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 Christ comes to his hometown of Nazareth, but his own townspeople cast him out of the city and even want to kill him. No prophet, says Jesus, is accepted in his own hometown. This is a very sharp rebuke, and it is reinforced by the reference to Elijah and Naaman, where salvation went out to the Gentiles. At the same time, we are approaching the great decision of Holy Week, but also the universal message of Christianity that is intended for all: God addresses not only the members of Israel, but everyone who believes in his signs. FIRST READING 2 Kings 5, 1-15a There were many lepers in Israel, yet none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian. From the Second Book of Kings In those days, Naaman, the commander of the army of the king of Aram, was highly regarded by his master and had great influence, for through him the Lord God had brought victory to Aram. He was a great soldier, but the man suffered from a skin disease. Now the Aramean raiders had once undertaken a raid in Israel and captured a young girl; she was now in the service of Naaman’s wife. She said to her mistress, “Oh, if only my lord would go to the prophet who lives in Samaria, he would cure him of his disease.” Naaman went to tell his lord what the girl from Israel had said. Then the king of Aram said, “Go, I will give you a letter for the king of Israel.” He set out, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten sets of festive clothing, and presented himself with the letter to the king of Israel. It read: With this letter I am sending my servant Naäman to you; I ask you to cure him of his skin disease. As soon as the king of Israel had read the letter, he tore his clothes and said: “Am I God, with power over life and death, that he sends someone to me whom I must cure of his skin disease? “Mark my words: “He is looking for a quarrel with me.” When Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent word to the king: “Why have you torn your clothes? Send him to me. Then he will know that there is a prophet in Israel.” So Naaman set out with his horses and chariot and stopped in front of Elisha’s house. Elisha sent someone with the message: Wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your skin will be restored and you will be cleansed. Then Naaman became angry and left. He said: “I thought: He will come out and stand before me. Then he will call on the name of the Lord his God, and with his hand he would strike the spot and take away the disease. “Are not the Abana and the Parpar, the rivers of Damascus, sometimes better than all the waters of Israel? “Can I not wash in them and be cleansed?” He turned and went away in indignation. But his servants went to him and said, “Father, if the prophet had told you to do something difficult, wouldn’t you have done it? “Why then, when he tells you to wash yourself to be cleansed, do you not do it?” So he went to the Jordan and immersed himself seven times, as the man of God had said. His skin became like that of a little child, and he was cleansed. He returned with his entire retinue to the man of God, entered the house, stood before him, and said: “Now I know that there is only one God in Israel, and nowhere else on earth.” INTERLUDIUM Ps. 42(41), 2, 3, 43(42),3, 4 My soul thirsts for God, the living God; shall I ever reach Him and see His face? As the deer seeks the streams, so my spirit seeks You, my God. My soul thirsts for God, the living God, shall I ever reach Him and see His face? Send me Your light, Your support to guide me, to lead me to Your mountain and into Your tent. Then I will go to Your altar, God who gives joy, and praise You with the lyre, God, my God. VERSES BEFORE THE GOSPEL John2, 25a and 26 I am the resurrection and the life, says the Lord; whoever believes in Me will live forever. GOSPEL Lk.4, 24-30 Like Elijah and Elisha, Jesus is not sent only to the Israelites. From the Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ accordingto Luke When Jesus came to Nazareth, he said to the people in the synagogue: “Truly, I say to you: No prophet is accepted in his own hometown. “And it is true what I say to you: For in the days of Elijah, when the sky was closed for three years and six months and a great famine broke out over the whole land, there were many widows in Israel; yet Elijah was sent to none of them but to a widow in Zarephath, in the territory of Sidon. “And in the time of the prophet Elisha, there were many lepers in Israel; yet none of them were cleansed, except Naaman the Syrian.” When they heard this, all who were in the synagogue were furious. They jumped up, drove Him out of the town, and pushed Him to the steep edge of the mountain on which their town was built, to throw Him down the cliff. But He passed through the midst of them and went away.Laudato Si
Encyclical of
POPE FRANCIS
On Care for Our Common Home
51. Inequality affects not only individuals, but entire countries and compels us to reflect on the ethics of international relations. After all, there is a real “ecological debt”, especially between the North and South, linked to commercial imbalances with ecological consequences, as well as the disproportionate use of natural resources by some countries throughout history. The export of certain raw materials to meet the demand of the markets of the industrialised North has caused local damage, such as mercury poisoning in gold mining. The export of certain raw materials to meet the demand of the markets of the industrialised North has caused local damage, such as mercury poisoning in gold mines or sulphur poisoning in copper mines. In particular, consideration must be given to the gas waste that has accumulated worldwide over two centuries, creating a situation that now affects all countries in the world. In particular, consideration should be given to the gas waste that has accumulated worldwide over two centuries and has created a situation that now affects all countries in the world . The warming caused by the enormous consumption of a few rich countries has consequences for the poorest areas of the world, especially in Africa, where the increase in temperature, together with drought, has a disastrous effect on crop yields. Added to this is the damage caused by exports to developing countries of solid and liquid toxic waste and by the polluting activity of companies that do in less developed countries what they cannot do in the countries that provide the capital: “We note that the companies that operate in this way are often multinationals that do here what they are not allowed to do in developed countries or countries of the so-called first world. When they cease their activities and withdraw, they generally leave behind considerable damage to people and the environment, such as unemployment, villages without life, and the depletion of some natural resources, unemployment, villages without life, deforestation, impoverishment of local agriculture and livestock farming, craters, destroyed hills, polluted rivers and some social facilities that cannot be maintained.”
To be continued
The Bible text in this publication is taken fromThe New Bible Translation,
©Nederlands Bijbelgenootschap 2004/2007.
Reflections from Liturgical suggestions for weekdays and Sundays
Laudato Si Official English translation
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