Monday in the first week of Advent

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 not Jesus who boxes for the meeting with the centurion, but the officer himself – a pagan. He offers himself, unexpectedly, unforeseen. He does not know Jesus, and yet God’s grace is at work in his heart. It is this grace that brings the centurion to repentance, that makes him live in the expectation of Jesus’ help and brings him to an unconditional faith: ‘Lord, I am not worthy that Thou shouldst come under my roof, but a single word from Thee…’

FIRST READING                Isa. 4, 2-6

Messiah will be the glory of all who are saved.

From the Prophet Isaiah

On that day
shall the shoot of the Lord
be a glorious ornament
and the fruit of the land shall be
a glorious glory
for those who have been preserved from Israel.
Then it will be so,
that all the survivors in Zion,
all the survivors in Jerusalem
will be called holy,
all those who have been
are written down in Jerusalem.
When the Lord will have washed away
the filth of the daughter Zion,
when he shall have washed away
be washed away
by the breath of judgment
and the breath of destruction,
then the Lord will come,
and over all Mount Zion
and over all who are there together
he will create a cloud of smoke by day
and a bright glow of fire by night,
and the Glory of the Lord
shall cover them all
as a shelter and a tent,
giving shade against the heat of the day
and providing protection from thunder and rain.

INTERLUDIUM            Ps. 122(121), 1-2, 3-4a, 8-9

How happy was I, when I was called:
We are going to God’s house!

How glad I was when I was called:
We are going to God’s house!
Now may my foot, Jerusalem,
may enter your gates.

Jerusalem, walled city,
so densely built,
to Thee do the tribes march,
the tribes of God’s people.

For the sake of my brothers and my companions
i wish you peace,
for the sake of the house of our God
i pray for your blessing.

ALLELUIA              Ps 80:4) 79:4)

Alleluia.
God of hosts, raise us up again
smile upon us again and we shall be saved.
Alleluia.

GOSPEL             Mt 8, 5-11

Many will come from east and west and sit down in
the kingdom of heaven.

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

At that time when Jesus had arrived in Capernaum ,
a hundred men came to Him
who cried out for His help, saying :
“Lord ,
my servant lies paralysed in my house and is in terrible pain.”
He spoke to him :
“I will come and heal him.”
But the hundred-man replied :
“Lord, I am not worthy of Thou coming under my roof ;
but a single word from Thee is sufficient
to make my servant healed.
“For though I myself am a subordinate ,
again I have men under me ;
and to one I say : Go, and he goes ;
and to another : Come, and he comes ;
and to my servant : Do this, and he does it.”
When Jesus heard this He stood amazed
and said to those who followed Him :
“Verily , I say unto you :
With no one in Israel have I found such great faith .
“I say to you ,
that many will come from the east and the west
and with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob
shall sit down in the kingdom of heaven.”

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Laudato Si

Encyclical of

POPE FRANCISCUS

On caring for the common home

201. The majority of the planet’s inhabitants see themselves as believers
and that should prompt religions to enter into a
dialogue, focusing on caring for nature, protecting
the poor, building a network of respect and brotherhood. Also
dialogue between the sciences themselves is indispensable, as each has the
tends to shut itself up within the confines of its own language
and specialisation tends to become isolation and absolutisation of its own
knowledge. This prevents the problems of
addressing the environment. Similarly, an open and respectful dialogue becomes
necessary between the various ecological movements, where there is
not lacking in ideological struggle. The gravity of the ecological crisis
demands that we all think of the common good and move forward
on the path of dialogue, which calls for patience, asceticism and generosity,
remembering that “reality is more important than the
idea”.