Tuesday in the third 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
We put first reading and gospel side by side. The essence of religion is faithful trust. In the first reading, it is Jerusalem that does not trust her Lord, that does not approach her God. In the gospel, even those who have seen will not give faith. The worst thing towards Yahweh is faithlessness – a reproach that recurs so often among the prophets. It is the same reproach we also hear repeatedly from Jesus: ‘Thou art deaf, thou hast not listened’.

FIRST READING               Seph. 3 , 1-2. 9-13

Messianic salvation is promised to the poor.

From the Prophet Sephaniah

Woe to the unruly, defiled, violent city !
She listens to no admonition,
it will know of no instruction,
it trusts not in the Lord
and does not approach its God.
I will give the nations
other, clean lips.
Then they will all call on the name of the Lord
and serve Him in unison.
From across the rivers of Ethiopia,
whither they are scattered,
they will bring their sacrifices to Me, those who worship Me.
Then among you there will be no more crime committed against Me
of which ye have to be ashamed,
for I will remove from among you
the proud show-offs ;
on My holy mountain
you will no longer misbehave.
I will leave with you only
a humble, humble people,
who take refuge in the name of the Lord :
The rest of Israel.
They commit no more injustice,
they no longer tell lies
and in their mouths no more is to be found an insidious tongue.
They shall pasture and lie down quietly

INTERLUDIUM                Ps 34(33), 2-3, 6-7, 17-18, 19, 23

Who cry out in distress, to them the Lord listens.

The Lord I will praise every day,
his praise is always on my lips.
My spirit is proud of the Lord’s favour,
let every one who hears it rejoice.

Abide in Him, you will become happy,
for He does not disappoint you.
Those crying out in distress, to them the Lord listens
and rescues them from their misery.

From evildoers He turns His face away,
they are forgotten on earth.
To the pious who cry out the Lord listens
and rescues them from every need.

The Lord is near to grieving hearts,
He helps those who acknowledge their guilt.
The Lord saves the lives of those who serve Him,
all who flee to Him face no punishment.

ALLELUIA

Alleluia.
The Lord comes to deliver His people ;
blessed who are ready to meet Him.
Alleluia.

Gospel                  Mt 21:28-32

John came and sinners gave him faith.

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

At that time Jesus said to the high priests
and the elders of the people :
“What think ye of the following ?
“A man had two sons.
“He went to the first one and said :
My son, go and work in my vineyard today.
“Good father, replied this one,
but he did not do it.
“Then he went to the second and said the same thing.
“This one replied : Nay, I will not ;
but later he regretted it and went anyway.
“Now which of the two did his father’s will ?”
They said :
“The last one.”
Then Jesus said to them :
“Verily, I say to you :
The tax collectors and the fornicating women
enter the kingdom of God before you.
“John came to you and practised righteousness ;
yet ye gave him no faith,
while the tax collectors and fornicators
did give him faith.
“But even after thou hadst seen this,
yet you did not repent
and thou gavest him no faith.”

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Laudato Si

Encyclical of

POPE FRANCISCUS

On caring for the common home

The ecological conversion
216. The great wealth of Christian spirituality, produced by twenty
centuries of personal and communal experience produced,
makes a magnificent contribution to the effort to renew humanity.
I want to offer Christians some guiding principles of ecological spirituality
that stem from our faith, because what the
gospel teaches us has implications for our way of thinking, feeling and
life. The point is not so much to speak about ideas, but mainly
about motives arising from spirituality to nurture a passion for
caring for the world. After all, it will not be possible to
merely to engage in grand theories without a mysticism that animates us,
without “an inner drive that stimulates, motivates
encourages and to personal and communal action
gives meaning”. We have to acknowledge that we Christians have
not always taken advantage of the wealth that
God has given the Church have amassed and allowed to
bear fruit. A wealth in which spirituality is not separate from one’s own
body, nor from nature or the realities of this world. But
it lives with it and in it, in communion with all that surrounds us.

To be continued
Every day at 1 am