READING OF THE DAY First reading from the Book of the Prophet Micah Mi 5:1-4a
Thus says the LORD: You, Bethlehem-Ephrathah too small to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel; whose origin is from of old, from ancient times. Therefore the Lord will give them up, until the time when she who is to give birth has borne, and the rest of his kindred shall return to the children of Israel. He shall stand firm and shepherd his flock by the strength of the LORD, in the majestic name of the LORD, his God; and they shall remain, for now his greatness shall reach to the ends of the earth; he shall be peace.
PSALM 80 Hear us, Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock. You who sit enthroned between the cherubim, shine forth 2 before Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh. Awaken your might; come and save us.
3 Restore us, O God; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved.
4 How long, Lord God Almighty, will your anger smolder against the prayers of your people? 5 You have fed them with the bread of tears; you have made them drink tears by the bowlful. 6 You have made us an object of derision[b] to our neighbors, and our enemies mock us.
7 Restore us, God Almighty; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved.
8 You transplanted a vine from Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it. 9 You cleared the ground for it, and it took root and filled the land. 10 The mountains were covered with its shade, the mighty cedars with its branches. 11 Its branches reached as far as the Sea,[c] its shoots as far as the River.[d]
12 Why have you broken down its walls so that all who pass by pick its grapes? 13 Boars from the forest ravage it, and insects from the fields feed on it. 14 Return to us, God Almighty! Look down from heaven and see! Watch over this vine, 15 the root your right hand has planted, the son[e] you have raised up for yourself.
16 Your vine is cut down, it is burned with fire; at your rebuke your people perish. 17 Let your hand rest on the man at your right hand, the son of man you have raised up for yourself. 18 Then we will not turn away from you; revive us, and we will call on your name.
Second reading from the Letter of St. Paul to the Hebrews Heb 10:5-10
Brothers and sisters: When Christ came into the world, he said: “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; in holocausts and sin offerings you took no delight. Then I said, ‘As is written of me in the scroll, behold, I come to do your will, O God.’“
First he says, “Sacrifices and offerings, holocausts and sin offerings, you neither desired nor delighted in.” These are offered according to the law. Then he says, :Behold, I come to do your will.” He takes away the first to establish the second. By this “will,” we have been consecrated through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
GOSPEL OF THE DAY From the Gospel according to Luke Lk 1:39-45
Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.”
WORDS OF THE HOLY FATHER We need to pray to Our Lady, so that bringing Jesus give us the grace of joy, the joy of freedom. That it give us the grace to praise, to praise with a prayer of gratuitous praise, because He is worthy of praise, always. Pray to Our Lady and say to her what the Church says: Veni, Precelsa Domina, Maria, tu nos visita, Lady, thou who art so great, visit us and give us joy. (Santa Marta, 31 May 2013)
FAUSTI - Through Mary, having become obedient to the Word, God visits His people and His people recognize Him. This recognition is the aim of His plan, the aim of His hard work, the fulfilment of the history of salvation; the encounter between Israel and the Church, between God's people and His Messiah. The mystery of the Visitation is the anticipation of this eschatological event, in which Mercy will be used for all those who were locked up in disobedience. It is the final joy of the encounter, so obstructed and long-awaited, between Bride and Groom, of which the Canticle sings. The Lord's visit is the meaning of personal and universal history. But who knows how to discern it? Elizabeth is pregnant with two millennia of waiting, Mary of the Eternal One . Their encounter is the embrace between the Old and New Testaments, between promise and fulfilment. Two women are saluting each other. In their mutual acceptance is recognized the One who is Welcome. The encounter takes place through the initiative of She who is blessed because She believed in the fulfilment of the Word of the Lord: Mary goes to Elizabeth, sign that the One to whom "nothing is impossible" , has given (1:36). The N. Testament recognizes in the Old Testament the pre-contained gift as promise of the impossible. Only in this visit and frequenting of the A. T. the N. Testament understands the reality of which it is fulfilment. For this reason Luke carefully introduces his reader of pagan origin into the history of Israel, of which he offers in the first chapters as a summary. Outside of the promise of the A. T. it is impossible to recognize the gift of God who came to visit us. Only the Baptist is able to indicate this! Law and promise are like the hands that, through Israel, God created so that humanity can extend toward Him and welcome Him. A gift that cannot find hands to receive and sustain it, falls and is lost. Mary, by visiting Elizabeth, recognizes the truth of what happens in her; the Church, by referring to the A. Testament, understands what she conceived. And in Mary and in the Church Israel sees the Visit that the Lord has made to us. This recognition is a great mystery: it represents the passage from promise to fulfilment, the gift of the full knowledge of the Lord.
READING OF THE DAY
RispondiEliminaFirst reading from the Book of the Prophet Micah
Mi 5:1-4a
Thus says the LORD:
You, Bethlehem-Ephrathah
too small to be among the clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
one who is to be ruler in Israel;
whose origin is from of old,
from ancient times.
Therefore the Lord will give them up, until the time
when she who is to give birth has borne,
and the rest of his kindred shall return
to the children of Israel.
