Thursday in the twelfth week through the year

 

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
It seems that Sarai, Abram’s wife, wants to force God’s promise by having her husband father a son with her slave girl Hagar. Yet this will not be entirely God’s plan. Ishmael is not the son of promise. Importantly, though, this story shows that the faith of Jews, Christians and Muslims have common roots in Abraham’s faith.

FIRST READING               Gen. 16, 1-12.15-16 or 6b-12.15-16
Hagar bore to Abram a son and he named that son Ishmael.

From the Book of Genesis

Sarai, Abram’s wife,
had given him no children.
Now she had an Egyptian slave girl called Hagar.
Sarai said to Abram :
“Ye know that the Lord has closed my womb ,
so that I cannot have children.
“So go to my slave :
perhaps I will get a son from her.”
And Abram agreed to Sarai’s proposal.
Sarai, Abram’s wife,
thus gave Hagar, her Egyptian slave girl,
to her husband Abram as a wife ;
Abram had by then been living in Canaan for ten years.
Sensing this, she began to treat her mistress
to treat her mistress haughtily.
Therefore Sarai said to Abraham :
“Thou art liable
for the injustice done to me.
“I have laid my slave in thy arms ;
and now seeing that she is pregnant
i am treated haughtily by her.
“The Lord may judge ,
which of the two of us is in his right.”
Thereupon Abram said to Sarai :
“You can dispose of your slave ;
do with her what you will.”
In those days, Sarai began to make her slave’s life
so unpleasant that she ran away from her.
The angel of the Lord found her
at a spring of water in the desert,
the spring that lies by the road to Sur.
He said :
“Hagar, slave of Sarai ,
whence comest thou and whither goest thou?”
She said : “I have run away from my mistress Sarai.”
The angel of the Lord said to her :
“Return to thy mistress and be submissive to her.”
And he also said :
“Your descendants I will make very numerous ,
so numerous that they cannot be counted.”
The angel of the Lord assured her :
“Thou art now pregnant ;
thou shalt bear a son and name him Ishmael ;
for God the Lord hath heard thee in thy misery.
“A wild ass in the steppe he becomes,
his hand goes up against all,
the hands of all against him ;
all his brothers he defies !”
Then Hagar bore to Abram a son
and he named that son Ishmael.
Abram was eighty-six years old,
when Hagar bore him Ishmael.

INTERLUDIUM               Ps. 106(105), 1-2, 3-4a, 4b-5

Glorify the Lord, because He does us good.
or : Alleluia.

Glorify the Lord, because He does us good,
because His mercy endures forever.
Who can recount all His mighty deeds,
who gives Him the praise that befits Him?

Happy are those who follow His precepts,
behave well at all times.
Do not forget me, Lord, who is well pleased with your people,
and descend to me with your help.

Then the happiness of your friends will be my portion,
then I will rejoice when your people rejoice
and proud to belong to your inheritance.

ALLELUIA           Phil. 2, 15-16

Alleluia.
Shine like stars in the universe,
and hold fast the word of life.
Alleluia.

GOSPEL            Mt 7:21-29
One house was built on rocky ground, the other on sand.

From the holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to
Matthew

At that time, Jesus said to his disciples :
“Not everyone who says to Me : Lord, Lord !
shall enter into the kingdom of heaven ,
but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.
“Many will say to Me on that day :
Lord,Lord, did we not prophesy in your Name
and in thy Name have we not cast out devils
and done many miracles in Your Name?
“But then I shall declare to them unequivocally :
Never have I known thee ;
depart from Me,
ye that do iniquity!
“Now every one who hears these words of Mine and acts upon them ,
may be compared
to a wise man
who built his house on rocky ground.
“The rain fell down, the mountain streams came down ,
the storm rose and they poured on that house,
but it did not fall in, for it was founded on the vrots.
“But every one who hears these words of Mine
yet does not act upon them,
may be compared to a fool
who built his house on the sand.
“The rain fell down, the mountain streams came down,
the storm came up and they pounded that house,
so that it was completely destroyed.”

When Jesus had finished this speech
the people were beside themselves with amazement at His teaching.
For He was not teaching like their scribes,
but as one in authority.

________________________________________________________

Laudato Si

Encyclical of

POPE FRANCISCUS

On caring for the common home

33. However, it is not enough here to think only of the
different species as possible “resources” to be exploited and
forgetting that they have a value in themselves. Every year, thousands of
thousands of plant and animal species that we will no longer be able
know, that our children will not be able to see, because they are forever
lost. The vast majority die out for reasons that have to
to do with human activity of one kind or another. At the hands
of us, thousands of species will no longer praise God with their
existence, nor will they be able to communicate their message to us. We have
no right to do so.

To be continued
Every day at 1 am