Friday in the fifteenth week

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
We read today the text we also know from Holy Week: The ritual of the paschal lamb celebrated to this day by Jews in remembrance of the night when God led the people of Israel out of Egypt. On Pessach, the Jews say, a free Jewish nation was born. At the same time, this reading announces the tenth plague. The nine plagues could still be seen as extraordinary natural phenomena. This tenth plague is presented as the work of God himself.

FIRST READING          Ex. 11, 10-12, 14

In the evening twilight you must slaughter the lamb ;
if I see the blood on your houses, I will pass you by.

From the Book of Exodus

In those days
moses and Aaron performed many miracles for Pharaoh ,
but the Lord made Pharaoh obstinate;
he would not let the Israelites leave his land.
God the Lord addressed the word
to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, and spoke :
“This month ye must regard as the beginning month ,
as the first month of the year.
“Make known to all the community of Israel the following :
On the tenth of this month
every family must choose a lamb,
each house one lamb.
“If a family is too small for a lamb ,
then, taking into account the number of people,
do it together with their nearest neighbour.
“When distributing the lamb
everyone’s appetite must be taken into account.
“The lamb must be unblemished, of male sex and one-year-old.
“Ge can take a sheep or a goat for it.
“You must keep the animals
until the fourteenth of the month.
“Then all the assembled community of Israel must slaughter them
at dusk.
“Then thou must take some blood
and smear it on both the doorposts
and over the upper beam of the door
of all the houses where the lamb is eaten.
“In the same night the meat is to be eaten
roasted on the fire.
“It must be eaten with unleavened bread
and bitter herbs.
“You may not eat it raw or boiled in water,
but only roasted on the fire,
with head, legs and intestines.
“See to it that nothing is left of it when the sun rises.
“What would be left at sunrise thou must burn.
“And this is the way thou must eat the lamb :
gird up thy loins, shod thy feet,
and thy rod in thy hand.
“Haste ye must eat it, for it is Easter before the Lord.
“This night I will pass through Egypt
and all the firstborn of Egypt,
both men and animals, I will smite.
“To all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment.
“But the blood on the houses will be a sign
that ye dwell there.
“When I see the blood on your houses ,
i will pass you by.
“No destructive plague will strike you when I strike Egypt.
“This day ye must make it a day of remembrance,
ye must celebrate it as a feast in honour of the Lord.
“From generation to generation
you must celebrate it as an eternal institution.”

INTERLUDIUM           Ps 116(115), 12-13, 15-16bc, 17-18

I lift the sacrificial cup,
the Name of the Lord I call upon.
or : Alleluia.

How can I give thanks
for all that the Lord has given me?
I raise the sacrificial cup,
i call upon the Name of the Lord.

For precious in His eyes
the life of whoever worships Him.
O Lord, I am your servant,
thy servant, the son of thy handmaid,
Thou hast slain my fetters.

With sacrifices I will praise Thee,
the Name of the Lord I call upon.
I will fulfil my vows
where all His people see it.

ALLELUIA     Ps 119(118), 18

Alleluia.
Open my eyes to behold, Lord,
the glory of your law.
Alleluia.

GOSPEL        Mt 12:1-8

The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.

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

Once Jesus went through the cornfields on a Sabbath ;
now his disciples became hungry
and began to pluck and eat ears of corn.
The Pharisees saw this and said to Him :
“Your disciples are doing something there that is not lawful on the Sabbath.”
He replied to them :
“Have ye not read what David did
when he and his companions became hungry ?
“How he entered the house of God and ate the showbread
which neither he nor his companions ,
but only the priests were allowed to eat ?
“Or have ye not read in the Law,
that the priests violate the Sabbath every Sabbath in the temple
and yet are not guilty ?
“However, I say to you :
Here is more than the temple.
“If only it
got through to you what it means :
I prefer mercy to sacrifice ,
then ye would not have condemned these innocents.
“For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

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Laudato Si

Encyclical of

POPE FRANCISCUS

On caring for the common home

55. Gradually, some countries can make significant progress,
developing more effective control and a more sincere fight
against corruption show. The ecological sensitivity of peoples has
grown, even if it is not enough to change harmful consumption habits,
which do not seem to be diminishing, but expanding
and developing. This is happening, to give just a simple example
to give, with the ever-growing increase in the use and intensity
of air conditioners: markets, in seeking immediate
gain even more demand. If someone were to look at humanity from the outside
look, he would be amazed at such behaviour, which sometimes seems suicidal.

To be continued
Every day at 1 am