Daily Bible Readings for Sunday February 20, 2011

Reading 1, Lv 19:1-2, 17-18

1 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said:

2 'Speak to the whole community of Israelites and say: "Be holy, for I, Yahweh your God, am holy.

17 You will not harbour hatred for your brother. You will reprove your fellow-countryman firmly and thus avoid burdening yourself with a sin.

18 You will not exact vengeance on, or bear any sort of grudge against, the members of your race, but will love your neighbour as yourself. I am Yahweh.

Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 103:1-2, 3-4, 8, 10, 12-13

1 [Of David] Bless Yahweh, my soul, from the depths of my being, his holy name;

2 bless Yahweh, my soul, never forget all his acts of kindness.

3 He forgives all your offences, cures all your diseases,

4 he redeems your life from the abyss, crowns you with faithful love and tenderness;

8 Yahweh is tenderness and pity, slow to anger and rich in faithful love;

10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve, nor repay us as befits our offences.

12 As the distance of east from west, so far from us does he put our faults.

13 As tenderly as a father treats his children, so Yahweh treats those who fear him;

Gospel, Mt 5:38-48

38 'You have heard how it was said: Eye for eye and tooth for tooth.

39 But I say this to you: offer no resistance to the wicked. On the contrary, if anyone hits you on the right cheek, offer him the other as well;

40 if someone wishes to go to law with you to get your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.

41 And if anyone requires you to go one mile, go two miles with him.

42 Give to anyone who asks you, and if anyone wants to borrow, do not turn away.

43 'You have heard how it was said, You will love your neighbour and hate your enemy.

44 But I say this to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you;

45 so that you may be children of your Father in heaven, for he causes his sun to rise on the bad as well as the good, and sends down rain to fall on the upright and the wicked alike.

46 For if you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Do not even the tax collectors do as much?

47 And if you save your greetings for your brothers, are you doing anything exceptional?

48 Do not even the gentiles do as much? You must therefore be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect.'

Reading 2, 1 Cor 3:16-23

16 Do you not realise that you are a temple of God with the Spirit of God living in you?

17 If anybody should destroy the temple of God, God will destroy that person, because God's temple is holy; and you are that temple.

18 There is no room for self-delusion. Any one of you who thinks he is wise by worldly standards must learn to be a fool in order to be really wise.

19 For the wisdom of the world is folly to God. As scripture says: He traps the crafty in the snare of their own cunning

20 and again: The Lord knows the plans of the wise and how insipid they are.

21 So there is to be no boasting about human beings: everything belongs to you,

22 whether it is Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, the world, life or death, the present or the future -- all belong to you;

23 but you belong to Christ and Christ belongs to God.

New start available for those who believe Christ, says Pope

"A new form of existence driven by love and intended to eternity" is possible through imitation of Christ, said Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday.

Before the conventional noon Angelus prayer in St. Peter's Square on Feb. 20, the Pope spoke of the day's Mass readings. He said the readings "speak ... of the will of God to make men participants in his life."

The words, "Be holy, for I, the Lord, your God, am holy," from the Book of Leviticus were an request to the chosen people to be faithful to the agreement with the Lord, the Pope said. They also "founded social legislation on the commandment 'you shall love your neighbor as yourself'."

"If we listen, then, to Jesus ... we find that same call, that same daring objective. The Lord says, in fact, 'be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect'."

"But who could become perfect?" asked the Pope. "Our perfection is living as children of God satisfying concretely his will."

Man corresponds to God's fatherhood by praising and glorifying him through good conduct, he explained.

"In what way can we imitate Jesus?" the Pope asked.

Pope John Paul II beatification events to last three days, all events free

The Vatican has released new details about the future beatification of Pope John Paul II.

The celebrations will run from April 30-May 2, with the beatification itself taking place on May 1. For most events, the Vatican said, no tickets will be necessary and all will be welcomed.

