Monday in the twentieth week

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

Introduction
Today’s first reading outlines the recurring course of Israel’s history. It is always the same pattern found in the attitude of the people: they are in distress, upon which they repent to the one God; then God saves his people, upon which they again become unfaithful to their Lord. After Joshua’s death, a similar situation arises again. How will Israel now live in that promised land and keep the Lord’s commands and precepts? How can they avoid chaos if there is no true leader? Should there not be a king? The answer is: Always in biblical history, someone stands up; a charismatic figure, a leader in difficult times. That is God’s promise, also to us. This is the whole window in which not only the book of Judges but also our lives unfold.

FIRST READING            Law. 2, 11-19

The Lord had judges act in Israel;
but even to their judges the people continued not to listen.

From the Book of Judges

In those days
the Israelites began to do what displeases the Lord.
They worshipped the Baals
and forsook the Lord,
the God of their fathers, who had led them out of Egypt.
They ran after other gods,
gods of the nations around them ;
they bowed down before them and offended the Lord.
They abandoned the Lord and worshipped Baal and the Astartes.
Then the Lord’s wrath ignited against Israel.
He handed them over to plunderers who robbed them
and gave them up to their enemies all around,
so that they were no longer able to stand against their adversaries.
Everything they undertook failed,
because the Lord was against them,
as He had said and sworn.
But whenever the need was greatest
the Lord had judges intervene,
who freed them from the grip of the plunderers.
But they did not keep listening to their judges either.
Disobediently they ran after other gods
and bowed down before them.
Very soon they deviated again
from the way their forefathers had followed:
Who had obeyed the commandments of the Lord;
they did not.
When God made the Lord a judge,
he was with the judge as long as they lived.
The Lord delivered them from the power of their enemies,
for when they sighed
under the yoke of their persecutors and oppressors,
he took pity on them again.
But hardly had the judge died ,
or they fell into sin again, worse than their fathers.
They ran after other gods,
worshipped them and bowed down to them.
They stubbornly refused
to break with those former practices and customs.

INTERLUDIUM           Ps. 106(105), 34-35, 36-37, 39-40, 43ab, 44

Do not forget me, Lord, who is well pleased with your people.

Our fathers did not exterminate the inland peoples
as the Lord had commanded ;
but mixed with the pagans
and adopted their bad customs.

They bowed the knee to their images of gods ,
which became a trap for them.
Their own sons they sacrificed,
their daughters to the demons.

They made themselves unclean by their actions,
committed fornication by their behaviour.
Therefore the Lord became wroth with his people
and disgusted with His inheritance.

No matter how often the Lord brought salvation,
they taunted Him again and again.
But God cared about their misery
so often He heard their cries for help.

ALLELUIA           2 Thess. 2, 14

Alleluia.
God has called us
through the proclamation of the gospel,
that we might obtain the glory
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Alleluia.

GOSPEL             Mt 19:16-22

Wilt thou be perfect, sell what thou possess,
and with it you will possess treasure in heaven.

From the holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to
Matthew

Once someone came to Jesus to ask :
“Master, what good must I do
to acquire eternal life?”
He told him :
“Why do you want to know from Me what is good?
“One only is good.
“If ye wish to enter into Life ,
then keep the commandments.”
“Which ones” – he asked.
Jesus replied :
“The well-known ones :
Thou shalt not kill ,
thou shalt not commit adultery,
thou shalt not steal,
thou shalt not bear false witness,
honour thy father and thy mother
and thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
“I have maintained all that
– declared the young man –
wherein do I still fall short?”
Jesus spoke to him:
“Wilt thou be perfect ,
then go home,
sell what you possess and give it to the poor;
thereby you will truly possess treasure in heaven.
“And then come back to follow Me.”
But when the young man heard this advice
he went away distraught
because he owned many goods.

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Laudato Si

Encyclical of

POPE FRANCISCUS

On caring for the common home

86. The totality of the universe, with its many relationships, best shows the inexhaustible
wealth of God. Saint Thomas Aquinas has
wisely underlined that multiplicity and diversity arise
“from the intention of the first acting, Who has willed that ‘what is
lacking in every thing is supplemented by the other things to represent the
divine goodness” because “His goodness cannot be
sufficiently represented by one creature”. Therefore
we must accept the diversity of things in their many relations.
One therefore better understands the importance and significance of each
creature, if one considers it in the totality of God’s plan.
The Catechism teaches the following: “The interdependence of creatures
is willed by God. The sun and the moon, the cedar and the flower, the
eagle and the sparrow: the spectacle of their infinite variety and
inequality means that no creature has enough of itself.
They exist only in interdependence to complement each other mutually
complement each other, at the service of each other”.

To be continued
Every day at 1 am