Seventeenth Sunday through the year

FIRST READING       Gen. 18, 20-32

Let not my Lord become angry when I speak.

In those days the LORD said:
“Loudly the cry for vengeance rises from Sodom and Gomorrah!
Extremely heavy is their sin!
I am going down to see ,
whether their deeds really correspond to the cry
that has penetrated Me;
I want to know.”
Then the men set off in the direction of Sodom.
However, the LORD still remained standing with Abraham.
Abraham stepped up to Him and said:
“Wilt Thou really with the wicked
also exterminate the righteous?
Perhaps there are fifty righteous in the city;
wilt Thou then destroy them?
Wilt Thou not pardon the city
because of the fifty righteous who dwell there?
Surely Thou canst not do such a thing:
Let the righteous die along with the wicked!
Then the righteous would perish like the wicked;
surely You cannot do that!
Will He who judges the whole earth not let justice be done?”
And the LORD said:
“If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom ,
for their sake I will pardon the whole city.”
Abraham started again and said:
“May I take the liberty of speaking to my Lord ,
even though I am but dust and ashes?
Perhaps among the fifty righteous there are five missing;
wilt Thou then for the sake of those five yet destroy the whole city?”
And He said:
“I will not destroy it ,
if I find forty-five.”
Again Abraham spoke to Him:
“Perhaps only forty can be found.”
And the LORD said:
“Then, for the sake of those forty, I will not do it.”
Now Abraham said:
“Do not let my Lord get angry ,
if I insist again: perhaps only thirty can be found.”
And the LORD said:
“I will not do it, if I find thirty.”
Abraham said again:
“I may be bold if I keep urging my Lord ;
but perhaps only twenty will be found.”
And the LORD said:
“Even for the sake of those twenty, I will not destroy the city.”
Abraham said again:
“Do not let my Lord get angry,
if I speak one more time, maybe only ten can be found.”
And the LORD said:
“I will not destroy the city, even if there are only ten.”

RESPONSORIAL             Ps 138(137) 1-2a, 2bc-3, 6-7ab, 7c-8

Refrain
Hear me, Lord, every day that I call on You.

You I want to praise, Lord, from all my heart,
because You have listened to my prayers.
In the midst of the angels I sing to Thee
and cast me down, bowed down to Your temple.

You I praise for Your goodness and Your faithfulness,
for beyond thy fame thou hast kept word.
Hear me every day that I call upon Thee,
then Thou givest me new strength.

The Lord is the exalted One who watches over the lowly,
but looks down on the proud from on high.
In the midst of dangers Thou keepest me alive,
Thou fends off the fury of my enemy.

Always Thy outstretched hand is my salvation.
The Lord accomplishes for me all that I undertake;
thy goodness, Lord , endures withoutend:
Forget not the making of thy hands.

Brothers and sisters,

In baptism ye are buried with Christ,
but also risen with Him,
through your faith in the power of God
which raised Him from the dead.
You too
who were dead in consequence of your sins
and because of your moral turpitude
god has made alive again with Him.
He has forgiven us all our sins.
He has torn up the charter
which testified against us with its onerous provisions.
He has destroyed it and nailed it to the cross.

Verse for the gospel          Rom. 8, 15

Alleluia.
Thou hast received the Spirit of childbearing
which makes us cry out: Abba, Father.
Alleluia.

GOSPEL           Lk. 11, 1-13

Ask and you shall be given.

On one occasion Jesus was praying somewhere.
When He stopped, one of His disciples said to Him:
“Lord ,
teach us to pray,
as John also taught his disciples.”
He spoke to them:
“When you pray, say:
Father, hallowed be thy Name,
thy kingdom come.
Give us every day our daily bread,
and forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves also forgive any who owe us anything.
And lead us not into temptation.”
He continued:
“Suppose one of you has a friend.
In the middle of the night he goes to him and says:
Friend, lend me three loaves of bread,
for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey
and I have nothing to put in front of him.
Would the other person inside then reply:
Don’t bother me;
the door is already locked and my children and I are in bed;
i can’t get up to give it to you?
I tell you,
if he already does not get up and give it to him because he is his friend,
still he will get up and give him all he needs,
for his immodest insistence.
To you I say the same thing:
Ask and ye shall be given;
seek and ye shall find;
knock and it shall be opened.
For all who ask obtain;
he who seeks finds;
and to him who knocks it will be opened.
Is there sometimes among you a father who will give his son a stone
if he asks him for bread?
Or if he asks for fish
won’t he give him a snake instead of fish?
Or if he asks for an egg
will he not give him a scorpion?
So if thou – though thou art evil –
know how to give good gifts to thy children,
how much more will your Father in heaven
give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him for it.”

______________________

Laudato Si

Encyclical of

POPE FRANCISCUS

On caring for the common home

64. On the other hand, even though this encyclical offers an opening for a
dialogue with all to search together for ways of liberation, from the
show at the outset how beliefs Christians, and in part
also other believers, offer important motivations to take
care for nature and the most vulnerable brothers and sisters. As
the mere fact of being human motivates people to care for the
environment of which they are a part, “Christians in particular feel that
their duties within creation and their duties towards nature
and the Creator are part of their faith”. Therefore, it is a boon
for humanity and the world that we as believers should more fully recognise the ecological
obligations arising from our beliefs.

To be continued
Every day at 1 am