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
The first reading, which once again speaks of ’the preservation of a numerous people’ is the final lead-up to the exodus story. ‘Once God shows his power and led you from here to the land he promised under oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob’. Looking back at Genesis, we see mainly two major pieces. First, the ancient stories in which Israel tries to get ready with its interpretation of major life questions and problems. Then the religious roots on which the people of Israel will ground their existence; both politically and religiously.
FIRST READING Gen 49:29-33 ; 50:15-26
One day God will show his power
and lead you from here to the land
which He promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
From the book of Genesis
In those days, Jacob gave his sons the following order:
“When I am united with my forefathers ,
then bury me with my fathers
in the cave in the field of the Hittite Ephron,
in the cave in the field of Makpéla,
east of Mamre, in Canaan.
It is the field that Abraham took as his own burial place
bought from the Hittite Ephron.
There Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried,
there Isaac and his wife Rebekah were interred,
and there I buried Lea.
The field with the cave on it
was bought from the Hittites.”
When Jacob had given his sons this final order,
he pulled his feet back on the bed,
gave up the ghost and was united with his ancestors.
When Joseph’s brothers saw
that their father had died, they said:
“Now if only Joseph will not take revenge on us
and make us pay heavily for the evil
we have done to him.”
So they sent to Joseph the following message:
Thy father commanded before his death:
“This you must tell Joseph:
I beseech thee, forgive nevertheless the crime and sin
which thy brothers have committed against thee.
So forgive the servants
of your father’s God their crime.”
When they spoke to him in this way, Joseph burst into tears.
Then his brothers themselves came, threw themselves to the ground and said:
“Dispose of us, we are your slaves.”
But Joseph said to them:
“Be not afraid; do I sometimes occupy the place of God?
Thou hast plotted evil against me ,
but God hath turned it for good,
to work what is now done:
The preservation of a numerous people.
So be not afraid: I will take care of you
and your little children.”
Thus he reassured them with heartfelt words.
Joseph continued to live in Egypt,
along with his father’s family;
he lived to be one hundred and ten years old.
Joseph saw the third generation of Ephraim
and also the sons of Makir, the son of Manasseh
were born on his knees.
Then Joseph spoke to his brothers:
“I am going to die, but one day God will show his power
and lead you from here to the land that He
promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”
Joseph implored the sons of Israel:
“If God shows you His power ,
then you must carry my bones from here.”
Then Joseph died, one hundred and ten years old.
He was embalmed and laid in a sarkophagus in Egypt.
INTERLUDIUM Ps. 105(104), 1-2, 3-4, 6-7
Behold, ye ranks, and rejoice,
take courage, all you who seek God (Ps 69(68),33).
Glorify the Lord and worship His Name,
proclaim to the nations His deeds.
Sing to Him and pluck the strings for Him,
recount all His wondrous works.
Go great on the holy Name of the Lord,
rejoice, ye that follow Him.
Abide in Him, in His mighty arm,
always seek His Face.
Ye offspring of His servant Abraham,
ye sons of Jacob, his beloved.
The Lord, He is our only God,
what He decrees applies to all the earth.
ALLELUIA Ps. 19(18),9
Alleluia.
Your precepts, Lord, are trustworthy,
ignorant ones they make wise.
Alleluia.
Do not fear those who kill the body.
At that time, Jesus said to his disciples:
“The disciple is not above his master
and the servant not above his lord.
For the disciple it must suffice
to be treated as his master,
for the servant to be treated as his lord.
If the head of the household
already dares to call Beelzebub ,
how much more so than his household members.
Be not afraid of them.
Nothing is covered or it will be revealed,
nothing hidden or it will be known.
What I say unto thee in darkness, utter it in light,
and what thou hearest whispered to thee in the ear,
proclaim it from the rooftops.
Do not be afraid of those
who can kill the body but not the soul;
rather fear Him
who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
Does not one sell two sparrows for a penny?
and yet outside your Father’s will
not one sparrow will fall to the ground.
With you, however, even every hair of your head has been counted.
So be not afraid;
you are worth more than a swarm of sparrows.
Every one that confesses Me among men,
i will acknowledge him as Mine
with My Father who is in heaven.
But whoever denies Me before men,
to him will I also deny
before My Father, who is in heaven.”
Laudato Si
Encyclical of
POPE FRANCISCUS
On caring for the common home
49. I would note that people are often not clearly aware of
the problems that particularly affect the marginalised. They are
the majority of the planet, billions of people. They are the subject today
in international political and economic debate, but usually
it seems that their problems are put forward as an appendage, as
an issue added almost as obligatory or at the margins, if
they are not already regarded as a pure collateral damage. When it
becomes concrete, they often come last. This is partly due
to the fact that very many academics, opinion makers, media and centres of power
are located far from them, in isolated urban areas, without direct
contact with their problems. They live and think based on the convenience
of a development and quality of life that is not within the reach
of most of the world’s population. This lack of physical
contact and encounter, sometimes exacerbated by the fragmentation
of our cities, contributes to rigidity of conscience and portions of
reality in fragmented analyses. This goes
sometimes accompanied by a “green” discourse. But today we
cannot avoid recognising that a true ecological approach always becomes a
social approach, which must integrate justice
into environmental discussions, to listen to the cry of the earth as well as
to the cry of the poor.
To be continued
Every day at 1 am
The Bible text in this edition is taken from The New Bible Translation,
©Dutch Bible Society 2004/2007.
Considerations from Liturgical suggestions for weekdays and Sundays
Laudato Si Official english translation
________________________________________________________________