The festivities will begin with a prayer vigil in the huge open field of the Circus Maximus - where ancient Romans once held chariot races -- on the evening of April 30. The vigil will be led by the diocese's vicar general, Cardinal Agostino Vallini. Pope Benedict will also join the meeting by way of a video link.

The beatification will begin on Sunday, May 1 in St. Peter's Square. The Vatican said police will control access to the square, but that there will be no tickets necessary for the event.

Immediately following the beatification ritual, the remains of Pope John Paul II will be in front of the Altar of the Confession in St. Peter's Basilica for veneration.

The Basilica will be open to pilgrims for “as long as the realistic continue to arrive,” according to the Vatican announcement.

The following day, Vatican secretary of state Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone will control over a Mass of thanksgiving again in St. Peter's Square.

After the celebrations, the leftovers of John Paul II will privately be interred in the Vatican basilica's Chapel of St. Sebastian.

Daily Bible Readings for Friday February 18, 2011

Reading 1, Gn 11:1-9

1 The whole world spoke the same language, with the same vocabulary.

2 Now, as people moved eastwards they found a valley in the land of Shinar where they settled.

3 They said to one another, 'Come, let us make bricks and bake them in the fire.' For stone they used bricks, and for mortar they used bitumen.

4 'Come,' they said, 'let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top reaching heaven. Let us make a name for ourselves, so that we do not get scattered all over the world.'

5 Now Yahweh came down to see the city and the tower that the people had built.

6 'So they are all a single people with a single language!' said Yahweh. 'This is only the start of their undertakings! Now nothing they plan to do will be beyond them.

7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language there, so that they cannot understand one another.'

8 Yahweh scattered them thence all over the world, and they stopped building the city.

9 That is why it was called Babel, since there Yahweh confused the language of the whole world, and from there Yahweh scattered them all over the world.

Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 33:10-11, 12-13, 14-15

10 Yahweh thwarts the plans of nations, frustrates the counsels of peoples;

11 but Yahweh's own plan stands firm for ever, his heart's counsel from age to age.

12 How blessed the nation whose God is Yahweh, the people he has chosen as his heritage.

13 From heaven Yahweh looks down, he sees all the children of Adam,

14 from the place where he sits he watches all who dwell on the earth;

15 he alone moulds their hearts, he understands all they do.

Gospel, Mk 8:34-9:1

34 He called the people and his disciples to him and said, 'If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me.

35 Anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.

36 What gain, then, is it for anyone to win the whole world and forfeit his life?

37 And indeed what can anyone offer in exchange for his life?

38 For if anyone in this sinful and adulterous generation is ashamed of me and of my words, the Son of man will also be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.'

1 And he said to them, 'In truth I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God come with power.' 

Pope’s meeting with Russian president signals new era in relationship

Pope Benedict XVI met with president Dmitry Medvedev at the Vatican on Feb. 17 in their first meeting since the Holy See and Russia determined to upgrade their diplomatic relationship in 2009.

Medvedev was accompanied by his wife and several assistants, as well as his minister for foreign affairs, Sergey Lavrov. The Russian president is also in Italy for two days to meet with government leaders and induct a year of cultural exchange between the two nations.

“This is a very important meeting,” the Pope told the Medvedev as they exchanged greetings briefly before concluding the doors for their private audience in the papal library.

After an strangely long encounter of more than a half-hour, the doors were opened again to reporters who witnessed the exchange of gifts.

The Pope received a two-volume set of letters from the former Russian president to foreign heads of state and Pope John Paul II from 1996-99. He also was given “Orthodox encyclopedia” and a painting of the Moscow with a sight of the Russian government headquarters of the Kremlin.

Daily Bible Readings for Thursday February 17, 2011

Reading 1, Gn 9:1-13

1 God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, 'Breed, multiply and fill the earth.

2 Be the terror and the dread of all the animals on land and all the birds of heaven, of everything that moves on land and all the fish of the sea; they are placed in your hands.

