RELIGION AND ART

Saint Matha :  ‘Yes, Lord,’ she said ‘I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God.' First Reading Jeremiah 15:10:16-21 They will not overcome you, because I am with you ‘Woe is me, my mother, for you have borne me to be a man of strife and of dissension for all the land. I neither lend nor borrow, yet all of them curse me. ‘When your words came, I devoured them: your word was my delight and the joy of my heart; for I was called by your name, Lord, God of Hosts. I never took pleasure in sitting in scoffers’ company; with your hand on me I held myself aloof, since you had filled me with indignation. Why is my suffering continual, my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Do you mean to be for me a deceptive stream with inconstant waters?’ To which the Lord replied, ‘If you come back, I will take you back into my service; and if you utter noble, not despicable, thoughts, you shall be as my own mouth. They will come back to you, but you must not go back to them. I will make yo...

Tuesday, Week 17 in Ordinary Time: ' Listen, anyone who has ears!’ First Reading Jeremiah 14:17-22 We confess our wickedness; you, God, are our hope The Lord said to me: Say this word to the people: ‘Tears flood my eyes night and day, unceasingly, since a crushing blow falls on the daughter of my people, a most grievous injury. If I go into the countryside, there lie men killed by the sword; if I go into the city, I see people sick with hunger; even prophets and priests plough the land: they are at their wit’s end.’ ‘Have you rejected Judah altogether? Does your very soul revolt at Zion? Why have you struck us down without hope of cure? We were hoping for peace – no good came of it! For the moment of cure – nothing but terror! Lord, we do confess our wickedness and our fathers’ guilt: we have indeed sinned against you. For your name’s sake do not reject us, do not dishonour the throne of your glory. Remember us; do not break your covenant with us. Can any of the paga...

Monday, Week 17 in Ordinary Time 'I will speak to you in parables and expound things hidden since the foundation of the world.' First Reading Jeremiah 13:1-11  Let this evil people become good for nothing The Lord said this to me, ‘Go and buy a linen loincloth and put it round your waist. But do not dip it in water.’ And so, as the Lord had ordered, I bought a loincloth and put it round my waist. A second time the word of the Lord was spoken to me, ‘Take the loincloth that you have bought and are wearing round your waist; up! Go to the Euphrates and hide it in a hole in the rock.’ So I went and hid it near the Euphrates as the Lord had ordered me. Many days afterwards the Lord said to me, ‘Get up and go to the Euphrates and fetch the loincloth I ordered you to hide there.’ So I went to the Euphrates, and I searched, and I took the loincloth from the place where I had hidden it. The loincloth was spoilt, good for nothing. Then the word of the Lord was addressed to me, ‘Thus says...

17th Sunday in Ordinary Time: B ecome a disciple of heaven kingdom First Reading 1 King 3:5,7-12  Solomon chooses the gift of wisdom The Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream and said, ‘Ask what you would like me to give you.’ Solomon replied, ‘O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in succession to David my father. But I am a very young man, unskilled in leadership. Your servant finds himself in the midst of this people of yours that you have chosen, a people so many its number cannot be counted or reckoned. Give your servant a heart to understand how to discern between good and evil, for who could govern this people of yours that is so great?’ It pleased the Lord that Solomon should have asked for this. ‘Since you have asked for this’ the Lord said ‘and not asked for long life for yourself or riches or the lives of your enemies, but have asked for a discerning judgement for yourself, here and now I do what you ask. I give you a heart wise and shrewd as none before you has ...

The Feast of Saint James. Apostle:  ‘Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink?’ ‘Very well,’ he said ‘you shall drink my cup' First Reading 2 Corinthians 4:7-15  Such an overwhelming power comes from God and not from us We are only the earthenware jars that hold this treasure, to make it clear that such an overwhelming power comes from God and not from us. We are in difficulties on all sides, but never cornered; we see no answer to our problems, but never despair; we have been persecuted, but never deserted; knocked down, but never killed; always, wherever we may be, we carry with us in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus, too, may always be seen in our body. Indeed, while we are still alive, we are consigned to our death every day, for the sake of Jesus, so that in our mortal flesh the life of Jesus, too, may be openly shown. So death is at work in us, but life in you. But as we have the same spirit of faith that is mentioned in scripture – I believ...

Friday, Week 16 in Ordinary Time: T he man who hears God's  word and understands First Reading Jeremiah 3:14-17  Come back, my disloyal children Come back, disloyal children – it is the Lord who speaks – for I alone am your Master. I will take one from a town, two from a clan, and bring you to Zion. I will give you shepherds after my own heart, and these shall feed you on knowledge and discretion. And when you have increased and become many in the land, then – it is the Lord who speaks – no one will ever say again: Where is the ark of the covenant of the Lord? There will be no thought of it, no memory of it, no regret for it, no making of another. When that time comes, Jerusalem shall be called: The Throne of the Lord; all the nations will gather there in the name of the Lord and will no longer follow the dictates of their own stubborn heart Responsorial Psalm:  The Lord will guard us as a shepherd guards his flock. Gospel Matthew 13:18-23  The man who hears the wo...