GEBED IEDERE DAG

Liturgy of the Sunday
Woord van god elke dag

Liturgy of the Sunday

Fourth Sunday of Advent Lees meer

Libretto DEL GIORNO
Liturgy of the Sunday
Sunday, December 22

Fourth Sunday of Advent


First Reading

Isaiah 7,10-14

Yahweh spoke to Ahaz again and said: Ask Yahweh your God for a sign, either in the depths of Sheol or in the heights above. But Ahaz said, 'I will not ask. I will not put Yahweh to the test.' He then said: Listen now, House of David: are you not satisfied with trying human patience that you should try my God's patience too? The Lord will give you a sign in any case: It is this: the young woman is with child and will give birth to a son whom she will call Immanuel.

Psalmody

Psalm 23

Antiphon

Lord you are the king of glory.

The Lord is the earth and its fullness,
the world and all its peoples.

It is he who set it on the seas;
on the waters he made it firm.

Who shall climb the mountain of the Lord?
Who shall stand in his holy place?

The man with clean hands and pure heart,
who desires not worthless things
who has not sworn so as to deceive his neighbour,

He shall receive blessings from the Lord
and reward from the God who saves him.

Such are the men who seek him,
seek the face of the God of Jacob.

O gates, lift high your heads;
grow higher, ancient doors.
Let him enter, the king of glory!

Who is the king of glory?
The Lord, the mighty, the valiant,
the Lord, the valiant in war.

O gates, lift high your heads;
grow higher ancient doors.
Let him enter, the king of glory!

Who is he the king of glory?
He, the Lord of armies, he is the king of glory.

Second Reading

Romans 1,1-7

From Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the service of the gospel that God promised long ago through his prophets in the holy scriptures. This is the gospel concerning his Son who, in terms of human nature was born a descendant of David and who, in terms of the Spirit and of holiness, was designated Son of God in power by resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ, our Lord, through whom we have received grace and our apostolic mission of winning the obedience of faith among all the nations for the honour of his name. You are among these, and by his call you belong to Jesus Christ. To you all, God's beloved in Rome, called to be his holy people. Grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Reading of the Gospel

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Yesterday I was buried with Christ,
today I rise with you who are risen.
With you I was crucified;
remember me, Lord, in your kingdom.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Matthew 1,18-24

This is how Jesus Christ came to be born. His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph; but before they came to live together she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being an upright man and wanting to spare her disgrace, decided to divorce her informally. He had made up his mind to do this when suddenly the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, 'Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because she has conceived what is in her by the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you must name him Jesus, because he is the one who is to save his people from their sins.' Now all this took place to fulfil what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: Look! the virgin is with child and will give birth to a son whom they will call Immanuel, a name which means 'God-is-with-us'. When Joseph woke up he did what the angel of the Lord had told him to do: he took his wife to his home;

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Yesterday I was buried with Christ,
today I rise with you who are risen.
With you I was crucified;
remember me, Lord, in your kingdom.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Homily

Today's liturgy accompanies us to the threshold of Christmas, as if to protect us from distractions and worries that are not related to the encounter with Jesus. The Church wants this Christmas to be full of meaning and joy for each one of us. Consequently, it has us encounter Joseph, a man like many others, a man who was living a modest life as a worker and thinking about his future. He took a girl from his village, Mary, as his wife and was tranquilly waiting for his dream to finally come true. But one day this dream was shaken. Mary mysteriously became pregnant. What had happened? One could talk (and accuse Mary) of adultery, with all of the civil and penal consequences that would have brought her. She would have been seen as an adulteress, and she would have been rejected and marginalized not only by her family, but by all the inhabitants of Nazareth.
Joseph, a just man, nonetheless decides to send her away in secret in order to protect her from this painful situation. His dream had already been broken. There was nothing left for him to do except reflect on his bitter experience. And we can imagine his drama and the thoughts that must have been running through his mind. But God did not leave him alone with his thoughts. Just as he questioned himself bitterly, perhaps with no hope for his future, Joseph started dreaming again. "An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream," the evangelist writes. It was not his little dream anymore, bound to his simple life as a carpenter, which he himself had planned. It was a much greater dream: "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."
It is the Gospel of Christmas. We could say that it is the "dream" of Christmas: a baby will save the entire world from its sins. A baby will free the world from every form of slavery. Joseph, a simple carpenter from a little village on the periphery of the empire, finds himself living within a new and wider horizon, the horizon of Christmas. He is no longer living his little dream, but the boundless dream of the Gospel. Joseph got up and did as the angel had commanded him: he took Mary with him. Joseph is not among the main actors in the Gospel. And yet he took part in the grandeur and the joy of that night: he took Mary and the child with him. Each one of us is asked to take the Gospel with us and abandon the banal selfishness of our own little dreams and aspirations. At Christmas we need to dream big. We Joseph we draw near to the holy night to welcome the Lord and walk with him along the roads of men and women.

WOORD VAN GOD ELKE DAG: DE KALENDER

Het gebed is het hart van het leven van de Gemeenschap van Sant’Egidio. Het is haar eerste “werk”. Aan het einde van de dag komt elke Gemeenschap, of die nu klein of groot is, samen bij de Heer om het Woord te beluisteren en zich tot Hem te richten in het gebed. De leerlingen kunnen niet anders dan aan de voeten van Jezus zitten, zoals Maria van Bethanië, om het “betere deel” te kiezen (Lc 10, 42) en van Hem zijn gezindheid te leren (vgl. Fil 2, 5).

Elke keer dat de Gemeenschap zich tot de Heer richt, maakt ze zich die vraag eigen van de anonieme leerling: “Heer, leer ons bidden!” (Lc 11, 1). En Jezus, meester in het gebed, antwoordt: “Wanneer jullie bidden, zeg dan: Abba, Vader”.

Wanneer we bidden, ook in de geslotenheid van ons eigen hart, zijn we nooit alleen of verweesd. Integendeel, we zijn leden van de familie van de Heer. In het gemeenschappelijk gebed wordt naast het mysterie van het kindschap, ook dat van de broederschap en zusterschap duidelijk.

De Gemeenschappen van Sant’Egidio, verspreid over de wereld, verzamelen zich op de verschillende plaatsen die gekozen zijn voor het gebed en brengen de hoop en het verdriet van de “uitgeputte en hulpeloze mensenmenigte” waarover het Evangelie spreekt (Mt 9, 37) bij de Heer. Deze oude menigte omvat de inwoners van onze hedendaagse steden, de armen die zich bevinden in de marge van het leven, en iedereen die wacht om als dagloner te worden aangenomen (vgl. Mt 20).

Het gemeenschappelijk gebed verzamelt de schreeuw, de hoop, het verlangen naar vrede, genezing, zin en redding, die beleefd worden door de mannen en vrouwen van deze wereld. Het gebed is nooit leeg. Het stijgt onophoudelijk op naar de Heer opdat verdriet verandert in vreugde, wanhoop in blijheid, angst in hoop, eenzaamheid in gemeenschap. En het rijk Gods zal spoedig temidden van de mensen komen.

WOORD VAN GOD ELKE DAG: DE KALENDER