Thursday – Saints Dionysius, b., and comp., mar. – Saint John Leonardi, pr.di, pr

St Dionysius is patron of France and the city of Paris. During the persecution of Christians
around the year 285, he was beheaded.

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 are familiar with the thought formulated by the prophet Malachi: Those who do evil seem to prosper. Those who do good, on the contrary, seem to be punished for it. It is the problem that recurs in many psalms, the theme of the book of Job, the question to which theology has sought an answer throughout the ages. Today’s reading offers an answer: The day is coming when justice will be done. It is up to us not to judge ourselves, but to trust in God’s justice. This is not to say that our protests, our rebellion, our rearing in the face of unjust situations are pointless: We may entrust everything to a God who listens – and who will one day bring about justice himself.

FIRST READING              Mal. 3, 13-20a
The day is coming, burning like a furnace.

“Thy words vex Me,” says the LORD.
You ask:
“What then in our conversations was against Thee?”
Thou hast said:
“It is useless to serve God.
What do we gain by keeping His commandments
and before the LORD of hosts
walk in penitential garments?
After all,
that we happily praise those who defy God;
those who do evil prosper
and those who tempt God bring it off well.”
Then those who fear the LORD spoke to one another.
And the LORD listened and heard.
And before him a memorial was drawn up
concerning those who fear the LORD,
those who honour his name.
“They shall be my property
– says the LORD of the heavenly powers –
in the day that I am going to make.
Then I will spare them,
as a man spares his son, when he serves him.
Then you will see again the difference
between the righteous and the wicked,
between the one who serves God and the one who does not serve Him.
For know this: the day is coming that burns like a furnace.
All those who defy God and all those who do evil ,
they will then become like chaff.
The day that is coming sets them on fire
– says the LORD of the heavenly powers –
the day that leaves neither root nor branch of them.
But for you, who fear my name,
then rises the sun of righteousness,
which brings healing with its wings.”

INTRODUCTION Ps. 1, 1-2, 3, 4, 6

Happy is the man who puts his hope in the Lord
(Ps. 40(39), 5a).

Happy is the man who refuses to do
what wicked men advise him ;
who does not go the ways of sinners,
does not sit in the midst of mockers;
but who finds his happiness in the Lord’s law,
contemplating it day and night.

He is like a tree, planted by the water
which bears fruit in its time;
in summer his leaves do not wither,
but all that he does brings him prosperity.

The wicked do not fare so well:
The wind blows them away like chaff.
For the Lord watches the way of the dishes,
the way of sinners is a dead end.

ALLELUIA                 I Petr. 1.25

Alleluia.
The word of the Lord remains for ever;
and this word is the message
which has been proclaimed to you in the gospel.
Alleluia.

GOSPEL                  Lk. 11, 5-13
Ask and you shall be given.

At that time, Jesus said to his disciples:
“Suppose one of you has a friend.
In the middle of the night he goes to him and says:
Friend, lend me three loaves of bread,
for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey
and I have nothing to put in front of him.
Would the other person inside then reply:
Don’t bother me;
the door is already locked and my children and I are in bed;
i can’t get up to give it to you?
I tell you,
if he already does not get up and give it to him because he is his friend,
still he will get up and give him all he needs,
for his immodest insistence.
To you I say the same thing:
Ask and ye shall be given;
seek and ye shall find;
knock and it shall be opened.
For all who ask obtain; he who seeks finds;
and to him who knocks it will be opened.
Is there sometimes among you a father who will give a stone to his son,
if he asks him for bread?
Or if he asks for fish
will he not give him a snake instead of fish?
Or if he asks for an egg
will he not give him a scorpion?
So if thou – though thou art evil –
know how to give good gifts to thy children,
how much more will your Father in heaven
give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him for it.”

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Laudato Si

Encyclical of

POPE FRANCISCUS

On caring for the common home

148. Admirable is the creativity and generosity of
people and groups who are able to lift the constraints of the environment by
lifting by changing the adverse effects of existing conditions
and learning to give direction to their
existence. In some places, for example, where the facades of
buildings have deteriorated greatly, there are people who take great care to
maintain the interiors of their homes or feel at ease
by the warmth and friendship of the people. The positive
and benevolent social life of the residents spreads light in
a seemingly unlivable environment. Sometimes the human
ecology commendable that the poor amid so many constraints
manage to develop. The sense of suffocation created by residential agglomerations and spaces of high population density is
combated, when human relationships of closeness and
warmth develop, when communities form, when the constraints
of the environment are compensated in the inwardness of each
person who feels included in a network of communication and
connectedness. Thus, every place ceases to be a hell and becomes the
context of a dignified life.

To be continued
Every day at 1 am

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