German saint born in Cologne c. 1032
Died in 1101
Founder of the order of Carthusians
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
We follow Jesus on his journey to Jerusalem. Gradually the meaning of this journey will become clear to us; it is the journey we are all on, through life and suffering towards Easter. From the teaching of Jesus we will learn day by day how to travel this journey; what dangers and difficulties await us; but also what joy we will receive as Jesus leads us on this road to God’s kingdom. The book of Jonah already announces the core of the gospels to come. Repeatedly we hear the same wording: Get up…go…; and he got up. Do we dare to get up and go on our way to bear witness to the Lord ?
FIRST READING Jon. 1, 1-2, 1. 11
Jonah got up, but to flee, away from the Lord.
Beginnings of the Prophet Jonah
The word of the Lord was addressed to Jonah ,
the son of Amittai :
“Arise, go to Nineveh, the great city of Nineveh ,
and tell her that her wickedness
has penetrated to Me on high.”
And Jonah rose up, but to flee to Tarsis,
away from the Lord.
He made his way to Jaffa
and he found a ship there
that was about to sail to Tarsis :
he paid for the passage and went on board
to sail with him to Tarsis, away from the Lord.
But the Lord hurled violent winds on the sea
and a violent storm broke loose on the sea,
that threatened to break the ship.
The sailors became fearful
and each of them cried out to his own god.
To make the ship lighter
they threw the cargo into the sea.
Jonah, however, had descended into the depths of the hold,
laid down there
and had fallen into a deep sleep.
The captain came to him and said to him :
“How can you sleep so deeply?
Get up and pray to your god;
then perhaps that god will think of us
and we will not perish!
The men said to each other :
“Come, let us cast lots to see ,
on whom it is that this calamity befalls us”
They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah.
They asked him :
You, to whom it is that this calamity befalls us ,
tell us: Why are you travelling
and whence comest thou?
“What is your country and to what people do you belong ?
Jonah replied :
‘I am a Hebrew and I fear the Lord,
the God of heaven,
who made the sea and the land.”
Then the men became very fearful
and they said to Jonah :
“How could you have done such a thing?”
For they heard that he,
in order to get away from the Lord,
had gone on the run; he told them so.
They asked him:
“What must we do to you
to be left alone by the sea?”
For the sea was getting stormier and stormier.
“Take me up and throw me into the sea :
then the sea will leave you alone.
“I know: it is because of me
that this fierce storm has struck thee.”
The men made another attempt
to row back to land,
but they did not succeed,
because the sea around them became increasingly stormy.
Then they cried out to the Lord:
“Ah Lord, let us not perish ,
when we kill this man,
and do not charge us
as the shedding of innocent blood;
after all, Lord, it has pleased you,
to make it happen!
Now the Lord sent a great fish to swallow Jonah.
And Jonah was in the belly of the fish,
three days and three nights.
Then the Lord spoke to the fish
and the fish spat Jonah on dry land.
Laudato Si
Encyclical of
POPE FRANCISCUS
On caring for the common home
145. Many forms of intense exploitation and damage to the environment
can deplete not only local livelihoods, but also the
social resources that have allowed a way of life that has
a cultural identity and sense of existence and coexistence for a long
time have supported. The disappearance of a culture can be as serious
or even more serious than the disappearance of an animal or plant species.
The imposition of a hegemony-seeking lifestyle linked
with a mode of production can be as damaging as the degradation
of ecosystems.
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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