RELIGION AND ART

Brothers and sisters: If God is for us, who can be against us? He did not spare his own Son but handed him over for us all, how will he not also give us everything else along with him? Who will bring a charge against God's chosen ones?  It is he who acquits us. Who will condemn? It is Christ Jesus who died, rather, was raised, who also is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? As it is written: For your sake we are being slain all the day; we are looked upon as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us..... Readings Textes liturgiques

The Spirit comes to help us in our weakness. For when we cannot choose words in order to pray properly, the Spirit himself expresses our plea in a way that could never be put into words, and God who knows everything in our hearts knows perfectly well what he means, and that the pleas of the saints expressed by the Spirit are  according to the mind of God. We know that by turning everything to their good God co-operates with all those who love him, with all those that  he has called according to his purpose. They are  the ones he chose specially long ago and intended to become true images of his Son, so that his Son might be the eldest of many brothers. He called those he intended for this, those he called he justified, and with those he justified he shared his glory. Readings Textes liturgiques My prayer Psalm 142 My Father in heaven, thank you for your Holy Spirit my teacher.  Father you know everything in my heart, I turn everything to you Father....

The Lord is a judge who is no respecter of personages. He who shows no respect of personages to the detriment of a poor man, he listens to the plea of the injured party. He does not ignore the orphan's supplication, nor the widow's as she pours out her story. The man who with his whole heart serves God will be accepted, his petitions will carry to the clouds. The humble man's prayer pierces the clouds, until it arrives he is inconsolable, and the Lord will not be slow....... Readings Textes liturgiques My Father, and my God, you are full of compassion and  love. You are patient to all, and Your mercy is enduring. Father you love all your creatures and ever ready to come to our aid. Father, thank you for your love and compassion to all your creatures. My prayer Psalm 86

The reason why those who are in Christ Jesus are not condemned is that the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. God has done what the law, because of our unspiritual nature, was unable to do. God dealt with sin by sending his own Son in a body as physical as any sinful body, and in that body God condemned sin. He did this in order that the Law's just demands might be satisfied in us, who behave not as our unspiritual nature but as the spirit dictates. Readings at Mass Textes liturgiques  My Father in heaven, thank you for I am in Christ Jesus for the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death. Beautiful Saviour

I know of nothing good living in me, that is, in my unspiritual self, for through the will to do what is good in me, the performance is not, with the result that instead of doing the good things I want to do, I carry out the sinful things I do not want. When I act against my will, then, it is not my true self doing it, but sin which lives in me. In fact, this seems to be the rule, that every single time I want to do good it is something evil that comes to hand.  In my inmost self I dearly love God's Law, but I can see that my body follows a different law that battles against the law which my reason dictates. This is what makes me a prisoner of that law of sin which lives inside my body. What a wretched man (woman) I am! who will rescue me from this body doomed to death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! Readings Textes Liturgiques My Father in heaven, thank you for your grace which enables me to perform good works.  Your grace through Jesus C...

If I may use human terms to help your natural weakness: as once you put your bodies at the service of vice and immorality, so now you must put them at the service of righteousness for your sanctification. When you were slaves of sin, you felt no obligation to righteousness, and what did you get from this? Nothing but experiences that now make you blush, since that sort of behaviour ends in death. Now, however, you have been set free from sin, you have been made slaves of God, and you get a reward leading to sanctification and ending in eternal life. For the wage paid by sin is death; the present given by God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Mass Readings Textes Liturgiques  Heavenly Father, thank you for the gift of Your Son Jesus Christ, a reward leading to our sanctification, and eternal life.  Thank you for setting us free from the slavery of sin, and death. I am now God's slave.

You must not let sin reign in your mortal bodies or command your obedience to bodily passions, you must not let any part of your body turn into an unholy weapon fighting on the side of sin; you should, instead, offer yourselves to God, and consider yourselves dead men (women) brought back to life; you should make every part of your body into a weapon fighting on the side of God; and then sin will no longer dominate your life, since you are living by grace and not by law. Readings Textes liturgique s My Prayer: My Heavenly Father, thank you for your grace, for with your grace sin will no longer dominate my life. Through your grace sin will never reign over my mortal body. I will be used as a vessel to the glory of your name. I offer myself to you Father considering myself dead, but brought back to life by your grace. My prayer Psalm 51

Jesus said to his disciples: 'See that you are dressed for action and have your lamps lit. Be like men waiting for their master to return from wedding feast, ready to open the door as soon as he comes and knocks.  Happy those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes.  I tell you solemnly, he will put on an apron, sit them down at the table and wait on them. It may be in the second watch he comes, or in the third, but happy those servants if he finds them ready.  Readings   lectures du jour My Prayer: My Lord Jesus Christ, you said we should be dressed for action, and our lamps lit.                    As we wait for Your return when You knock, keep us awake so that our doors are                    opened to welcome You. My heart is the door, keep me awake to open and                    receive You. He...

This is the faith that was 'considered as justifying him.' Scripture however does not refer only to him but to us as well when it says that his faith was thus 'considered'; our faith too will be 'considered ' if we believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, Jesus who was put to death for our sins and raised to life to justify us. Readings Mess 21 octobre My Father, thank You for sending Jesus Christ your Son to die for our sins, and that you raised him to life to justify us by faith. My prayer Psalm 14

You must keep to what you have been taught and know to be true; remember who your teachers were, and how, ever since you were a child, you have known the holy scripture - from these you can learn the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and can profitably be used for teaching, for refuting error, for guiding people's lives and teaching them to be holy. This is how the man who is dedicated to God becomes fully equipped and ready for any good work.    Readings Textes liturgiques Seeking heaven alone My Prayer: Father it is joy to know that all scripture is inspired by You.                    Your work is used for teaching, for refuting error, for guiding                     our lives and teaching us to be holy.                          May I be...

