Monday in the second week

Invitation

May I draw your attention to
the daily reading of the Gospel?

This invitation is intended to share with you the joy
of the Gospel. Everyone, without exception,
can experience that joy by opening their heart
to the healing power of God’s word.

Available every day.

Consideration

The deep joy of knowing God in our midst is sometimes overshadowed by stubborn adherence to sacrifices and rituals. This has always been the case, even today. Something new began with Jesus. His coming is intended only to bring joy to those who open their hearts to his presence and his message.Those who offer sacrifices of praise truly honour Me. Those who walk in the right paths will find God’s salvation, says the psalm.

FIRST READING                I Sam. 15:16-23
Obedience is better than sacrifice.
The Lord has rejected you, and you shall be no more king.

From the First Book of Samuel

In those days, Samuel said to Saul:
“I will tell you
what the Lord said to me last night.”
Saul replied, “Speak.”
Samuel said:
“You may consider yourself insignificant,
but you are the head of the tribes of Israel,
for the Lord has anointed you king over Israel.
“The Lord sent you on a mission:
Go against the Amalekites,
put those sinners to the sword and fight against them
until you have destroyed them.
“Why then did you not obey the Lord,
but threw yourself upon the spoil
and did what displeased the Lord?”
Then Saul said to Samuel,
“But I did obey the Lord
and went where the Lord sent me;
I brought back Agag, king of Amalek,
and utterly destroyed the Amalekites.
The people took sheep and cattle from the spoils,
the best of what was under the ban,
to offer sacrifices to the Lord your God in Gilgal.”
But Samuel said,
“Would burnt offerings and sacrifices be as pleasing to the Lord
as obedience to his word?
No, obedience is better than sacrifice,
obedience is more valuable than the fat of rams.
“Rebellion is equivalent to the sin of witchcraft,
disobedience to idolatry.
“Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,
the Lord has rejected you
and you shall be no more king.

INTERLUDIUM            Ps. 50(49), 8-9, 16bc-17, 21, 23

Those who walk in upright ways will find the salvation of God.

I do not reproach you for your sacrifices:
I see your sacrificial animals burning all the time.
I no longer want bulls from your houses,
nor rams from your sheepfolds.

But to the sinner the Lord says:
Why do you keep talking about my commandments
and have my covenant always on your tongue?
You who have an aversion to discipline
and never heed my words.

Should I remain silent when you do such things?
Or do you think that I am like you?
I accuse you. I lay everything before you.

Those who offer sacrifices of praise truly honour Me,
those who walk in the right way find the salvation of God.

ALLELUIA                Ps. 111(110),8ab

Alleluia.
The work of the Lord is good and trustworthy,
all His decisions are unshakeable.
Alleluia.

GOSPEL                     Mk. 2, 18-22
Can the friends of the bridegroomfast
while the bridegroom is with them?

From the holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Mark

When the disciples of John and the Pharisees
were once keeping a day of fasting, people came to ask Jesus:
“Why do the disciples of John and those of the Pharisees fast,
but your disciples do not?”
Jesus spoke to them:
“Can the friends of the bridegroom fast
while the bridegroom is with them?
“As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.
“But the days will come
when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then,
at that time, they will fast.
“No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth
onto an old garment.
Otherwise, the patch pulls on it,
the new piece on the old,
and the tear becomes even bigger.
And no one puts new wine into old wineskins;
otherwise, the wine bursts the skins
and the wine is lost with the skins.
No, new wine is put into new wineskins.”

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Laudato Si

Encyclical of

POPE FRANCIS

On care for our common home.

2. This sister protests against the damage we cause her, because of
the irresponsible use and abuse of the goods that God
has placed in her. We grew up with the idea that we were her owners
and masters, authorised to plunder her. The violence present in the heart of man, wounded by sin, is also visible in the symptoms of illness we perceive in the soil, the water, the air and living beings. That is why our oppressed and devastated earth, which “groans and suffers the pains of childbirth” (Rom. 8:22), belongs to the most abandoned and mistreated poor. We forget that we ourselves are made of earth (cf. Gen. 2:7).  Our very bodies are formed from the elements of the planet; its air gives us breath and its water gives us life and refreshes us.
To be continued
Every day at 1 am