According to a tradition, Mary, the mother of Jesus,
appeared for the first time on Saturday 9 December 1531 to the
saint Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin (1474-1548).
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
The readings express a deep wistfulness of missed opportunity. The people of Israel missed their opportunities.
“If thou hadst heeded my commandments . .”,speaks the prophet.
Jesus’ contemporaries also missed their opportunity: they do not see in John the Baptist’s coming the foreshadowing of Jesus’ coming.
Will they then carelessly disregard the message of God ? Will our time, will we too miss this opportunity ?
Not if we look out for God in the places where He comes present.
And even after a missed opportunity, God is merciful. From Him, everyone may always make new beginnings again. We too.
FIRST READING Isa 48:17-19
Heed the commandments of the Lord!
From the Prophet Isaiah
Thus speaks the Lord your redeemer, Israel’s Holy One :
“I am the Lord your God ,
who will teach thee for thy sake,
and guide thee in the way which thou must go!
“If you had heeded my commandments
prosperity would have flooded you by now
like a mountain stream,
and your prosperity would have been as vast
as the sea with its waves.
“Thy offspring would have been numerous as the grains of sand ,
your offspring like the dust :
their name with Me would
never wiped out, never obliterated !”
INTERLUDIUM Ps. 1, 1-2, 3, 4, 6
Whoever follows You, Lord, will possess the light of life
(John 8, 12).
Happy 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.
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 ;
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
Alleluia.
He comes as King and Lord of the earth.
The yoke of exile He will shatter.
Alleluia.
GOSPEL Mt 11:16-19
They listen neither to John nor to the Son of Man.
From the holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to
Matthew
At that time Jesus spoke to the crowd :
“To what shall I compare this generation?
“It resembles children sitting in the marketplace
and calling out to the other party :
“We have played the flute for you
and you did not dance;
we have sung a lamentation
and you have not beaten your breast.
“After all : John comes,
he neither eats nor drinks, and they say :
He is possessed of the devil !
“The Son of Man comes,
He does eat and drink, and they say :
Look at that glutton and wine drinker,
that friend of tax collectors and sinners !
“But wisdom finds its justification in its works.”
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Laudato Si
Encyclical of
Pope Francis
On care for the common home
212. One should not think that these efforts of strength will not
change it. From these acts goes a
beneficence that produces more fruit than can be observed.
For they bring about within the womb of this earth a movement
that increasingly tends to expand, sometimes invisibly.
Moreover, this behaviour gives us back the sense of our dignity,
brings us to a deeper existential depth and allows us to
experience that it is worth living in this world.
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.
Laudato Si English translation