Saturday – St Stephen of Hungary – Our Lady on Saturday

Saint Stephen lived from c. 975 to 15 August 1038 The first king of Hungary

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 It is as if we find ourselves today in a ritual ceremony very similar to the liturgy of confirmation, such as the profession of faith with question from the pastor and answer from the community. This is probably also how it was at the annual memorial feast in Shechem, where the Covenant was renewed and of which we get the prototype here, with the raising of a dedication stone as a lasting reminder. One might as well give as an example the solemn profession of faith of the Easter Vigil FIRST READING          Josh. 24, 14-29 If you will not serve the Lord, choose now whom you will serve. From the Book of Joshua It the people : “Then fear the Lord and serve Him sincerely and faithfully. “Put away the gods that your ancestors worshipped across the River and in Egypt,and be servants of the Lord. “If thou wilt not serve the Lord , choose now whom thou wilt serve : the gods your ancestors worshipped across the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell. “Me and my family, we serve the Lord.”” The people replied : “We do not think of leaving the Lord and worshipping other gods. “The Lord our God has led us and our fathers led out of Egypt, from the land of slavery. “He has before our eyes performed great signs and protected us on all our journeys and against all the peoples with which we came into contact. “The Lord drove out all those nations before us , as well as the Amorites who inhabit this land. “We too want to serve the Lord, He is our God.” Then Joshua said to the people: “You may not be able to serve the Lord , for He is a holy God, a jealous God, who does not forgive your transgressions and sins, but if ye forsake the Lord and worship strange gods, he will strike you with new calamities and destroy you, in spite of the benefits He has granted you before.”” But the people repeated : “Yet we want to serve the Lord.”‘ Then Joshua said to the people : “Then you yourselves are witnesses , that you have chosen the service of the Lord.”” And they replied : “Yes, we are.”‘ And Joshua resumed : “Then put away these strange gods from you and give yourselves wholly to the Lord, the God of Israel.” And the people replied : “The Lord our God we want to serve and to Him we will listen.” So Joshua made a covenant with the people on that day at Shechem. He determined for them what is law and justice, and he wrote everything down in the law book of God. Thereupon he left under the oak tree in the sanctuary of the Lord a great stone was set up and spoke to all the people : “This stone will testify against us , for it has heard everything what the Lord has spoken to us. “He will continue to testify against you , so that you do not deny your God.” Thereupon Joshua dissolved the assembly and each returned to his own territory. After these events, Joshua, the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, at the age of one hundred and ten years. INTERLUDIUM         Ps. 16(15), 1-2a, 5, 7-8, 11 The Lord is my inheritance, my drink from the cup. Protect me, God, to You I take refuge ; Thou art my Lord, I acknowledge it. The Lord is my inheritance, my drink from the cup, He holds my destiny in His hand. I thank the Lord who has always guided me, He speaks into my heart even at night. Always I keep my eyes fixed on the Lord, i do not fall, for He is beside me. You will show me the way of life to find all my joy with Thee, everlasting happiness at Your side. ALLELUIA            I Thess. 2, 13 Alleluia. Receive the divine word, not as a word of men but as what it is indeed : The word of God. Alleluia. GOSPEL           Mt 19:13-15 Let the children commit, for to those who are like them belongs the kingdom of heaven. In those days little children were brought to Jesus, that He might lay hands on them and say a prayer over them. But bars the disciples rejected them. Jesus, however, said: “Let these children go ahead anyway and do not prevent them from coming to Me. For to those who are like them , belongs the kingdom of heaven.” And after He had laid His hands on them he departed from there. ________________________________________________________

Laudato Si

Encyclical of

POPE FRANCISCUS

On caring for the common home

The message of every creature in the harmony of all creation 84. Insisting that man is image of God should not make us make us forget that every creature has a function and none is superfluous. All the material universe is a language of the love of God, of his immoderate affection for us. Soil, water, mountains, everything is caress of God. The history of one’s own friendship with God always develops in a geographical space that takes on a very personal meaning, and each of us keeps in his memory places whose memory does him very good. Those who grew up among the mountains or sat beside a stream to drink as a child, or who played in a square of his neighbourhood, feels, when he returns to those places, called to find his own identity again To be continued Every day at 1 am