Invitation
May I draw your attention to
the daily reading of the Gospel
This invitation wants to share with you the joy
of the Gospel. Everyone, without exception
can experience that joy by opening his or her heart
to the healing power of God’s word.
Available every day
Consideration
Samson and John the Baptist are a gift of God: for their parents, but even more for the people of Israel. Both came there on God’s initiative. Their origins go far beyond human initiative. In them it becomes visible that God is deeply concerned about the salvation of his people. On this front, no word is impossible for God. Their parents, however, react differently. Manoah and his wife are trusting. Zechariah is rather sceptical. And Elizabeth contemplates the meaning of her pregnancy in secret for five months, until she realises it in faith: This is what the Lord has done for me. What do we expect the Lord to do for us? What do we want to ask of him when he enters our world, our lives?
FIRST READING Law. 13, 2-7.24-25a
The birth of Samson, announced by an angel.
From the book of Judges
At that time
there lived in Torah a Danite named Manoah.
His wife was barren and had never had any children.
The angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her:
“You have always been barren
and you have never had children ,
but now you will conceive
and bear a son.
“Be careful not to drink wine or cider and do not eat anything impure
and eat nothing unclean.
“You shall conceive and bring forth a son.
“No razor shall pass over the head of the child ,
for he is consecrated to God from his mother’s womb.
“The deliverance of Israel from the power of the Philistines shall begin with him
shall begin with him
The woman went to tell her husband and said:
“A man of God has been with me ;
he looked very impressive,
like an angel of God.
“I didn’t dare ask him where he came from ,
and he wouldn’t tell me his name.
“He said to me :
You shall conceive and bear a son.
“From now on you shall drink neither wine nor strong drink, nor shall you eat anything unclean
and you shall eat nothing unclean;
for the child shall be consecrated to God
from his mother’s womb until he dies.”
The woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson.
The boy grew up, and the Lord blessed him.
And the Spirit of the Lord moved him for the first time.
INTERLUDIUM Ps. 71(70) 3-4a, 5-6ab, 16-17
My mouth was filled with your praise,
I have praised you from early to late.
Be to me a refuge, a place of safety ;
you have always been my rock and my fortress.
Deliver me, O my God, from the hands of sinners.
For You, my God, are my hope,
my hope is You, O Lord, from my earliest youth.
From my mother’s womb I have leaned on You,
Thou art my protector from my birth.
I will tell of the power of God
and praise Your righteousness, O Lord.
From childhood I have experienced it
and even now I praise your works.
HALLELUIA
Alleluia.
Root of Jesse, standard of the nations :
Come and set us free, we will wait no longer.
Alleluia.
GOSPEL Lk. 1, 5-25
The birth of John the Baptist, announced by the angel Gabriel
announced.
From the holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to
Luke
In the time of Herod, king of Judea,
there lived a priest named Zechariah
who belonged to the class of Abia.
He had a wife from among the daughters of Aaron
and her name was Elizabeth.
Both of them were righteous in the sight of God and lived blamelessly
according to all the commandments and precepts of the Lord.
They had no children
for Elizabeth was barren
and they were both advanced in years.
When Zechariah was permitted to act as a priest before God
because it had fallen to his class,
it happened that he,
-as was the custom among the priests –
was appointed by lot
to enter the temple of the Lord
and to carry the incense offering.
All the people
were outside praying at the time of the incense offering.
An angel of the Lord appeared to him
to the right of the altar of incense.
When Zechariah saw it, he was horrified and afraid
and fear came over him.
But the angel spoke to him:
“Do not be afraid Zechariah, for your prayer has been answered ;
your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son
and you shall call his name John.
“You will be glad and rejoice
and many peoples will rejoice at his birth.
“He shall be great in the sight of the Lord ;
he shall drink neither wine nor strong drink
and even in his mother’s womb
he shall be filled with the Holy Spirit.
“He shall bring many children of Israel back to the Lord their God.
“He shall go out before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the minds of the fathers
to turn the minds of the fathers
to turn back the minds of the children
and in the disobedient
to bring to the constitution of the righteous ,
and so form for the Lord a people well prepared”
But Zechariah said to the angel :
“To what am I to acknowledge this?
“I am old and my wife is old”
The angel answered him:
“I am Gabriel who stand before the face of God ,
and I have been sent to speak to you
and to tell you this good news.
“Behold, you will keep silent and will not be able to speak
until the day when this shall come to pass,
because you have not believed my words;
yet they will be fulfilled in their time.”
In the meantime, the people were waiting for Zechariah
and marvelled that he stayed so long in the sanctuary.
When he came out
he could not speak to them
and they understood that he had seen an apparition in the sanctuary.
But because he was mute, he could only gesture to them.
When he had finished his service in the temple
he returned home
and some time later his wife Elisabeth became pregnant.
She remained hidden for five months and then she spoke:
“This the Lord has done to me
when it pleased him
to take away my shame from men”
Laudato Si
Encyclical of
POPE FRANCISCO
On caring for our common home
219. It is not enough, however, for the individual to
get back on his or her feet to cope with such a complex situation
facing the world today resolve. Individual individuals
may lose the ability and freedom to overcome the logic of instrumental
reason and end up succumbing to a consumerism without
succumb to unethical consumerism and a lack of sense of
for society and the environment. Social problems need to be
social networks, not just the sum of individual positive contributions:
“The demands of this work will be
so immense that the possibilities of personal initiatives and the
initiatives and the cooperation of
individualists will not be able to meet them.
It will require a union of forces and a unity of contributions.
An ecological reconversion that aims to create a dynamic
of sustainable change will also require a
community change.
To continue
Every day at 2 am
The biblical text of this edition is from the New Translation of the Bible,
dutch Bible Society 2004/2007.
Considerations of the liturgical suggestions for weekdays and Sundays
Laudato Si Official translation English
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