RELIGION AND ART

Solemnity of the Saints 'Think of the love that the Father has lavished on us, by letting us be called God’s children' First Reading Apocalypse 7:2-4,9-24 I saw a huge number, impossible to count, of people from every nation, race, tribe and language I, John, saw another angel rising where the sun rises, carrying the seal of the living God; he called in a powerful voice to the four angels whose duty was to devastate land and sea, ‘Wait before you do any damage on land or at sea or to the trees, until we have put the seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.’ Then I heard how many were sealed: a hundred and forty-four thousand, out of all the tribes of Israel. After that I saw a huge number, impossible to count, of people from every nation, race, tribe and language; they were standing in front of the throne and in front of the Lamb, dressed in white robes and holding palms in their hands. They shouted aloud, ‘Victory to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’...

Thursday Week 30 in Ordinary Time ‘Blessings on him who comes in the name of the Lord!’ First Reading Ephesians 6:10-20  Put on God's armour and resist the devil Grow strong in the Lord, with the strength of his power. Put God’s armour on so as to be able to resist the devil’s tactics. For it is not against human enemies that we have to struggle, but against the Sovereignties and the Powers who originate the darkness in this world, the spiritual army of evil in the heavens. That is why you must rely on God’s armour, or you will not be able to put up any resistance when the worst happens, or have enough resources to hold your ground.   So stand your ground, with truth buckled round your waist, and integrity for a breastplate, wearing for shoes on your feet the eagerness to spread the gospel of peace and always carrying the shield of faith so that you can use it to put out the burning arrows of the evil one. And then you must accept salvation from God to be your helmet and r...

Feast of Saints Simon and Jude, Apostles 'You are no longer aliens or foreign visitors: you are citizens like all the saints' First Reading Ephesians 2:19-22  In Christ you are no longer aliens, but citizens like us You are no longer aliens or foreign visitors: you are citizens like all the saints, and part of God’s household. You are part of a building that has the apostles and prophets for its foundations, and Christ Jesus himself for its main cornerstone. As every structure is aligned on him, all grow into one holy temple in the Lord; and you too, in him, are being built into a house where God lives, in the Spirit. Responsorial Psalm: Their word goes forth through all the earth. Gospel Luke 6:12-19  Jesus chooses his twelve apostles Jesus went out into the hills to pray; and he spent the whole night in prayer to God. When day came he summoned his disciples and picked out twelve of them; he called them ‘apostles’: Simon whom he called Peter, and his brother Andrew; James, ...

Tuesday Week 30 in Ordinary Time ‘What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it with?'  First Reading Ephsians 5:21-33  Give way to one another in obedience to Christ Give way to one another in obedience to Christ. Wives should regard their husbands as they regard the Lord, since as Christ is head of the Church and saves the whole body, so is a husband the head of his wife; and as the Church submits to Christ, so should wives to their husbands, in everything. Husbands should love their wives just as Christ loved the Church and sacrificed himself for her to make her holy. He made her clean by washing her in water with a form of words, so that when he took her to himself she would be glorious, with no speck or wrinkle or anything like that, but holy and faultless. In the same way, husbands must love their wives as they love their own bodies; for a man to love his wife is for him to love himself. A man never hates his own body, but he feeds it and looks after it; and ...

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' First Reading Exoducs 22:20-26  If you are harsh with the widow and orphan, my anger will flare against you The Lord said to Moses, ‘Tell the sons of Israel this: ‘“You must not molest the stranger or oppress him, for you lived as strangers in the land of Egypt. You must not be harsh with the widow, or with the orphan; if you are harsh with them, they will surely cry out to me, and be sure I shall hear their cry; my anger will flare and I shall kill you with the sword, your own wives will be widows, your own children orphans. ‘“If you lend money to any of my people, to any poor man among you, you must not play the usurer with him: you must not demand interest from him. ‘“If you take another’s cloak as a pledge, you must give it back to him before sunset. It is all the covering he has; it is the cloak he wraps his body in; what else would he sleep in? If h...

Saturday Week 29 in Ordinary Time 'If we live by the truth and in love, we shall grow in all ways into Christ' First Reading Ephesian 4:7-16  By grace, we shall not be children any longer Each one of us has been given his own share of grace, given as Christ allotted it. It was said that he would: When he ascended to the height, he captured prisoners,  he gave gifts to men. When it says, ‘he ascended’, what can it mean if not that he descended right down to the lower regions of the earth? The one who rose higher than all the heavens to fill all things is none other than the one who descended. And to some, his gift was that they should be apostles; to some, prophets; to some, evangelists; to some, pastors and teachers; so that the saints together make a unity in the work of service, building up the body of Christ. In this way we are all to come to unity in our faith and in our knowledge of the Son of God, until we become the perfect Man, fully mature with the fullness of Chris...