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
Jeremiah speaks in parables. The loincloth symbolises the bond that God forms with his people. But the people no longer listen to their Lord; the loincloth decays and serves no purpose any more. The Euphrates is the river of Babylon and Assyria, the great kingdoms that pose a constant threat to Israel. The river alludes to the deportation of the people. Israel and Judah stubbornly continue to go their own ways and worship foreign gods instead of listening to God: in this symbolic story, Jeremiah foretells the exile.
FIRST READING Jer . 13:1–11
This people will be like a loincloth that is no longer of any use.
From the Prophet Jeremiah
This is what the Lord said to me:
“Go and buy a linen loincloth,
wrap it round your waist,
and make sure it does not get wet.”
So I bought a loincloth,
as the Lord had instructed,
and tied it round my waist.
Once again the word of the Lord came to me:
“Go to the Euphrates,
with the loincloth you have bought tied round your waist,
and hide it there in a crevice in the rock.”
I went to the Euphrates and hid it there,
just as the Lord had commanded me.
Some time later, the Lord said to me:
“Go to the Euphrates and fetch the loincloth
that you hid there at my command.”
I went to the Euphrates,
found the spot where I had hidden the loincloth,
and brought it out again.
But the loincloth had rotted away;
it was no longer of any use.
Then the word of the Lord came to me:
“Thus says the Lord:
In the same way
I will cause the pride of Judah
and of Jerusalem to perish.
“This corrupt people, who refuse to listen to my words,
who stubbornly go their own way,
who run after foreign gods,
worshipping and honouring them,
shall become like this loincloth, which is no longer of any use.
“For just as firmly
as a loincloth is fastened round a man’s waist,
so firmly had I bound all Israel and all Judah to Me,
—says the Lord—;
they were to be my people, my honour, my glory and my splendour.
“But they did not listen.”
INTERLUDIUM Deut . 32:18–19, 20, 21
You have forsaken the Rock who begot you!
You have forsaken the Rock who begot you,
forgotten the God who brought you into being!
The Lord saw this and was kindled with wrath;
He rejected His sons and daughters.
He said: ‘I will hide My face from them,
I will see how this turns out.’
They are a perverse generation,
a people who cannot be trusted.
They provoke Me with their worthless gods,
they provoke Me with wretched creatures:
then I too will defy them with a people of nothing,
then I too will provoke them with wretched people.
ALLELUIA Ps . 119(118), 27
Alleluia.
Lead me in the way of your commandments, O Lord,
and I shall remember your deeds.
Alleluia.
GOSPEL Mt 13:31–35
The mustard seed grows into a tree,
so that the birds come and make their nests in its branches.
From the Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to
Matthew
At that time, Jesus told the crowd this parable:
“The Kingdom of Heaven
is like a mustard seed
that a man sowed in his field.
“Though it is the smallest of all seeds,
but once it has sprouted,
it is larger than the other garden plants;
it becomes a tree,
so that the birds come and nest in its branches.”
He told them yet another parable:
“The Kingdom of Heaven
is like yeast which a woman mixed into three measures of flour,
until the whole batch was leavened.”
Jesus spoke all these things to the people in parables;
and He taught them nothing without using parables,
so that the word spoken by the prophet might be fulfilled:
‘I will open my mouth in parables;
I will reveal
what has been hidden since the foundation of the world.’
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Laudato Si
Encyclical of
POPE FRANCIS
On Care for Our Common Home
189. Politics must not be subject to the economy, nor should the latter be subject to the regulations and efficiency-oriented paradigm of technocracy. When we think of the
common good, we today have an inescapable need for
politics and the economy to engage in dialogue, resolutely committed to serving life,
above all human life. Rescuing the banks at the expense of everything else
and making the population pay the price for this, without the unshakeable
determination to review and reform the entire system, reaffirms once more
the absolute power of money, which has no future and
will only be able to create new crises following a long, costly and apparent solution.
The financial crisis of 2007–2008 was an opportunity
to develop a new economy that pays greater attention to ethical
principles, and to introduce new regulations for the financial sector.
The financial crisis of 2007–2008 was an opportunity
to develop a new economy that pays greater attention to ethical
principles, and to introduce new regulations governing financial speculative
activities and virtual wealth. Yet there has been no response
that has led to a re-evaluation of the outdated criteria that continue to govern the world.
Production is not always rational,
and it is often linked to economic variables that assign products a value that does not always correspond to their actual
value. This often results in the overproduction of certain goods, placing an
unnecessary burden on the environment, whilst at the same time damaging many regional economies.
A financial bubble is usually also a production bubble.
What is not being tackled with determination is, ultimately, the problem of the real
economy, so that it becomes possible for production to be diversified
and improved, for businesses to function effectively, and for small and
medium-sized enterprises to develop and create jobs.
To be continued
Every day at 1 am
The Bible passage in this edition is taken fromThe New Bible Translation,
©Dutch Bible Society 2004/2007.
Reflections from Liturgical Suggestions for Weekdays and Sundays
Laudato Si Official english Translation