 The promise of inheriting the world was not made to Abraham  and his descendants on account of any law but on account of the  righteousness which consist in faith. That is why what fulfils the promise depends on faith, so that it may be a free gift and be available to all of Abraham's descendants, not only those who belong to the Law but also those who belong to the faith of Abraham who is the father of all of us.  As scripture says: I have made you the ancestor of many nations: Abraham is our father in the eyes of God, in whom he put his faith, and who brings the dead to life and calls into being what does not exist........... Readings Loving Father I want to say thank you for your promise of inheritance.  Thank you for Jesus Christ Your Son my Lord and Saviour. My prayer Psalm 12

Feast of St. Luke The Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them out ahead of him, in pairs, to all the towns and places he himself was to visit.  He said to them, 'The harvest is rich but the labourers are few, so ask the Lord of the harvest to send labourers to his harvest. Start off now, but remember, I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Carry no purse, no haversack, no sandals.  Salute no one on the road. Whatever house you go into, let your first words be, "peace to this house!" And if a man of peace lives there, your peace will go and rest on him; if not, it will come back to you. Stay in the same house, taking what food and drink they have to offer, for the labourers deserve his wages; do not move from house to house. Whenever you go into a town where they make you welcome, eat what is set before you. Cure those who are sick, and say, "The kingdom of God is very near to you". My prayer of  Psalm 27 Heavenly F...

With the LORD there is mercy God's justice that was made known through the Law and the Prophets has now been revealed outside the Law, since it is the same justice of God that comes through faith to everyone, Jew and pagan alike, who believes in Jesus Christ.  Both Jew and pagan  sinned and forfeited God's glory, and both are justified through the free gift of his grace by being redeemed in Christ Jesus who appointed by God to sacrifice his life so as to win reconciliation through faith. Readings My Prayer:  Heavenly Father thank you for Your justice made known through the Law and Prophets now revealed outside the Law through faith to everyone who believes in Jesus Christ.  Thank you Father for the free gift of by my redemption through Jesus Christ appointed by You Father to win my reconciliation through faith. Thank you God my Father. Psalm 129(130):1-6  © With the Lord there is mercy, and fullness of redemption. Out of the depths I cry to you...

No matter who you are, if you pass judgement you have no excuse. In judging others you condemn yourself, since you behave differently Hail Thou Star of Ocean from those you judge. We know that God condemns that sort of behaviour impartially: and when when you judge those who behave like this while you are doing  exactly the same, do you think you will escape God's judgement? Or are you abusing his abundant goodness, patience and toleration, not realising that this goodness of God is meant to lead you to repentance? Your stubborn refusal to repent is only adding to the anger God will have towards you on that day of anger when his just judgements will be made known. He will repay each one as his works deserve.... Readings My Prayer: Father in heaven help me not to judge people for what                    I think they are.  Give the Spirit to understand that I should             ...

I am not ashamed of the Gospel.   It is the power of God for the salvation  of everyone who believes: for the Jews first, and then the Greek. For in it is revealed the righteousness of God from faith to faith: as it is written, "The one who is righteous by faith will live." Readings My Prayer: Heavenly Father help me understand your word.                     It is the secret and Your power for my salvation.                      Increase my faith that I may live. Psalm 62

We should be be grateful to the Lord our God, for putting us to the test, as he did with our forefathers.  Recall how he dealt with Abraham, and how he tried Issac, and all that happened to Jacob. Not for vengeance did the LORD put them in the crucible to try their hearts, nor has he done so with us. It is by way of admonition that he chastises those who are close to him. from The  Prayer of the Church: Pauline Publication Week IV My Prayer:  Loving Father help me to appreciate Your love                     for me and give me the patient to understand that You chastise me to bring me closer to You. It is the only way to bring me closer to You. Thank You Heavenly Father for Your love, and faithfulness. Readings Seeking heaven alone

"Now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel. Please accept a gift from your Servant" . 2nd Kings My Prayer: Holy Spirit, my concern is before you. Bless me and                    everyone I meet. Lead me to follow the footstep of                    Jesus Christ.  That my actions will be pleasing                    in the sight of God. Readings My God accept my heart

When your heart is heavy-laden and your day is filled with care, there's One who'll share your burden, if you'll go to Him in prayer. He never is too busy, He heeds our slightest plea, what He has done for others He'll do for you and me. "Cast your burdens on Me, and I will give you rest" This is the promise Jesus gives to help us face life's tests.

There is a door that opens wide, inviting you to enter; This door is opportunity and life is at its centre. Broaden your mind's horizon... exchange the 'no' for 'yes' This open door of adventure will lead to new success. Behold, the open door of love, of friendly brotherhood; He who opens up these doors will build a world of good. These doors all open outward, and you may enter free, if you but have the vision for opportunity.   By Margaret Freer Lord you are the source of everything. May I use my entire life for the glory of your name. Song of Trust

You  have kept your promise, LORD, and you are good to me your servant. Give me knowledge because I trust in your command. Before you punished me, I used to go wrong, but now I obey your word. Psalm 119:65-67 In every need let me come to you with humble trust, saying: Jesus help me. Psalm 14