Tuesday – Saints Martha, Mary and Lazarus, friends of the Lord

Jesus points us to the most important thing in life and
not to worry about side issues.

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

In everyday reality, listening and serving can go together perfectly, and there is little point in trying to decide which of the two is best. Yet we can hear a message here: The most important thing guests and friends should expect from us is a listening ear. In hospitality, there is nothing more valuable than spending time attentively in each other’s presence. This also applies to encounters with the Lord: Listening to Him is indispensable for love and re-love to germinate and grow.

FIRST READING           1 Jn 4:7-16
When we love one another, God dwells in us.

From the first letter of the holy apostle John

Friends,
Let us love one another
for love comes from God.
Everyone who loves is a child of God,
and knows God.
Man without love does not know God,
for God is love.
And the love that is God ,
has revealed itself among us
in that He sent His only Son into the world,
to bring us life.
In this, love consists :
Not we have loved God ,
but He loved us,
and He sent His Son
that through the sacrifice of his life
erase our sins.

Friends,
if God has loved us so much,
we too must love one another.
Never has anyone seen God,
but if we love one another,
god dwells in us,
and His love has become perfect in us.
This is the proof that we dwell in Him
(as He abides in us),
that He has made us partakers of His Spirit.
And we, we have seen and we testify,
that the Father has sent His Son
to be the Saviour of the world.
If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God ,
god dwells in him and he dwells in God.
Thus we have come to know the love that God has for us,
and we believe in it.
God is love : He who dwells in love ,
dwells in God and God is with him.

INTERLUDIUM        Ps. 34(33), 2-3, 16-17, 18-19

The Lord I will praise every day.

The Lord I will praise every day,
his praise is always on my lips.
My spirit is proud of the Lord’s favour,
let every one who hears it rejoice.

The eye of the Lord is on the pious,
his ear turned to their supplications.
From evildoers He turns His face away,
they are forgotten on earth.

To the pious who cry out the Lord listens,
and rescues them from every need.
The Lord is near to grieving hearts,
He helps those who acknowledge their guilt.

ALLELUIA          cf. Acts 16, 14b

Alleluia.
Make our hearts receptive, Lord,
and that we turn to the word of your Son.
Alleluia.

GOSPEL             Lk. 10, 38-42
Martha, how worried and busy you are about many things.

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

In those days Jesus came to a village
where a woman called Martha received Him in her home.
She had a sister, Mary who was
– seated at the feet of the Lord –
listened to His words.
Martha was engrossed in the busyness of ministry,
but she joined them for a moment and said :
“Lord, let it be indifferent to You
that my sister has me serve alone?
“Then tell her to help me.”
The Lord answered her in reply :
“Martha, Martha ,
how much you worry and fuss about many things.
“Only one thing is necessary.
“Mary has chosen the best part
and it will not be taken away from her.”

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Laudato Si

Encyclical of

POPE FRANCISCUS

On caring for the common home.

66.The creation stories in the Book of Genesis contain in their symbolic
and narrative language a thorough teaching on human existence
and its historical reality. These stories suggest that human human existence
is based on three fundamental, closely linked relationships: the relationship
with God, that with one’s neighbour and that with the earth.
According to the Bible, these three vital relationships are broken, not only
outside us, but also within us. This rupture is sin. The harmony between
Creator, humanity and all creation has been destroyed, because we have had
the pretence to take the place of God. This fact has also changed the nature
of the task of subduing the earth (cf. Gen. 1:28) and to cultivate and guard it
(cf. Gen. 2, 15). As a result, the originally harmonious relationship between
man and nature changed into a conflict (cf. Gen. 3, 17-19). Therefore,
it is significant that the harmony that St Francis of Assisi experienced with all creatures,
has been interpreted as a healing of this breach. Saint Bonaventure
said that through the universal reconciliation with all creatures Francis was in some way
somehow was brought back to the state of original innocence. Far from that model,
today sin in all its destructive power visible in wars, in the various forms
of violence and abuse, in the abandonment of the most vulnerable,
in the attacks on nature.

To be continued
Every day at 1 am