Sunday – Revelation of the Lord
Invitation
May I draw your attention to
the daily reading of the Gospel?
This invitation wants you to share in the joy
of the Gospel. Everyone, no one excepted,
can experience that joy by opening their heart
to the healing power of God’s word.
Available every day.
Opening word
The birth of Jesus moves many people.
On Christmas night, we heard how shepherds set out
to be the first to kneel down at the Child in the manger.
Today, we set out together with the Wise Men.
We follow the star and pay homage to Jesus.
We offer Him our gifts:
our silent presence, our prayer
and our willingness to follow Him.
Let us open our hearts to His Word
at inspires us and gives us hope.
FIRST READING Js 60, 1-6
The glory of the Lord has passed over you.
From the prophet Isaiah
Arise, let the light shine upon you, Jerusalem,
for the sun is rising upon you
and the glory of the Lord is beginning to shine upon you.
For behold:
Darkness covers the earth, darkness covers the nations
but over you the Lord is ascending
and his glory has appeared above you.
Nations come to your light,
kings to the brilliance of your dawn.
Lift up your eyes and see all around you:
From everywhere they stream to you,
thy sons come from afar,
your daughters are carried on your arms.
At the sight of this you will be filled with joy,
and your heart will pound and be wide with joy.
For the treasures of the sea shall pass into your possession,
the riches of the nations shall be yours.
A sea of camels will cover you,
young camels from Midian and Ephah.
All the inhabitants of Sheba will come to you;
they will bring gold and incense
and proclaim loudly the glory of the Lord.
INTERLUDIUM Ps. 72(71), 1-2, 7-8, 10-11, 12-13
Refrain
All the peoples of the earth honour You, Lord.
My God, give the king Your wisdom,
the king’s son thy righteousness.
He may rule your people justly,
your arms with justice.
Righteousness shall flourish in his days
and prosperity everywhere till the end of the months.
He will rule from sea to sea,
from the river to the border of the earth.
Princes of Tarsis, from distant shores, send gifts,
Arab rulers and Etiopes pay him cijns.
Him all the princes of the earth honour
and all nations serve Him.
He will deliver the poor who ask for support,
the unfortunate without help.
He will take care of the wretched,
He will give life back to the weak.
SECOND READING Eph. 3, 2-3a.5-6
It is now revealed that the Gentiles are co-heirs of the promise.
From the holy apostle Paul’s letter to the Christians of Ephesus
Brothers and sisters,
Ye have heard
how the grace of God
has been bestowed upon me for thy sake;
by revelation the knowledge of the secret has been communicated to me,
as I have already briefly described.
Never among former generations was it
made known to the children of men,
as it is now revealed through the Spirit
to His holy apostles and prophets:
That the Gentiles in Christ Jesus are co-heirs,
fellow members and sharers of the promise
through the gospel.
Verse for the gospel Mt 2:2
Alleluia.
We have seen his star in the east
and have come to pay our respects to the Lord.
Alleluia.
GOSPEL Mt 2, 1-12
We come from the east to pay homage to the king.
From the holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew
When Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judah,
at the time of King Herod,
there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem and asked;
“Where is the newborn king of the Jews?
“For we have seen his star in the east
and have come to pay Him our homage.”
When King Herod heard this, he became alarmed
and all Jerusalem with him.
He called all the high priests and scribes
of the people together
and asked them the question
where the Christ was to be born.
They answered him:
“In Bethlehem in Judah.
“For thus it is written by the prophet:
And thou, Bethlehem, land of Judah,
You are certainly not the least among the leaders of Judah,
for out of thee shall come forth a leader,
who shall be shepherd over my people Israel.”
Then Herod secretly summoned the Magi
and he asked them the exact time
when the star had appeared.
Then he sent them to Bethlehem with the order:
“Go and make a careful search for the Child
and when you have found it, report it to me
so that I too can go and pay homage to it.”
After listening to the king, they left.
And behold,
the star they had seen in the east went before them
until above the place where the Child was,
stood still.
Upon seeing the star, they were filled
with overwhelming joy.
They entered the house,
saw the Child with his mother Mary
and falling to their knees they paid homage to him.
They brought out their treasures
and offered it gifts:
Gold, frankincense and myrrh.
And in a dream they were warned by God
not to return to Herod,
they left by another road for their country.
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Laudato Si
Encyclical of
POPE FRANCISCUS
On caring for the common home
235. In a privileged way, in the sacraments, nature is assumed by
God assumed and changed to mediate the supernatural life. Through worship,
we are invited to embrace the world on a different
level to embrace it. Water, oil, fire and colours are accepted with all their
symbolic power are accepted and included in the praise. The blessing hand is
an instrument of the love of God and reflection
of the nearness of Christ, who has come to guide us on
our path of life. The water poured over the body of the
child is poured out is sign of new life. We do not flee the
world, nor do we ignore nature, when we want to meet God. One can discover
this in particular in the spirituality of the
christian East: “Beauty, one of the most popular terms in
the East to express divine harmony and the model of glorified
humanity, becomes visible everywhere: in the design of
church buildings, in sounds, colours, lights and smells”. 164 According to Christian
conviction, all creatures of the universe find their true meaning in the
incarnate Word, because God’s Son in His person has included a part of
universe, because He has absorbed into the heeal a seed of final
reversal: “Christianity is not dismissive of the
matter, corporeality; on the contrary, it allows it to come fully into its own
to its full extent in the liturgical action in which the human body shows itself to be the profoundly
temple of the Holy Spirit and in which it unites itself with
Jesus the Lord, who also assumed a body for the salvation of the
world”.
To be continued
Every day at 1 am
The Bible text in this edition is a translation from The New Bible Translation, ©
Netherlands Bible Society 2004/2007.
Considerations from Liturgical suggestions for weekdays and Sundays
Laudato Si Official English translation
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