Franciscan Catholic priest. Born 8 Jan. 1894
Died 14 Aug 1941 in Auschwitz
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
The reader of the Gospel can come to only one conclusion, which forms the basis of Jesus’ teaching on forgiveness: Whoever was forgiven a great debt should himself be lenient towards another. Jesus’ call to forgiveness does not come out of the blue; rather, God’s compassion for me forms the ground of my compassion for my neighbour. Forgiveness as a form of Christian love comes from the realisation that God loved us first. You can forgive because you yourself have first experienced mildness and forgiveness.
FIRST READING Josh. 3, 7-10a. 11. 13-17
The ark of the Lord’s covenant
shall go before you across the Jordan.
From the Book of Joshua
At that time the Lord spoke to Joshua :
“From now on I will take care ,
that thou mayest be highly esteemed among the Israelites.
“They must know that I am with you ,
as I have been with Moses.
“Therefore you must make the priests
who carry the ark of the covenant command :
When thou comest to the bank of the Jordan ,
stand in the river.”
Then Joshua said to the Israelites :
“Come and listen to what the Lord your God has to say to you.
“Now you will find that the living God is with you
and that he will drive out the Canaanites for you.
“The ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth
will go before you across the Jordan.
“As soon as the priests, who carry the ark of the Lord,
the Lord of all the earth,
have put their foot sole in the water of the Jordan,
the water higher up the Jordan will be stopped
and remain standing like a wall.”
When the people broke up to cross the Jordan,
the priests, who carried the ark of the covenant,
went out before the people.
And as soon as the priests, who carried the ark,
came to the Jordan River and set foot in the water
-the Jordan steps outside its banks everywhere in harvest time –
upstream the water remained ;
in the distance near the city of Adam, near Saretan,
it rose up like a wall.
And downstream the water ran away
towards the Sea of Araba, the Sea of Salt.
Thus, the people crossed the river at Jericho.
As the Israelites moved across the dry bed ,
the priests stood,
who were carrying the ark of the Lord’s covenant,
in the middle of the Jordan, and they remained on the dry bed
until all the people had crossed the Jordan.
INTERLUDIUM Ps. 114(113A), 1-2, 3-4, 5-6
Alleluia.
When Israel left Egypt,
Jacob fled the gibbering people,
then He chose in Judah His sanctuary,
israel became His domain.
The sea saw Him coming and fled,
and steeped the Jordan ;
the mountains sprang up like rams,
like lambs the hills danced.
What is it, sea, that makes you flee?
Jordan, why do you turn back?
Thou mountains, what hast thou leaped up like rams?
thou hills like lambs?
ALLELUIA Phil. 2, 15-16
Alleluia.
Shine like stars in the universe,
and hold fast the word of life.
Alleluia.
GOSPEL Mt 18:21-19:1
Not up to seven times but up to seventy times seven times
ye must forgive your brother.
From the holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to
Matthew
At that time Peter came to Jesus and spoke :
“Lord, if my brother transgresses against me ,
how often must I forgive him ?
“Up to seven times?”
Jesus answered him :
“Nay I say unto you ,
not until seven times,
but to seventy times seven times.
“Therefore the kingdom of heaven resembles
to a king who wanted to give an account
wanted to ask his servants.
“When he started this, they brought someone to him
who owed ten thousand talents.
“Since he had nothing to pay, the lord gave the order
to sell him with wife and children and all that he owned,
in order to settle the debt.
“The servant threw himself down before him and begged :
Lord, have patience with me and I will pay you everything.
“The lord took pity on that servant,
let him go and waived the loan.
“But when the servant came outside,
he found another servant there
who owed him a hundred denarii ;
he grabbed him by the throat and said :
Pay what you owe.
“The other servant threw himself down before him and begged :
Have patience with me and I will pay you.
“But he refused, and even had him put in prison
until he would have paid his debt.
“Now when the other servants saw what had happened ,
they were deeply indignant
and went to tell their lord everything.
“Therefore the lord sent for him and spoke :
Thou ugly servant ,
i have forgiven thee all this debt
because you begged me for it.
“Hadst thou then
should you not have had pity on your fellow-servant
as I have pitied thee?
“And in anger
his lord delivered him over to the executioners ,
until he should have paid his whole debt.
“So will my heavenly Father deal with every one of you
who does not heartily pardon his brother.”
When Jesus had finished this speech
he left Galilee
and went to the Overjordan region of Judea.
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Laudato Si
Encyclical of
POPE FRANCISCUS
On caring for the common home
82. However, it would also be wrong to think that the other living
beings are to be regarded as pure objects subjected
to the arbitrary rule of man. If nature is only
seen only as an object of profit and interest, then that also brings
serious consequences for society. The view that supports the
supports the arbitrariness of the strongest has tremendous inequality
injustice and violence for most of humanity
promoted, as resources become the property of whoever comes first
comes or who has the power: the winner gets everything. The ideal of
harmony, justice, brotherhood and peace advocated by Jesus is
diametrically opposed to this model, and He expressed it so when He
referred to the powers of His time: “The rulers of the nations rule
them with an iron fist and the great ones abuse their power over
them. This must not be the case with you; whoever wants to become great among you must
be a servant of yours” (Mat 20:25-26).
To be continued
Every day at 1 am
The Bible text in this edition is taken from The New Bible Translation,
©Dutch Bible Society 2004/2007.
Considerations from Liturgical suggestions for weekdays and Sundays
Laudato Si Official English translation
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