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
For everything that happened to Jesus, during his life across the cross to glory with God, there is only one single ground: God’s incomprehensible, immeasurable, measureless love. A world alienated from God can never close the gap from within itself: the initiative comes from God. It is in Jesus that God went to extremes to save man. That gives man a certain responsibility, which he can freely take up or refuse: he is for or he is against Jesus, he believes or he does not believe. He can make choices, for better or for worse. And even those who do not know Jesus and do good are, in a sense, living in God.
FIRST READING Acts 5:17-26
The men you put in the dungeon are in the temple teaching the people.
From the Acts of the Apostles
In those days the high priest and all his entourage,
who formed the party of the Sadducees
were filled with fierce envy.
They seized the apostles and put them in the city prison.
But in the night
an angel of the Lord unlocked the doors of the prison,
led them out and said :
‘Go,
reappear in the temple
and preach to the people all these words of Life.’
They complied,
went to the temple towards morning
and gave instruction there.
Now when the high priest came with his men
they called together the Sanhedrin,
the council of the elders of the people of Israel
and sent servants to the prison to fetch them.
But on arrival, the servants found them no longer in the dungeon.
They returned with the message :
‘We found the prison firmly locked
and the guards in front of the doors at their posts,
but when we opened we found no one there.’
When they learnt this
asked the temple commander and the high priests,
– worried about it –
wondered what consequences this might have.
But someone came to report to them :
‘The men whom thou hast put in the dungeon,
are in the temple teaching the people.’
Thereupon the commander went with his servants to fetch them
– but without using force,
for fear of being stoned by the people.
INTERLUDIUM Ps. 34(33), 2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9
Who cry out in distress, to them the Lord listens.
Or : Alleluia.
The Lord I will praise every day,
His praise is always on my lips.
My spirit is proud of the Lord’s favour,
let every one who hears it rejoice.
Glorify the Lord together with me
And let us worship His Name in unison.
I went to the Lord and He heard me,
He saved me from all that I feared.
Indulge in Him, then you will become happy,
for He will not fail you.
Those crying out in distress, to them the Lord listens
And rescues them from their misery.
The angel of God puts a bulwark around them,
to protect every one who fears God.
Observe and notice how gracious the Lord is,
happy is he who seeks salvation with Him.
ALLELUIA Col 3, 1
Alleluia.
If then ye be raised to life with Christ
seek what is above,
where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
Alleluia.
GOSPEL Jn 3:16-21
God sent his Son into the world that the world might be saved through him.
From the holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John
At that time, Jesus said to Nicodemus :
‘So much did God love the world
That He gave His only begotten Son,
hat whoever believes in him shall not perish
but shall have eternal life.
‘God did not send his Son
not sent into the world to judge the world ,
but that the world might be saved through Him.
‘Whoever believes in Him will not be judged,
but he who does not believe has already been judged,
because he has not believed
in the Name of the only-begotten Son of God.
‘Herein consists judgment :
The light has come into the world ,
but men loved darkness more than light,
because their deeds were evil.
‘Every one who acts wickedly has an abhorrence of the light
and does not go towards the light
for fear that his works will be made public.
‘But he who does the truth goes to the light ,
that his deeds may be shown to have been done in God.’
________________________________________________________
Fratelli tutti
Encyclical of
Pope Francis
On brotherhood and social friendship
The death penalty
263. There is another way to eliminate the other, not intended
for countries, but for persons. That is the death penalty.
Saint John Paul II has stated clearly and firmly that it is inadequate on a moral level
and no longer necessary in the field of criminal law.
It is not conceivable to go back on this position. We now affirm
clearly that ‘the death penalty is inadmissible’ and the Church is firmly committed to
to propose its abolition throughout the world’.
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
_____________________________________________________________________________