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
From time immemorial, God has been concerned about the future of His people. With that people He wants to walk through the ages. Not a stone temple will be the sign of His presence, but rather the promise of an offspring for David. That offspring will be linked to God like a father and his son to each other and will therefore never know an end. This promise is uniquely fulfilled in Jesus. As saviour and liberator, He gives the people a future by giving shape to God’s forgiveness of sins. Of this Messiah, John is the forerunner. God is faithful to his once-given word. For Zacharias, the sun of God’s grace rises again. The light breaks through the darkness. We too therefore praise the Lord: Your favours, Lord, I want to sing, proclaim your faithfulness to every generation (Ps 89.2).
FIRST READING 2 Sam. 7, 1-5.8b-12.14a.16
The kingdom of David will stand forever before the face of the Lord.
From the second book of Samuel
When King David had taken up residence in his palace
and the Lord had seen to it
that all his enemies in all the circumference left him alone,
he said to prophet Natan:
“Now you must see!
“I myself live in a palace of cedar wood
and the ark of God is under tent cloth!”
Natan said to the king:
“Feel free to do what you intend;
the Lord stands by you.”
But that very night
the word of the Lord was addressed to Natan:
“Say to my servant David:
Thus speaks the Lord:
Thou wilt build for me a house
and make me dwell therein?
“Thus saith the Lord,
Lord of the heavenly powers:
I have brought thee out of the steppe, from behind the sheep
to be prince over my people Israel.
“On all your journeys I have stood by you,
all your enemies I have destroyed,
i have made your name great
as that of the great ones of the earth.
“I have given my people Israel an area
and planted it there to dwell.
“It will no longer be startled
and oppressed by no evildoers as before,
in the time
when I had appointed judges over Israel, my people.
“I have caused all your enemies to leave you alone.
“The Lord announces to you
that He will establish a house for you.
“When thy days are finished
and ye rest with your fathers,
i will highly exalt the offspring whom ye beget,
highly exalted
and uphold his royal power.
“I will be his father
and he shall be my son.
“So your house and your royal power will stand forever;
your throne shall stand firm for ever.”
Responsorial Ps 89(88), 2-3, 4-5, 27 and 29
Refrain
Your favours, Lord, I want to sing forever.
Your favours, Lord, I want to sing,
proclaiming Your faithfulness to every generation.
You have said, “My favour endures forever!”
Heaven is the foundation of Your faithfulness.
“I made a covenant with David,
promised my chosen servant with an oath:
I will uphold your posterity forever,
in all ages your throne endures.
He will call upon Me: ‘Thou art my Father,
my God, the rock of my salvation.’
Forever he can count on My mercy,
for ever My bond with him remains in force.”
GOSPEL Lk. 1, 67-79
He looked down on us like the rising sun in the sky.
From the holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to
Luke
In those days Zacharias, the father of John
was filled with the Holy Spirit
and he spoke in prophetic words :
“Praised be the Lord, Israel’s God :
For graciously He looked down and redeemed His people.
“He has begotten for us a saving power
in the house of David, His servant ,
as He foretold of old
through His holy prophets ;
unto salvation from the power of our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us.
“Thus was He merciful to our fathers
and mindful of His holy covenant :
The oath which He swore to our father Abraham :
Giving us, to serve Him without fear,
delivered from the power of the enemy,
righteous and holy before his face all our days.
“And thou, child,
prophet of the Most High shalt thou be called,
for thou shalt go before the Lord
and thou shalt prepare his ways
and make his people know salvation :
The forgiveness of their sins
thanks be to the mild mercy of our God,
with which He looked down upon us
like the rising sun in the sky,
and with which He appeared to those
who are seated in darkness and the shadow of death,
to direct our feet to the way of peace.”
Laudato Si
Encyclical of
POPE FRANCISCUS
On caring for the common home
224. Austerity and humility have not received a positive
appreciation. However, when the practice of some
virtues in personal and social life in general
weakens, it causes many imbalances, including in the field of
the environment. Therefore, it is no longer enough just to talk about
the integrity of ecosystems. One must have the courage to speak
about the integrity of human life, the need to promote all the great
values to be promoted and connected. The disappearance of the
humility in a human being, who is immoderately enraptured by the
possibility of unlimited domination of everything, can only end with
end up damaging society and the environment. It is not
easy to mature this healthy humility and a contented austerity
mature, if we become absolutely autonomous, if we exclude God from our lives
exclude God from our lives and our self takes its place
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 and Sundays
Laudato Si Official English translation
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