Lectionary: 148
It-Tletin Ħadd taż-Żmien ta’ Matul is-Sena
Reading 1 EXODUS 22:20-26
Thus says the LORD: "You shall not molest or oppress an alien, for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt. You shall not wrong any widow or orphan. If ever you wrong them and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry. My wrath will flare up, and I will kill you with the sword; then your own wives will be widows, and your children orphans. "If you lend money to one of your poor neighbors among my people, you shall not act like an extortioner toward him by demanding interest from him. If you take your neighbor's cloak as a pledge, you shall return it to him before sunset; for this cloak of his is the only covering he has for his body. What else has he to sleep in? If he cries out to me, I will hear him; for I am compassionate."
Qari I mill-Ktieb tal-Eżodu 22, 20-26
Dan jgħid il-Mulej: “La taħqarx il-barrani, u la tgħakksux, għax intom ukoll kontu barranin fl-art tal-Eġittu. La taħqrux l-armla jew l-iltim, għax jekk taħqruhom, u huma jsejħuli, jien żgur nismagħha l-għajta tagħhom; u l-qilla tiegħi tixgħel, neqridkom bix-xabla; u n-nisa tagħkom jormlu u wliedkom jisfaw iltiema. Jekk inti tislef lil xi fqir mill-poplu tiegħi, iġġibx ruħek miegħu bħal wieħed sellief, u teħodlux imgħax. Jekk lil għajrek teħodlu l-libsa tiegħu b’rahan, agħtihielu lura qabel inżul ix-xemx; għax hu dik biss għandu biex jitgħatta, dik biss l-għata ta’ ġismu; inkella fiex tridu jorqod? Għax jekk isejjaħli, jiena nisimgħu, għax jien ħanin”. Il-Kelma tal-Mulej
Responsorial Psalm PSALM 18:2-3, 3-4, 47, 51
I love you, O LORD, my strength,
O LORD, my rock, my fortress, my deliverer.
R. I love you, Lord, my strength.
My God, my rock of refuge,
my shield, the horn of my salvation, my stronghold!
Praised be the LORD, I exclaim,
and I am safe from my enemies.
R. I love you, Lord, my strength.
The LORD lives and blessed be my rock!
Extolled be God my savior.
You who gave great victories to your king
and showed kindness to your anointed.
R. I love you, Lord, my strength.
Salm Responsorjali Salm 17 (18), 2-3a.3bc-4.47.51ab
R/. (2): Inħobbok, Mulej, qawwa tiegħi
Inħobbok, Mulej, qawwa tiegħi!
Il-Mulej blata tiegħi,
fortizza u ħellies tiegħi. R/.
Alla tiegħi, sur tal-kenn tiegħi u tarka tiegħi,
qawwa tas-salvazzjoni tiegħi u kenn tiegħi!
Insejjaħ lill-Mulej, li hu ta’ min ifaħħru,
u nkun meħlus mill-għedewwa tiegħi. R/.
Ħaj il-Mulej! Imbierek hu, il-blata tiegħi!
Ikun imfaħħar Alla tas-salvazzjoni tiegħi!
Hu jkabbar ir-rebħ lis-sultan tiegħu,
juri mħabbtu mal-midluk tiegħu. R/.
Reading 2 1 THESSALONIANS 1:5C-10
Brothers and sisters: You know what sort of people we were among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, receiving the word in great affliction, with joy from the Holy Spirit, so that you became a model for all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth not only in Macedonia and in Achaia, but in every place your faith in God has gone forth, so that we have no need to say anything. For they themselves openly declare about us what sort of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God and to await his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus, who delivers us from the coming wrath.
Qari II mill-Ewwel Ittra lit-Tessalonkin 1, 5c-10
Ħuti, intom tafu kif ġibna ruħna meta konna fostkom għall-ġid tagħkom. Intom sirtu tixbhu lilna u l-Mulej, billi lqajtu l-kelma fost ħafna taħbit bil-ferħ tal-Ispirtu s-Santu. Hekk intom sirtu mudell għal dawk kollha li emmnu fil-Maċedonja u l-Akaja. Mhux biss il-kelma tal-Mulej ħarġet minn għandkom u xterdet fil-Maċedonja u l-Akaja, imma l-fidi li għandkom f’Alla xterdet ma’ kullimkien b’mod li aħna ma għandna għalfejn ngħidu xejn. Huma stess jgħidu x’laqgħa kellna għandkom, u kif dortu lejn Alla u tlaqtu l-idoli biex taqdu lil Alla ħaj u veru u tistennew ġej mis-sema lil Ibnu, li hu qajjem mill-imwiet, Ġesù li ħelisna mill-korla li ġejja. Il-Kelma tal-Mulej
Gospel MATTHEW 22:34-40
When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a scholar of the law tested him by asking, "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" He said to him, "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments."