He shall stand firm and shepherd his flock
by the strength of the LORD,
in the majestic name of the LORD, his God;
and they shall remain, for now his greatness
shall reach to the ends of the earth;
he shall be peace.
PSALM 80
Hear us, Shepherd of Israel,
you who lead Joseph like a flock.
You who sit enthroned between the cherubim,
shine forth 2 before Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh.
Awaken your might;
come and save us.
3 Restore us, O God;
make your face shine on us,
that we may be saved.
4 How long, Lord God Almighty,
will your anger smolder
against the prayers of your people?
5 You have fed them with the bread of tears;
you have made them drink tears by the bowlful.
6 You have made us an object of derision[b] to our neighbors,
and our enemies mock us.
7 Restore us, God Almighty;
make your face shine on us,
that we may be saved.
8 You transplanted a vine from Egypt;
you drove out the nations and planted it.
9 You cleared the ground for it,
and it took root and filled the land.
10 The mountains were covered with its shade,
the mighty cedars with its branches.
11 Its branches reached as far as the Sea,[c]
its shoots as far as the River.[d]
12 Why have you broken down its walls
so that all who pass by pick its grapes?
13 Boars from the forest ravage it,
and insects from the fields feed on it.
14 Return to us, God Almighty!
Look down from heaven and see!
Watch over this vine,
15 the root your right hand has planted,
the son[e] you have raised up for yourself.
16 Your vine is cut down, it is burned with fire;
at your rebuke your people perish.
17 Let your hand rest on the man at your right hand,
the son of man you have raised up for yourself.
18 Then we will not turn away from you;
revive us, and we will call on your name.
Second reading from the Letter of St. Paul to the Hebrews
Heb 10:5-10
Brothers and sisters:
When Christ came into the world, he said:
“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but a body you prepared for me;
in holocausts and sin offerings you took no delight.
Then I said, ‘As is written of me in the scroll,
behold, I come to do your will, O God.’“
First he says, “Sacrifices and offerings,
holocausts and sin offerings,
you neither desired nor delighted in.”
These are offered according to the law.
Then he says, :Behold, I come to do your will.”
He takes away the first to establish the second.
By this “will,” we have been consecrated
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
GOSPEL OF THE DAY
From the Gospel according to Luke
Lk 1:39-45
Mary set out
and traveled to the hill country in haste
to a town of Judah,
where she entered the house of Zechariah
and greeted Elizabeth.
When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting,
the infant leaped in her womb,
and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit,
cried out in a loud voice and said,
“Blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
And how does this happen to me,
that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears,
the infant in my womb leaped for joy.
Blessed are you who believed
that what was spoken to you by the Lord
would be fulfilled.”
WORDS OF THE HOLY FATHER
RispondiEliminaWe need to pray to Our Lady, so that bringing Jesus give us the grace of joy, the joy of freedom. That it give us the grace to praise, to praise with a prayer of gratuitous praise, because He is worthy of praise, always. Pray to Our Lady and say to her what the Church says: Veni, Precelsa Domina, Maria, tu nos visita, Lady, thou who art so great, visit us and give us joy. (Santa Marta, 31 May 2013)
FAUSTI - Through Mary, having become obedient to the Word, God visits His people and His people recognize Him. This recognition is the aim of His plan, the aim of His hard work, the fulfilment of the history of salvation; the encounter between Israel and the Church, between God's people and His Messiah.
RispondiEliminaThe mystery of the Visitation is the anticipation of this eschatological event, in which Mercy will be used for all those who were locked up in disobedience.
It is the final joy of the encounter, so obstructed and long-awaited, between Bride and Groom, of which the Canticle sings. The Lord's visit is the meaning of personal and universal history. But who knows how to discern it?
Elizabeth is pregnant with two millennia of waiting, Mary of the Eternal One .
Their encounter is the embrace between the Old and New Testaments, between promise and fulfilment.
Two women are saluting each other. In their mutual acceptance is recognized the One who is Welcome.
The encounter takes place through the initiative of She who is blessed because She believed in the fulfilment of the Word of the Lord: Mary goes to Elizabeth, sign that the One to whom "nothing is impossible" , has given (1:36).
The N. Testament recognizes in the Old Testament the pre-contained gift as promise of the impossible. Only in this visit and frequenting of the A. T. the N. Testament understands the reality of which it is fulfilment.
For this reason Luke carefully introduces his reader of pagan origin into the history of Israel, of which he offers in the first chapters as a summary.
Outside of the promise of the A. T. it is impossible to recognize the gift of God who came to visit us.
Only the Baptist is able to indicate this!
Law and promise are like the hands that, through Israel, God created so that humanity can extend toward Him and welcome Him.
A gift that cannot find hands to receive and sustain it, falls and is lost.
Mary, by visiting Elizabeth, recognizes the truth of what happens in her; the Church, by referring to the A. Testament, understands what she conceived.
And in Mary and in the Church Israel sees the Visit that the Lord has made to us.
This recognition is a great mystery: it represents the passage from promise to fulfilment, the gift of the full knowledge of the Lord.