he does not break any of them.
The Lord saves the life of those who serve Him,
those who have fled to Him have no need to fear punishment.
VERSE FOR THE GOSPEL John 3:16
God so loved the world
that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whoever believes in Him shall not perish.
GOSPEL John 7:1-2, 10, 25-30
The Jews wanted to make Jesus their master, but his time had not yet come.
From the holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John
At that time Jesus travelled about in Galilee,
for he did not want to do so in Judea
because the Jews were bent on killing him.
It was close to one of the Jewish holidays,
the Feast of Tabernacles.
When his brothers had gone to the festival
he also set out,
not openly but discreetly.
Some of the people of Jerusalem said,
‘Isn’t this the man they want to kill?
’And look at him now,
he is preaching publicly and they are not saying anything to him!
‘Could the authorities have really recognised
that He is the Messiah?
‘But we know where this man comes from;
however, when the Messiah comes
no one will know where He comes from.’
While Jesus was teaching in the temple
He called out in a loud voice:
“You know Me and you know where I come from;
yet I have not come of myself
but He who sent me is true;
him you do not know.
‘I know him
because I am from him and he sent me.’
They wanted to take him,
but no one laid a hand on him
because his hour had not yet come.
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Fratelli tutti
Encyclical of
POPE FRANCIS
On fraternity and social friendship
238. Jesus Christ never invited us to foment violence or
intolerance. He himself openly condemned the use of
violence to impose ourselves on others: ‘You know that the rulers of the
peoples dominate them and the leaders oppress them. It must not be so
among you‘ (Matthew 20:25-26). Moreover, the gospel asks us to forgive
’seventy times seven’ (Matthew 18:22) and sets the example of the unforgiving
slave who was forgiven, but who was unable to forgive others in turn
turn could not forgive others (cf. Matt. 18:23-25).
To be continued
Every day at 1 am
The Bible text in this edition is taken from The New Bible Translation,
©Nederlands Bijbelgenootschap 2004/2007.
Reflections from Liturgical suggestions for weekdays and Sundays
Fratelli tutti Official English translation
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