Memory of Jesus crucified

Reading of the Word of God

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

This is the Gospel of the poor,
liberation for the imprisoned,
sight for the blind,
freedom for the oppressed.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

Isaiah 48,17-19

Thus says Yahweh, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am Yahweh your God and teach you for your own good, I lead you in the way you ought to go. If only you had listened to my commandments! Your prosperity would have been like a river and your saving justice like the waves of the sea. Your descendants would have been numbered like the sand, your offspring as many as its grains. Their name would never be cancelled or blotted out from my presence.

 

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

The Son of Man came to serve,
whoever wants to be great
should become servant of all.

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia

We all experience, like Isarel then, how life is hard when we distance ourselves from God. The first to experience this harshness are the weakest and the poor why the bitter price of being discarded and abandoned to the margins of life. God is close to his people, accompanies them and asks to be recognized and loved. But when we get used to living without the awareness of God's presence, we easily give into a grey and violent life. "But the Lord turns again to us: "O that you had paid attention to my commandments! Your prosperity would have been like a river, and your success like the waves of the sea." We need to return to listen to the Word of God and recognize His presence in our days, in our communities, in our societies, and allowing the Lord to guide our steps. The Lord will guide our steps efficaciously on the way of love and peace. Through his Word, which He never fails to send us, the Lord continues to speak to us to help us discern his path in our days: "I am the Lord your God, who teaches you for your own good, who leads you in the way on which you should go" (v. 17). Faithfulness in listening to his Word is a blessing for our lives.