Invitation
May I take this opportunity to 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
FIRST READING 2 Kings 25:1–12
Thus Judah was carried into exile from its land.
From the Second Book of Kings
In the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign,
in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month,
Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, personally set out
with his entire army against Jerusalem;
he set up camp there and built a rampart around it.
The siege lasted until the eleventh year of Zedekiah’s reign.
On the ninth day of the month,
when the famine had become so severe
that there was no more bread for the people of the land,
a breach was made in the city wall.
Although the Chaldeans were encamped all round the city,
the soldiers left the city by night
through the gate between the two walls near the royal garden
and fled towards the Araba.
The Chaldean army pursued King Zedekiah
and overtook him on the plain of Jericho,
after his army had been scattered.
They took the king captive
and brought him to the king of Babylon at Riblah.
The king of Babylon pronounced judgement upon him.
Zedekiah’s sons were slaughtered before his very eyes,
and then he had Zedekiah’s eyes gouged out
and had him led away in chains, bound with two bronze chains,
to Babylon.
In the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month,
in the nineteenth year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar,
king of Babylon,
Nebuchadnezzar,
commander of the bodyguard
and aide-de-camp to the king of Babylon,
entered Jerusalem.
He set fire to the temple of the Lord, the royal palace
and all the houses of Jerusalem;
he reduced all the great buildings to ashes.
The army of the Chaldeans,
under the command of the commander of the bodyguard,
demolished the wall of Jerusalem.
Whatever remained of the people in the city,
as well as those who had defected to the King of Babylon,
the rest of the population,
were taken into exile by Nebuzaradan, the commander of the bodyguard,
.
Only the poorest of the people
did the commander of the bodyguard leave behind
to tend the vineyards and fields.
Interludium Ps 137(136), 1–2, 3, 4–5, 6
May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth
if I do not remember you!
We sat by the rivers of Babylon and wept,
thinking of Zion;
and on the willows there,
we hung our harps.
Our captors asked us for songs,
our oppressors for a cheerful tune:
‘Sing to us of Zion!’
Could we then sing of the Lord
here in this foreign land?
If I, O Jerusalem, should ever forget you,
may my hand be paralysed.
May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth
if I think no more of you;
if I were to exchange Jerusalem
for a moment’s pleasure.
Alleluia cf. Eph. 1:17–18
Alleluia
May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ
enlighten our inner eye,
so that we may see how great is the hope
to which He calls us.
Alleluia.
GOSPEL Mt8:1–4
‘If you are willing, Lord, you can make me clean.’
From the Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to
Matthew
When Jesus had come down from the mountain,
a large crowd followed Him.
A leper came to Him,
and, kneeling, begged Him:
‘If You are willing, Lord, You can make me clean.’
Jesus stretched out His hand, touched him and said:
“I will; be cleansed.”
And immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy.
Jesus said to him:
“See that you tell no one,
but go and show yourself to the priest,
and offer the gift prescribed by Moses,
to provide them with proof.”
___________________________________________________
Laudato Si’
Encyclical of
Pope Francis
On Care for Our Common Home
158. In the current state of the world, where one encounters so much injustice
and the number of people who are marginalised,
deprived of their fundamental human rights, is constantly increasing,
the principle of the common good immediately becomes, as a logical
and inevitable consequence, a call to solidarity and a preferential option
for the poorest of the poor. This option calls for us to draw the necessary conclusions from the common destination of the earth’s goods, but requires,
as I have sought to demonstrate in the apostolic
exhortation *Evangelii gaudium*, above all to take into account the
immense dignity of the poor in the light of the deepest convictions of faith.
One need only look at reality to understand
that today this choice is a fundamental ethical requirement for the
genuine realisation of the common good.
To be continued.
Every morning at 1 am
The Bible passage 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