Saturday – Saint Anthony Maria Zaccaria, pr. – Our Lady on Saturday

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

After the Abraham cycle in Genesis comes the Jacob cycle (Isaac does not really get his own collection of stories). Jacob’s history is as curious a typology for the Jewish people as Abraham’s. Jacob is a deceiver (the name says it all). He cheats his brother Esau, he cheats Laban; he fights with everyone, even God. But throughout the various episodes of the cycle, it becomes clear that in Jacob’s story is also written the story of Israel’s election.

FIRST READING           Gen. 27, 1-5. 15-29

Jacob deceives his brother and deprives him of his blessing.

From the Book of Genesis

Isaac had grown old and his eyes became so weak
that he could no longer see.
So he called his eldest son Esaü to him and said :
“My son.”
He replied :
“What do you want?”
Isaac said :
“Hear, I am an old man
and I do not know how long I have left to live.
“Therefore take your weapons, your quiver of arrows and your bow,
go out and shoot a piece of game for me.
“Then prepare a tasty meal, as I like it,
and serve it to me, that I may eat of it ;
thereby I shall gain the strength
to give you my blessing before I die.”
During that conversation of Isaac with his son Esaü
rebekah had stood listening.
As soon as Esaü had gone out
to shoot a piece of game for his father,
she took the best clothes from her eldest son Esaü,
which she kept in the house,
and made her youngest son Jacob put them on.
Over his hands and his smooth neck
she drew the skins of the goat’s goats.
Then she gave the tasty meal
with the bread she had prepared
into her son Jacob’s hands.
The latter went to his father and said : “Father.”
Isaac replied :
“Yes, who art thou, my son?”
Jacob said to his father :
“Esaü, your firstborn ;
i have done what you commanded me.
“Sit upright and eat of my game roast ,
then you will have the strength to give me your blessing.”
But Isaac said to his son :
“How did you find that game so soon, my son?”
Jacob replied in reply :
“The Lord your God has brought it my way.”
Thereupon Isaac said to Jacob :
“Come closer, I want to touch thee, my son,
to see if thou art really my son Esaü!”
Jacob came and stood by his father Isaac.
This one groped him and said :
“The voice is the voice of Jacob ,
but the hands are the hands of Esau.”
He did not recognise Jacob
because his hands were as hairy
as those of his brother Esaü.
Then he prepared to give him his blessing,
and asked again:
“Art thou really my son Esaü?”
He replied :
“I am.”
Then Isaac spoke :
“Serve then.
“I want to eat of my son’s game roast ;
then I will get the strength to give you my blessing.”
Jacob served up and his father began to eat ;
then he brought him wine and he drank.
Thereupon his father Isaac spoke to him :
“Come here, my son, and kiss me.”
He approached and kissed him.
When Isaac smelt the fragrance of his clothes ,
he pronounced this blessing over him :
“Yes, the fragrance of my son
is like the fragrance of a field
which has been blessed by the Lord.
“Dew from heaven God will give you ,
fertile ground,
with abundance of corn and must.
“Nations will serve you,
nations bow down before thee ;
thou shalt rule over thy brothers,
and thy mother’s sons shall bow down before thee !
“He that curseth thee, let him be cursed ;
he that blesseth thee, let him be blessed !”

INTERLUDIUM        Ps. 135(134), 1-2, 3-4, 5-6

Praise the Lord, he is merciful
or : Alleluia.

Praise the Name of the Lord,
praise Him, servants of the Lord,
ye who stand in the Lord’s temple,
in the court of God’s house.

Praise the Lord, He is gracious,
honour His exalted Name.
Jacob He has chosen,
Israel to His possession.

From experience I know: mighty is the Lord,
our Ruler, more than all the gods.
In heaven and on earth He does what He wills,
on the sea and in the deepest oceans.

ALLELUIA           Ps 119(118), 105

Alleluia.
Your word is a lamp to my feet, Lord,
it is a light in my path.
Àlleluia.

GOSPEL                     Mt 9, 14-17

Surely the friends of the bridegroom cannot be sad
as long as the bridegroom is with them ?

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

One day
john’s disciples came to Jesus asking :
“Why do we and the Pharisees fast ,
but not your disciples?”
Jesus spoke to them :
“The friends of the bridegroom
cannot be grieved
as long as the bridegroom is with them?
“There will come days
when the bridegroom is taken away from them ;
then they will fast.
“No one uses for an old garment
an adjusting cloth of unshrunk fabric ;
for the inserted piece pulls on the garment
and the tear increases.
“Nor does one put young wine into old sacks ,
lest the sacks burst,
the wine runs out and the sacks are lost.
“But young wine one puts into new sacks ;
then both are preserved.”

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Laudato Si
Encyclical by
Pope Francis
On caring for the common home

42. It is necessary to invest much more in research to understand the
behaviour of ecosystems and to properly understand the various
variables of the effect of any significant change in the
environment. Since all creatures are interconnected,
the value of each must be lovingly and wonderfully
be recognised and all of us as created beings need each other.
Every area has a responsibility in caring for this family
and therefore should take an accurate inventory of the
species it harbours, with a view to developing programmes
and strategies of protection, paying particular attention to the
species facing extinction.

To be continued
Every day at 1 am