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
‘But that day was the Sabbath’:these words mark the beginning of a discussion that continues in the readings over the following days. The one sent by God also acts when his actions bring him into conflict with human reasoning and with the prevailing interpretation of the Law. Because of the conflict, no one sees the man’s incredible healing. In both readings, water plays an important role as a healing force. First and foremost, it is important that the power of water comes from God. It flows from the temple. In the Gospel, too, the sick man is not healed by the miraculous power of water, but by the commanding word of Jesus himself: ‘Get up, take your bed and walk’.

FIRST READING                         Ezekiel  47, 1-9, 12

I saw water flowing from the temple, and all who touched the water were saved.

From the Prophet Ezekiel

The angel of the Lord brought me back
to the entrance of the temple.
There I saw water flowing from under the threshold of the temple
towards the east,
for the front of the temple faced east.
The water flowed under the right wing of the temple,
on the side of the altar.
Then he led me out through the north gate.
He took me outside to the east side:
the water flowed from under the right wing.
Then he went further eastward with a measuring rod in his hand.
He measured a distance of a thousand cubits
He measured a distance of a thousand cubits
and then had me step through the water:
it reached my ankles.
Again he measured a thousand cubits
and had me wade through the water:
it came up to my knees;
and he measured another thousand cubits
and had me wade through the water again:
now it came up to my waist.
When he had measured out another thousand cubits,
the water had become a river
that I could no longer wade through;
the water was so deep that one could not walk through it,
but only swim through it.
Then he asked me:
“Do you see that, child of man?”
Then he led me back
along the bank of the river.
As he led me back, I saw
that there were many trees
on both banks of the river.
The angel of the Lord said to me:
“The river flows to the plain in the east,
and further on it flows to the Araba,
and then it empties into the Salt Sea,
whose water becomes drinkable.
“Everywhere the river flows,
the aquatic animals will be able to stay alive.
There will be lots of fish,
because everywhere the river goes,
the water will become drinkable,
and everything will stay alive.
“On both banks of the river,
all kinds of fruit trees will grow,
whose leaves will not wither,
and whose fruit will not run out;
for the trees will bear fruit every month.
“For they will be fed with water from the temple.
“The fruit will serve as food
and the leaves as medicine.”

INTERLUDIUM                      Ps. 46(45), 2-3, 5-6, 8-9

The Lord of the heavenly armies is with us,
a safe fortress is our God of Jacob.

The Lord is our fortress and refuge,
a mighty help in times of need.
So we are not afraid, even if the earth tilts,
even if the mountains fall into the sea.

A babbling brook refreshes God’s city,
the holy dwelling place of the Most High.
That city stands unshakeable, for God is within it,
God stands by it as the day begins.

The Lord of heavenly armies is with us,
a safe fortress is our God of Jacob.
Come closer and see what the Lord has done,
his marvellous works on earth.

VERSES BEFORE THE GOSPEL                        Ezekiel 33, 11

I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, says the Lord,
but rather that he turns from his ways and lives.

GOSPEL                          John 5, 1-3a, 5-16

Immediately the man was healed.

From the Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to
John

Because there was a feast of the Jews,
Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
Now in Jerusalem, near the Sheep Gate, there is a pool,
called in Hebrew Bezeta,
with five porticoes.
In these colonnades lay a large number of cripples.
Now there was a man there who had been crippled for thirty-eight years.
Jesus saw him lying there
and, knowing that he had been there a long time, said to him,
“Do you want to be healed?”
The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going, another steps down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed and walk.”
Immediately the man was healed. He took up his bed and walked.
Now that day was the Sabbath, so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, so it is not lawful for you to carry your bed.”
But he who had been healed said to them,
“What did you Jews say to me, ‘It is the Sabbath, so it is not lawful for you to carry your bed’?
I have been carrying my bed these forty-eight years, and when the water was stirred up, I did not have anyone to put me into the pool when the water was stirred up, and while I was going, another stepped down before me.”
Immediately the man was healed.
He took up his bed and walked.
However, that day was the Sabbath,
and so the Jews said to the healed man,
“It is the Sabbath;
you are not allowed to carry your bed.”
He replied,
“The one who made me well told me,
‘Take up your bed and walk!'”
So they asked him,
“Who is the man who said to you,
‘Take up your bed and walk’?”
The man who had been healed did not know who it was,
for Jesus had slipped away unnoticed
because there was a crowd of people there.
Later Jesus found him in the temple and said to him,
“See, you are now healed!
Do not sin any more,
so that nothing worse may happen to you.”
The man went away and told the Jews
that it was Jesus who had healed him.
Because Jesus did such things on the Sabbath,
the Jews began to persecute him.

___________________________________________________

Laudato Si
Encyclical of
Pope Francis
On Care for Our Common Home

59. At the same time, a superficial or apparent ecology is growing, which
reinforces a certain rigidity and carefree irresponsibility.
As often happens in times of deep crisis, which call for courageous
decisions, we tend to think that what is happening is
is not certain. If we look at things superficially, it seems that, apart from
a few certain signs of pollution and decay, things are not
so serious and the planet could continue to exist in its current state
for a long time to come. This flight behaviour serves to maintain our
lifestyle, production and consumption. It is the way
in which humans overlook their own self-destruction. People try not to see it,
they fight not to acknowledge it, they postpone important decisions,
they pretend that nothing is wrong.

To be continued
Every day at 1 am

 

The Bible text in this edition is taken from The New Bible Translation,
©Nederlands Bijbelgenootschap 2004/2007.
Reflections from Liturgical suggestions for weekdays.
Laudato Si English translation