Evanġelju Qari skond San Mattew 22, 34-40
F’dak iż-żmien, il-Fariżej, meta semgħu kif lis-Sadduċej kien saddilhom ħalqhom, inġabru madwaru, u wieħed minnhom, għaref fil-Liġi, għamillu din il-mistoqsija biex iġarrbu: “Mgħallem, liema hu l-kmandament il-kbir, fil-Liġi?”. Qallu Ġesù: ““Ħobb lill-Mulej, Alla tiegħek, b’qalbek kollha, b’ruħek kollha, u b’moħħok kollu”. Dan hu l-kmandament il-kbir u l-ewwel wieħed. U t-tieni jixbhu: “Ħobb lil għajrek bħalek innifsek”. Dawn iż-żewġ kmandamenti huma l-qofol tal-Liġi kollha u tal-Profeti”. Il-Kelma tal-Mulej
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Love of Neighbour
A Commentary about God’s command to love one’s neighbour by Pontifical Household Preacher Fr Raniero Cantalamessa OFM Cap.
“You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” Adding the words “as yourself,” Jesus has put a mirror in front of us to which we cannot lie; he has given us an infallible measure to discover if we do or do not love our neighbor. We know very well, in every circumstance, what it means to love ourselves, and what we would like others to do for us.
If we pay close attention, we notice that Jesus does not say: “What the other does to you, you do to him.” This would still be the “lex talionis”: “An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.”
What he does say — what you would like the other to do to you, you do to him (cf. Matthew 7:12) — is very different.
Jesus considered love of neighbor as “his commandment,” the one in which the whole law is summarized. “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12). Many identify the whole of Christianity with the precept of love of neighbor, and they are not wrong.
But we must try to go a bit beyond the surface of things. When one speaks of love of neighbor, one thinks immediately of charitable “deeds,” of the things that must be done for our neighbor: give him to eat, to drink, visit him; in brief, to help our neighbor. But this is a result of love, it is not yet love. Benevolence comes before beneficence: Before doing good, one must want to do good.
Charity must be “without pretense,” that is, sincere (literally, “without hypocrisy,” Romans 12:9); one must love “with a pure heart” (1 Peter 1:22). One can, in fact, be charitable and give alms for many reasons that have nothing to do with love: to embellish oneself, to be regarded as a benefactor, to win paradise, and even to appease a bad conscience.
Much of our charity to Third World countries is not dictated by love, but by a bad conscience. We realize the scandalous difference that exists between us and them and we feel responsible in part for their misery. One can lack charity even when “being charitable!”
It would be a fatal error to compare heartfelt love and charitable deeds, or to take refuge in good interior dispositions toward others in order to find in this an excuse for our own lack of active and concrete charity.
If you come across a poor hungry man shivering with cold, said St. James, of what use is it if you say to him: “Poor you, go, warm up and eat something,” but give him nothing of what he needs?
“Little children,” adds St. John, “let us not love in word or speech but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:18). Therefore, it is not about denigrating external works of charity, but about ensuring that the latter are based on a genuine feeling of love and benevolence.
Heartfelt or interior charity is a charity we can all practice, it is universal. It is not a charity that some — the rich and healthy — can offer and others — the poor and sick — can only receive. All can give and receive it. Moreover, it is extremely concrete. It is a question of beginning to look with new eyes on the situations and people with whom we live. What eyes? It’s simple: with the eyes with which we would like God to look at us — eyes of forgiveness, of benevolence, of understanding, of pardon!
When this occurs, all relationships change. All motives for precaution and hostility that impeded loving a certain person vanish as by a miracle. And that person begins to seem to us what he really is: a poor creature who suffers because of his weaknesses and limitations, like you, like everyone.
It is as if the mask that men and things wear fell off and the person then seems to us what he really is. [Italian original published in Famiglia Cristiana; translation by ZENIT]
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