3 Every living thing that moves will be yours to eat, no less than the foliage of the plants. I give you everything,

4 with this exception: you must not eat flesh with life, that is to say blood, in it.

5 And I shall demand account of your life-blood, too. I shall demand it of every animal, and of man. Of man as regards his fellow-man, I shall demand account for human life.

6 He who sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God was man created.

7 Be fruitful then and multiply, teem over the earth and subdue it!'

8 God spoke as follows to Noah and his sons,

9 'I am now establishing my covenant with you and with your descendants to come,

10 and with every living creature that was with you: birds, cattle and every wild animal with you; everything that came out of the ark, every living thing on earth.

11 And I shall maintain my covenant with you: that never again shall all living things be destroyed by the waters of a flood, nor shall there ever again be a flood to devastate the earth.'

12 'And this', God said, 'is the sign of the covenant which I now make between myself and you and every living creature with you for all ages to come:

13 I now set my bow in the clouds and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.

Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 102:16-18, 19-21, 29, 22-23

16 when Yahweh builds Zion anew, he will be seen in his glory;

17 he will turn to hear the prayer of the destitute, and will not treat their prayer with scorn.

18 This shall be put on record for a future generation, and a people yet to be born shall praise God:

19 Yahweh has leaned down from the heights of his sanctuary, has looked down from heaven to earth,

20 to listen to the sighing of the captive, and set free those condemned to death,

21 to proclaim the name of Yahweh in Zion, his praise in Jerusalem;

22 nations will gather together, and kingdoms to worship Yahweh.

23 In my journeying my strength has failed on the way;

Gospel, Mk 8:27-33

27 Jesus and his disciples left for the villages round Caesarea Philippi. On the way he put this question to his disciples, 'Who do people say I am?'

28 And they told him, 'John the Baptist, others Elijah, others again, one of the prophets.'

29 'But you,' he asked them, 'who do you say I am?' Peter spoke up and said to him, 'You are the Christ.'

30 And he gave them strict orders not to tell anyone about him.

31 Then he began to teach them that the Son of man was destined to suffer grievously, and to be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and to be put to death, and after three days to rise again;

32 and he said all this quite openly. Then, taking him aside, Peter tried to rebuke him.

33 But, turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said to him, 'Get behind me, Satan! You are thinking not as God thinks, but as human beings do.' 

Coptic Catholic patriarch welcomes fall of Mubarak

Cardinal Antonios Naguib, patriarch of the Coptic Catholic Church, has issued a declaration welcoming the fall of the regime of Hosni Mubarak.

“The Egyptian Catholic Church joins all Egypt's loyal citizens to thank God enormous for the wonderful success he granted to the daring youth of the January 25 movement,” he said. “Thanks are due to the crowds of patriotic youth who aggravated the spark from which this movement started off and became an erupting volcano that cannot be extinguished and that gathered all the forces that refuse the wrong situation scheming the country for so long, by looking forward to a better and brighter future for the Egyptian civilization, and meeting around one cause which is the love of Egypt and the self-respect of its citizens.”

“This experience has shaped a reality that was absent for so long, which is the unity of the citizens, the youth and the old, Christians and Muslims, without any distinction or discrimination, in purpose and action for the good of Egypt, and for the protection and safety in the country,” he added. “We are convinced that these feelings that reigned in the hearts will last for the near and distant future.”

“We want Egypt to have its location among the modern countries,” he continued. “A civil country, a democratic one based on laws, justice and equality, that respects one’s freedom and dignity based only on the citizenship, allows contribution for all categories without reducing persons and categories to one member, and achieves what the analysts, politicians and intellectuals have called for in order to prevent divisions that caused bend in all the fields. Here they are the loyal Egyptians ready for making all efforts for the good of the dear nation. And the Catholic Church with all its institutions will work with them in reconstructing and happening along this path for a better future.”