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RELIGION AND ART

YOU GAVE YOUR SON POWER

Saint Ignatus of Antioch, Bishop, Martyr ‘If anyone openly declares himself for me, the Son of Man will declare himself for him in the presence of the angels. First Reading Ephesians 1:15-23  Paul’s prayer for the enlightenment of the faithful I, having once heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus, and the love that you show towards all the saints, have never failed to remember you in my prayers and to thank God for you. May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give you a spirit of wisdom and perception of what is revealed, to bring you to full knowledge of him. May he enlighten the eyes of your mind so that you can see what hope his call holds for you, what rich glories he has promised the saints will inherit and how infinitely great is the power that he has exercised for us believers. This you can tell from the strength of his power at work in Christ, when he used it to raise him from the dead and to make him sit at his right hand, in heaven, far above every S...
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LET US BE DIRECTED BY THE SPIRIT

Wednesday Week 28 in Ordinary Time Anyone who follows you, O Lord, will have the light of life. First Reading Galatians 5:18-25  To belong to Christ, crucify all self-indulgence If you are led by the Spirit, no law can touch you. When self-indulgence is at work the results are obvious: fornication, gross indecency and sexual irresponsibility; idolatry and sorcery; feuds and wrangling, jealousy, bad temper and quarrels; disagreements, factions, envy; drunkenness, orgies and similar things. I warn you now, as I warned you before: those who behave like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. What the Spirit brings is very different: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness and self-control. There can be no law against things like that, of course. You cannot belong to Christ Jesus unless you crucify all self-indulgent passions and desires. Since the Spirit is our life, let us be directed by the Spirit. Responsorial Psalm:  Anyone who follows you...
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LET YOUR LOVE COME UPON ME

Tuesday Week 28 in Ordinary Time 'Give alms from what you have and then indeed everything will be clean for you.’ First Reading Galatians 5:1-6  It is faith, not the Law, that justifies us When Christ freed us, he meant us to remain free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery. It is I, Paul, who tell you this: if you allow yourselves to be circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you at all. With all solemnity I repeat my warning: Everyone who accepts circumcision is obliged to keep the whole Law. But if you do look to the Law to make you justified, then you have separated yourselves from Christ, and have fallen from grace. Christians are told by the Spirit to look to faith for those rewards that righteousness hopes for, since in Christ Jesus whether you are circumcised or not makes no difference – what matters is faith that makes its power felt through love. Responsorial Psalm:  Lord, let your love come upon me. Gospel Luke 11:37-41...
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DO NOT SUBMIT TO THE YOKE OF SLAVERY

Monday Week 28 in Ordinary Time ‘This is a wicked generation; it is asking for a sign' Saint Carlos Acutis First Reading Galatians 4:22-24,36-37,31-5:1  Christ freed us: do not submit again to slavery The Law says, if you remember, that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave-girl, and one by his free-born wife. The child of the slave-girl was born in the ordinary way; the child of the free woman was born as the result of a promise. This can be regarded as an allegory: the women stand for the two covenants. The first who comes from Mount Sinai, and whose children are slaves, is Hagar. The Jerusalem above, however, is free and is our mother, since scripture says: Shout for joy, you barren women who bore no children! Break into shouts of joy and gladness, you who were never in labour. For there are more sons of the forsaken one than sons of the wedded wife. So, my brothers, we are the children, not of the slave-girl, but of the free-born wife. When Christ freed us, he meant us t...
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COME TO THE WEDDING

28th Sunday in Ordinary Time 'I have been through my initiation and now I am ready' First Reading Isaiah 25:6-10 The Lord will prepare a banquet for every nation On this mountain the Lord of hosts will provide for all peoples a feast of rich food and choice wines, juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines. On this mountain he will destroy the veil that veils all peoples, the web that is woven over all nations; he will destroy death forever. The Lord God will wipe away the tears from every face; the reproach of his people he will remove from the whole earth; for the Lord has spoken. On that day it will be said: «Behold our God, to whom we looked to save us! This is the Lord for whom we looked; let us rejoice and be glad that he has saved us!». For the hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain. Responsorial Psalm: I shall live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. Second Reading  Philippians 4:12-14,19-20 With the help of the One who gives me strength, t...
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HOW TO PRAY

wednesday week 27 in Ordinary Time OUR LADY OF THE ROSARY 'When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name, your Kingdom come' First Reading Galatians 2:1-2,7-14  They recognised the grace that God had given me It was not till fourteen years had passed that I went up to Jerusalem again. I went with Barnabas and took Titus with me. I went there as the result of a revelation, and privately I laid before the leading men the Good News as I proclaim it among the pagans; I did so for fear the course I was adopting or had already adopted would not be allowed. On the contrary, they recognised that I had been commissioned to preach the Good News to the uncircumcised just as Peter had been commissioned to preach it to the circumcised. The same person whose action had made Peter the apostle of the circumcised had given me a similar mission to the pagans. So, James, Cephas and John, these leaders, these pillars, shook hands with Barnabas and me as a sign of partnership: we were to go to...
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CHOSEN BY GRACE

Tuesday Week 27 in Ordinary Time First Reading Galatians 1:13-24  God called me through his grace and chose to reveal his Son in me You must have heard of my career as a practising Jew, how merciless I was in persecuting the Church of God, how much damage I did to it, how I stood out among other Jews of my generation, and how enthusiastic I was for the traditions of my ancestors. Then God, who had specially chosen me while I was still in my mother’s womb, called me through his grace and chose to reveal his Son in me, so that I might preach the Good News about him to the pagans. I did not stop to discuss this with any human being, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were already apostles before me, but I went off to Arabia at once and later went straight back from there to Damascus. Even when after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and stayed with him for fifteen days, I did not see any of the other apostles; I only saw James, the brother of the Lord,...
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