Gospel of the day
Habakkuk 2:4-12 :
Then the LORD answered me and said,
(...)
Some people’s desires are truly audacious ; they don’t do the right thing.
But the righteous person will live honestly.
Moreover, wine betrays an arrogant man. He doesn’t rest. He opens his jaws like the grave ; like death, he is never satisfied. He gathers all nations to himself and collects all peoples for himself.
Won’t everyone tell parables about him, or mocking poems concerning him ? They will say : Doom to the one who multiplies what doesn’t belong to him and who increases his own burden.
How long ? Won’t they suddenly rise up to bite you ? Those who frighten you will awaken ; you will become plunder for them. Since you yourself have plundered many nations, all the rest of the peoples will plunder you because of the human bloodshed and the violence done to the earth, to every village, and to all its inhabitants.
Doom to the one making evil gain for his own house, for putting his own nest up high, for delivering himself from the grasp of calamity.
You plan shame for your own house, cutting off many peoples and sinning against your own life. A stone will cry out from a village wall, and a tree branch will respond.
Pity the one building a city with bloodshed and founding a village with injustice.
[And fuck this world, and every single one of us, we're all guilty and won't change, the past had the hope to raise virtues among us but all of that is destroyed]
In the fourth chapter, Jesus arrives in Samaria, he asks for some water to a woman, who asks him in return how he'll drink this water without a bucket : John 4:13-14 & 21-24 :
Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks from the water that I will give will never be thirsty again.
The water that I give will become in those who drink it a spring of water that bubbles up into eternal life.”
(...)
Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, the time is coming when you and your people will worship the Father neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem.
You and your people worship what you don’t know ; we worship what we know because salvation is from the Jews.
But the time is coming — and is here ! — when true worshippers will worship in spirit and truth.
The Father looks for those who worship him this way.
God is spirit, and it is necessary to worship God in spirit and truth.”
I could have added these two verses yesterday : Surah 2:62-63 :
Verily ! Those who believe and those who are Jews and Christians, and Sabians, whoever believes in God and the Last Day, and does righteous good deeds, shall have their reward with their Lord, on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve.
And(, O Children of Israel), (remember )when We took your covenant, and We raised above you the Mount(, saying) : "Hold fast to that which We have given you, and remember that which is therein so that you may become pious(/Al-Muttaqûn).
Then, after that, you turned away.
Had it not been for the Grace and Mercy of God upon you, indeed you would have been among the losers.
[Even if i could stop there, let's continue a bit more this time. This surah is called Al-Baqarah(, « The Cow ») :] 2:67-74 :
And( remember) when Moses said to his people : "Verily, God commands you that you slaughter a cow."
They said, "Do you make fun of us ?"
He said, "I take God's Refuge from being among the ignorant/foolish."
They said, "Call upon your Lord for us, that He may make plain to us what it is !"
He said, "He says, ‘Verily, it is a cow neither too old nor too young, but (it is )between the two conditions’, so do what you are commanded."
They said, "Call upon your Lord for us to make plain to us its colour."
He said, "He says, ‘It is a yellow cow, bright in its colour, pleasing to the beholders.’ "
They said, "Call upon your Lord for us to make plain to us what it is. Verily, to us all cows are alike. And surely, if God wills, we will be guided."
He(/Moses) said, "He says, ‘It is a cow neither trained to till the soil nor water the fields, sound, having no other colour except bright yellow.’ "
They said, "Now you have brought the truth."
So they slaughtered it though they were near to not doing it.
[I don't understand this part, only that it's quite probably linked to this : https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_heifer]
And (remember) when you killed a man and fell into dispute among yourselves as to the crime. But God brought forth that which you were hiding.
So We said : "Strike him(, the dead man,) with a piece of it(, the cow)."
Thus God brings the dead to life and shows you His verses, so that you may understand.
[It's making a reference that i personnally don't have, but many knowledgeable people understand the hidden meaning, after all such cow is still talked about a lot nowadays for good reasons, the answer probably don't lie in the old testament as much as in the Talmud or other jewish books/traditions.]
Then, after that, your hearts were hardened and became as stones, or even worse in hardness.
And, indeed, there are stones out of which rivers gush forth ; and, indeed, there are of them(,stones,) which split asunder so that water flows from them ; and, indeed, there are of them(, stones,) which fall down for fear of God.
And God is not unaware of what you do.
[Is it really coincidental to have chosen the term "water", or even "rock"(, if Matthew 16:18 is an intentional "pun" on the name Peter(, pierre=rock in french, perhaps also in the original hebrew text, i.d.k.)) ? Even if it isn't the case(, i highly doubt it), this parabola isn't that easy to understand, especially since falling down doesn't seem as desirable as having a lot of water gushing out of us, yet another part that would benefit from being read again]
Saints of the day :
Sts. Crispin and Crispinian, Martyrs [patron saints of cobblers, curriers, tanners, and leather workers]
Sts. Chrysanthus and Daria, Martyrs on the via Salaria nuova