Invitation
May I draw your attention to
the daily reading of the Gospel?
This invitation aims to share with you the joy of the Gospel.
Everyone, without exception,
can experience that joy by opening their hearts
to the healing power of God’s word.
Available every day
Consideration
Ask and you shall receive: It is an expression that also appears in Matthew (7:7). It is clearly a traditional saying of Jesus. How different is the bitter experience of reality. Even the most devout person is confronted with unanswered prayer; the examples are countless. People have been trying to find an answer to this for centuries. “Answered if it is for your good”. Is this so very different from “Inshallah”, or our “if God wills it”? This “if God wills it” can have two meanings.
Either it emphasises the possible caprices of a capricious God. As believers, we cannot truly accept that our prayer is meaningless. To pray is, according to the monks, to let God be God, in complete gratuitousness. Or it can also emphasise the mystery of God, which always remains a mystery and which every believer approaches with reverence.
FIRST READING Acts18:23–28
Paul proves to Apollos, using the Scriptures, that Jesus is the Messiah.
From the Acts of the Apostles
After Paul had spent some time in Antioch,
he set out again
and travelled around,
first through the region of Galatia and then through Phrygia,
to strengthen all the disciples there.
Meanwhile, a Jew had arrived in Ephesus,
Apollos,
a native of Alexandria,
and an eloquent man,
well versed in the Scriptures.
He had been instructed in the way of the Lord,
spoke with great enthusiasm,
and gave detailed instruction on everything concerning Jesus,
although he knew only the baptism of John.
He also began to speak boldly in the synagogue.
After Priscilla and Aquila had heard him,
they took him aside
and explained the way of God to him more accurately.
When he wished to travel on to Achaia,
the brothers sent a letter to the disciples,
asking them to welcome him kindly.
On arriving there,
he was of great service to the believers through his gift of grace,
for he vigorously refuted the Jews in public,
proving from the Scriptures
that Jesus was the Messiah.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM Ps. 47(46), 2-3, 8-9, 10
God is King over all the earth.
or:Alleluia.
All nations, clap your hands,
shout for joy to God with glad cries.
For the Lord is great and greatly to be feared,
a mighty King over all the earth.
God is King over all the earth,
so sing a psalm to Him.
God is King over all nations,
seated on His holy throne.
Princes and peoples gather there,
united with the people of the God of Abraham.
To God belongs all power on earth,
He is the Most High.
ALLELUIA John14:18
Alleluia.
I will not leave you as orphans, says the Lord:
I am going away, but I will return to you,
and your hearts will rejoice.
Alleluia.
GOSPEL John16:23b-28
The Father loves you because you love Me and believe in Me.
From the Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to
John
At that time, Jesus said to his disciples:
“Truly, truly, I say to you:
whatever you ask the Father,
He will give it to you in my Name.
“Until now you have asked nothing in my Name.
“Ask and you will receive,
that your joy may be complete.
“I have spoken to you in parables;
the hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in parables,
but will speak plainly to you about the Father.
“On that day you will pray in my name;
it is not necessary to say
for the Father Himself loves you because you love Me,
and because you believe that I came forth from God.
“I came forth from the Father and entered the world;
again I leave the world and go to the Father.”
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Laudato Si
Encyclical of
Pope Francis
On Care for Our Common Home
117. The lack of concern for the damage done to nature and the failure to measure the impact of decisions on the environment is simply a clear reflection of a lack of interest in recognising the message inscribed in the very fabric of nature itself. When one fails to recognise in one’s own environment the importance of a poor person, of a human embryo,
or a person with a disability – to name but a few examples – one will find it difficult to hear the cries of nature. Everything is interconnected. If man declares himself independent of reality and makes himself the absolute ruler, then the very foundation of his existence crumbles, because “instead of fulfilling his role as God’s co-worker
God in the work of creation, places himself in God’s stead and thus, in the end, provokes nature’s rebellion”.
To be continued
Every day at 1 am
The Bible text in this edition is taken fromThe New Bible Translation,
©Nederlands Bijbelgenootschap 2004/2007.
Reflections from Liturgical Suggestions for Weekdays and Sundays
Laudato Si Official English translation