Thursday – H. Charbel Makhlüf, pr.

H. Charbel was a Maronite monk from Lebanon. Born on 8 May 1828
and died on 24 December 1898. He was canonised in 1977.

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
Chapter 19 is the hinge on which the whole book of Exodus revolves, with the Sinai event after the exodus. The law with the covenant-making and a host of regulations follow from it up to and including Yahweh’s entry into the finished sanctuary. It does not make much sense to wonder what exactly happened at Sinai. Israel was convinced that Yahweh had revealed himself to Moses and to the people. This secret was later given a certain vividness (partly from the cult).

FIRST READING      Ex. 19, 1-2. 9-11. 16-20b

God the Lord will before the eyes of all the people
descend on Sinai.

From the Book of Exodus

Three months after their departure from Egypt, to-day,
the Israelites reached the Sinai desert.
They had departed from Refidim
and arrived in the Sinai Desert
where they set up camp close to the mountain.
The Lord now spoke to Moses :
“I am coming to you in a dense cloud
so that the people may hear Me speaking to you
and will gain confidence in you forever.”
Moses conveyed the people’s response to the Lord.
Then the Lord spoke to Moses :
“Go to the people and make sure
that they sanctify themselves and wash their clothes today and tomorrow.
“They must make themselves ready for the day after tomorrow ,
for the day after tomorrow the Lord will
descend on Sinai before the eyes of all the people.”
On the third day, early in the morning,
it began to thunder and lightning.
A dense cloud hung over the mountain,
mighty trumpet blasts resounded,
and all the people in the camp trembled with fear.
Then Moses led the people out of the camp,
Facing God.
At the foot of the mountain they remained standing.
Sinai was completely enveloped in smoke
because the Lord had descended in fire.
The smoke rose up like the smoke of a smelter.
All the people were horrified.
Trumpets resounded, louder and louder.
Moses spoke, and the voice of God answered him.
For the Lord had descended on Sinai,
on top of the mountain.

Interludium          Dan. 3, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56

To You be praised in all ages.

Praised be Thou, Lord, God of our fathers,
To Thee be praise throughout all ages.

Praised be Thy holy glorious Name,
To Thee be praise throughout all ages.

Praised be Thou in the house of Thy glory,
To Thee be praise in all ages.

Praised be Thou on the throne of Thy kingdom,
To thee be praise in all ages.

Praised be Thou, who searches the depths,
enthroned on kerubs, in all ages.

Praised be Thou in the dome of heaven,
Praise be to Thee in all ages.

ALLELUIA           Ps. 119(118), 105

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

GOSPEL             Mt 13:10-17

To you it has been given
to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven,
but to others it has not been given.

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

At that time the disciples came to ask Jesus :
“Why dost thou speak to the multitude in parables?”
He gave them in reply :
“To you it has been given
to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven ,
but to them it is not given.
“To him who has will be given, and abundantly ;
but to him who has not, it will still be taken away
even what he has.
“When I speak to them in parables
it is because they,
though they have eyes they do not see
and though they have ears, they do not hear or understand.
“Thus is fulfilled in them the prophecy of Isaiah
which reads thus :
With thine ears shalt thou listen and yet not understand,
with thine eyes shalt thou look and yet not see.
“For hardened is the heart of this people,
with their ears they hear badly
and their eyes they shut,
for fear
that they would see with their eyes,
with their ears would hear,
with their hearts would understand,
repent
and I would heal them.
“Happy your eyes, because they see ,
and your ears, because they hear !
“For verily I say unto you :
Many prophets and righteous men
have longed to see what thou seest ,
but they have not seen ;
and to hear what thou hearest ,
but they have not heard.”

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Laudato Si

Encyclical of

POPE FRANCISCUS

On caring for the common home

61. The Church is not tasked with making definitive
proposals and understands that it must listen to an honest
debate among people of knowledge and must promote it with respect
for differences of opinion. One only has to look at reality
look to see that there is a great deterioration of our common home.
Hope invites us to recognise that there is always a way out,
that we can always change course, that we can always do something
to solve the problems. She seems, however, by virtue of the great
speed of change and decline, to have reached a decisive breaking point,
which is visible in regional natural disasters as well as in social
and financial crises, as the problems of the
world can neither be analysed in isolation nor explained. There
are regions that are already at particular risk and it is, leaving aside
any catastrophic prediction, it is certain that the current global
system, viewed from different points of view, is unsustainable,
because we have stopped thinking about the purposes of
human action: “If we look at different areas of our planet
view, one immediately notices that humanity’s divine
expectation has disappointed”.

To be continued
Every day at 1 am