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
Two key phrases link the reading and the Gospel. Ezekiel prophesies about the return of the scattered children of Israel to their own land. Caiaphas says that it is better for one man to die for the people. John expands on that political statement and gives it a broader prophetic meaning. Indeed, Jesus dies for the people, but not only for the Jewish people, but to bring together the scattered children of God into the new Israel. The old vision of Gentiles flocking to Mount Zion is replaced by a new people of God consisting of Jews and Gentiles.
From now on, they all belong to the flock of Jesus.
FIRST READING Ezek . 37, 21-28
I will make the children of Israel into one people.
From the Prophet Ezekiel
Thus says the Lord God:
“I will gather the children of Israel,
who are scattered among the nations,
and bring them back to their own land.
“I will make them one people,
in the land, on the mountains of Israel,
and one king shall reign over them all.
“They shall no longer be two peoples,
no longer divided into two kingdoms.
“They shall no longer defile themselves with their idols,
their abominations and all their crimes.
“From the unfaithfulness in which they have sinned
I will deliver them, and I will cleanse them,
so that they may be my people and I their God.
“Then my servant David shall be king over them;
they shall all have one shepherd.
“They shall live by my decrees;
and truly keep my laws.
“They shall dwell in the land
which I gave to my servant Jacob,
the land where their fathers dwelt;
they and their children and their grandchildren
shall dwell there for ever,
and my servant David shall be their prince for ever.
“I will make a covenant of peace with them:
It shall be an everlasting covenant.
“I will give them a place to dwell,
I will make them numerous
and establish my sanctuary among them for ever.
“My dwelling shall be with them.
“Thus the nations shall know
that I, the Lord, sanctify Israel,
because my sanctuary is among them for ever.”
INTERLUDIUM Jer . 31, 10, 11–12ab, 13
The Lord will protect us, as a shepherd protects his flock.
Nations, hear the word of the Lord,
proclaim it to the far-off shores.
He who once scattered Israel,
shall gather them, shall protect them,
as a shepherd tends his flock.
Jacob shall be delivered by the Lord,
from the grasp of him who plundered him.
Rejoicing, they shall enter Zion again,
and settle where the Lord blesses them.
Young girls will dance a dance of joy,
together with young men and the elderly.
Then I will bring joy instead of mourning,
comfort and gladness after all their sorrow.
VERSES BEFORE THE GOSPEL John 3, 16
For God so loved the world,
that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whoever believes in Him shall not perish.
GOSPEL John 11, 45–56
Jesus will also die to bring together the scattered children of God.
From the Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to
John
Many Jews who had come to Mary in those days
and saw what Jesus had done,
believed in Him.
However, some of them went to the Pharisees
to tell them what Jesus had done.
The chief priests and Pharisees
then convened a meeting of the Sanhedrin and said:
“What shall we do?
“For this man is performing many miracles.
“If we let him go on like this,
they will all believe in him.
“Then the Romans will come,
and along with the holy place, they will wipe out our people as well.”
But one of them,
Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them:
“You do not understand at all;
you do not realise that it is better for you,
that one man should die for the people,
than that the whole nation should perish.”
He did not say this of his own accord,
but as high priest that year he prophesied
that Jesus would die for the people,
and not for the people alone
but also to gather together the scattered children of God.
From that day on they were determined to kill Him.
Jesus therefore no longer moved about openly among the Jews,
but left there for the region near the desert,
namely to the town of Ephraim, where He stayed with His disciples.
However, when the Jewish Passover was near,
many from the region went up to Jerusalem before the Passover,
to purify themselves.
They were looking for Jesus,
and as they stood in the temple, they said to one another:
“What do you think?
Will he not come to the festival?”
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Laudato Si
Encyclical of
POPE FRANCIS
On Care for Our Common Home
70. In the story of Cain and Abel, we see that jealousy led Cain to commit the gravest injustice against his brother. This, in turn, caused a rupture in the relationship between Cain and God and between Cain and the land from which he had been banished. This passage is summarised in the dramatic dialogue between God and Cain. God asks:
“Where is your brother Abel?”. Cain says he does not know, and God presses:
“What have you done? Behold, your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground!
Therefore you shall be cursed, banished from [this] ground” (Gen. 4:9–11).
Neglecting the obligation to cherish and maintain a right relationship with my neighbour,
towards whom I have a duty of care and protection, destroys my inner relationship with myself,
with others, with God and with the earth. When all these relationships are neglected,
when justice no longer dwells on the earth, then,
the Bible tells us, all life is in danger. This is what the story of
Noah teaches us, when God threatens to wipe out humanity because of its
persistent inability to live in accordance with the demands of justice and peace:
“The days of mankind are numbered, for they are to blame
for the earth being full of violence” (Gen. 6:13). In these ancient stories, rich in deep symbolism,
there was already a conviction that is felt today: that everything is interconnected and that
an authentic care for our own lives and our relationship with nature
cannot be separated from brotherhood, justice and fidelity towards one another.
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
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