Fifteenth Sunday 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

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Consideration

With all his life, Jesus testified
of God’s great mercy to all people.
He healed the sick, comforted the grieved
and never remained indifferent to those who felt excluded.
He himself was the Samaritan from his parable.
In this hour, Jesus is also close to us.
He wants to touch us with his word
and penetrate deeply into our lives.
Let us open our hearts to Him
and pray that we too become more and more sensitive
for the suffering and injustice in the world
and in the lives of so many people.

FIRST READING          Deut. 30, 10-14

The word is close to thee. Thou canst accomplish it.

In those days, Moses spoke to the people:

“If ye hear the voice of the LORD your God ,
then you must obey him
and keep all the commandments and precepts
which are recorded in this book of the law;
then with all your heart and all your soul you must
return to the LORD your God.

The commandments which I give you this day are not too heavy for you
and they are not beyond your reach.
They are not in heaven and ye need not say:
Who shall ascend to heaven
to fetch them for us and make them heard unto us ,
that we may accomplish them?
They are not overseas and thou needest not say:
Who shall sail across the sea
to fetch them for us and make them hear us,
that we may accomplish them?
Nay, the word is close to thee,
in thy mouth and in thy heart.
Thou canst therefore accomplish it.”

Responsorial              Ps 69(68) 14ab and 17, 30-31, 33-34, 36ab and 37

Refrain
Ye humble in heart, seek the Lord.

My prayer, Lord, I address to Thee,
now is the time of mercy.
Hear me, Lord, for mild is thy blessing,
assist me with all thy mercy.

I bow down under my grief;
God, let your help protect me.
God’s Name I will praise in my singing,
Praising Him gratefully everywhere.

Behold, humble ones, and rejoice,
take courage, all of you who seek God.
God listens to what a poor person asks him,
does not forget his prisoners.

For God will redeem Zion,
He will rebuild Judah’s cities.
Their offspring will inherit the land again.
God’s name will be in honour.

SECOND READING              Col 1:15-20

Through Him and in Him all things were created.

Brothers and sisters,

Christ Jesus is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn of all creation.
For in Him all things were created
in the heavens and on the earth,
the visible and the invisible,
thrones and highs,
dominions and powers.
The universe was created by Him and for Him.
He exists before everything and everything exists in Him.
He is also the head of the body that is the church.
He is the origin,
the first to rise from the dead
to be supreme in all things,
He alone.
For in Him God has willed to dwell in all His fullness
to reconcile the universe to Himself through Him
and make peace through the blood
shed on the cross
to reconcile all things in heaven and on earth,
through Him alone.

Verse for the gospel            John 6, 64b.69b

Alleluia.
Your words, Lord, are spirit and life,
Thou hast words of eternal life.
Alleluia.

GOSPEL              Lk. 10, 25-37

Who is my neighbour?

At that time, a lawgiver stepped forward
to put Jesus to the test.
He said:
“Master, what must I do to acquire eternal life?”
Jesus spoke to him:
“What is written in the law?
What do you read there?”
He answered in reply:
“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God
with all thy heart and with all thy soul;
with all thy strength and all thy mind;
and thy neighbour as thyself.”
Jesus said, “Your answer is right; do that and you will live.”
But because he wanted to justify his question,
the lawgiver spoke to Jesus:
“And who then is my neighbour?”
Now Jesus took the floor again and said:
“Once someone, who was on his way from Jerusalem to Jericho,
fell into the hands of robbers.
They plundered and abused him
and when they pulled off they left him lying half dead.
By chance, a priest came along that very road;
he saw him but walked around him in a bow.
So did a Levite: he passed by there, saw him,
but walked in an arc around him.
Then a Samaritan who was travelling came to him,
he saw him and took pity;
he stepped up to him, poured oil and wine on his wounds and bandaged them;
then he lifted him on his own riding animal,
took him to an inn and took care of him.
The next morning he took out two denarii,
gave them to the innkeeper and said:
“Take care of him, and what thou mayst spend more ,
i will reimburse you on my return.”
Which of these three seems to you to be the nearest
of the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?”
He replied:
“Who showed him mercy.”
And Jesus spoke:
“Go then and do ye likewise.”

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Laudato Si

Encyclical of

POPE FRANCISCUS

On caring for the common home

50. Instead of solving the problems of the poor and thinking
of a different world, some limit themselves to proposing a reduction
of the birth rate. There is no lack of international
pressure on developing countries to make economic aid dependent
on a particular policy of “reproductive health”. But, “if it
true that unequal population distribution and available
resources constitute obstacles to development and a
manageable use of the environment, then it must be recognised that the
demographic growth is fully compatible with integral and inclusive
development”. Demographic growth and not the extreme and selective
consumerism of some as the cause, constitutes a way of not facing the
problems. One thus wants to legitimise the current distribution of
goods, where a minority thinks it is entitled to consume
consume in a way that is impossible to generalise
because the planet would not even be able to contain the waste from such consumption.
Moreover, we know that people waste about a third of
the food one produces and “food one throws away is
as if one robs it from the table of the poor”. In any case, it is certain
that attention must be paid to the unequal distribution of the
population , both nationally and globally, because the increase in
consumption leads to complex regional problems through a combination
of problems related to environmental pollution,
transport, waste disposal, resource loss and quality of life.

To be continued
Every day at 1 am