Eighteenth 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

Opening word

‘Vanity of vanities, all is vanity!
Along with Ecclesiastes, we too wonder:
what do we gain from our toil,
in our toil and effort?
Surely we cannot take our wealth with us into the grave.
Today we are invited
to focus on what is essential,
to live consciously and treat each other thoughtfully.
Let us become more and more detached from possessions,
clothe ourselves with the new man
and focus on the heavenly.

FIRST READING          Ecclesiastes 1:2;2:21-23
What does man gain from all his toil?

Vanity of vanities, says Ecclesiastes,
vanity of vanities, and all is vanity!
There are those who jerk off and exert themselves
with wisdom and knowledge,
but what they earn, they have to hand over to others,
who did not exert themselves.
That too is vanity and great unfairness.
After all, what does a man gain from all his toil ,
and the cares with which he torments himself on earth?
All days prepare him suffering, and vexation is his reward;
even at night he finds no rest;
that too is vanity.

Answer Psalm Ps.90(89), 3-4, 5-6, 12 and 17
Refrain
Thou, Lord, art always our refuge

What is mortal perishes again to dust,
Thou sayest, “Return, child of Adam!”
To Thee a thousand years are one day,
as yesterday that is already past,
an hour of sleep in the night.

Our life breaks down like a dream in the morning,
briefly it is like grass on the field.
In the morning it sprouts and shoots up,
in the evening it withers.

Teach us to value our days
and so come to wisdom of heart.
Your glory, Lord God, may shine upon us,
guide our hands in all they do.

Brothers and sisters,

If ye have been raised to life with Christ
seek what is above,
where Christ sits at the right hand of God.
Seek the heavenly, not the earthly.
For thou hast died
and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
Christ is thy life,
and when He appears
you too will appear with Him in glory.
So puts a radical end to immoral practices,
fornication, immorality, passion, covetousness
and the greed equivalent to idolatry.
And lie no more to one another.
You have put off the old man and his behaviour
and clothed thyself with the new man,
who is on the way to true understanding,
as he renews himself in the image of his Creator.
Then there is no more Greek or Jew;
circumcised or uncircumcised,
barbarian or Skyth,
of slave or free man.
There is only Christ,
all in all.

Verse for the gospel      Mt 5:3

Alleluia.
Blessed are the poor in spirit
for to them belongs the kingdom of heaven.
Alleluia.

_________________________

Laudato Si

Encyclical of

POPE FRANCISCUS

On caring for the common home

71. Even though “the anger of men had increased” (Gen. 6:5) and
“became” God “sorry that He had made man on earth” (cf. Gen. 6, 6),
yet through Noah, who still remained pure and righteous, God decided to
to open a way of salvation. Thus He gave mankind the possibility
of a new beginning. A good man is needed if there is to be hope!
Biblical tradition clearly establishes that this reverence is the rediscovery
of and respect for the rhythm laid down in nature by the hand of the Creator
nature, entails. The Sabbath commandment, for example, demonstrates this.
On the seventh day, God rested from all his works. God gave Israel the
command that every seventh day was to be celebrated as a day of
rest, a Sabbath (cf. Gen. 2, 2-3; Ex. 16, 23; 20, 10). On the other hand, also
every seventh year established a Sabbath year for Israel and its land (cf.
Lev. 25, 1-4), during which the land was allowed complete rest, not sowing and
harvested only what was necessary for survival and hospitality
(cf. Lev. 25, 4-6). Finally, after the lapse of seven Sabbath years, one celebrated ,
that is, forty-nine years, celebrated the jobel year, the year of universal
forgiveness and the year when “everyone is restored to his former
property and returned to his family” (Lev. 25, 10). The development of
this legislation has sought to promote balance and equality in the relationships
of man with others and the land where he lived and worked.
But at the same time, there was a recognition that a gift
of the land with its fruits belongs to the whole people. Those who
cultivated and guarded, had to share its fruits, especially
with the poor, the widows, the orphans and the strangers. “If ye take your
harvest from the land, ye must not mow your field to the brink, nor
gather up what is left. Thou must not in thy vineyard
after-reading and not gather up the fallen grapes. All this is
intended for the poor and the stranger” (Lev. 19:9-10).

To be continued
Every day at 1 am