RELIGION AND ART

MONDAY WEEK 8 IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR C WHAT MUST I DO TO INHERIT ETERNAL LIFE MY DAILY OFFERING:  O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer you my prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world. First Reading(s) 1 Peter 1:3-9   You did not see Christ, yet you love him Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in his great mercy has given us a new birth as his sons, by raising Jesus Christ from the dead, so that we have a sure hope and the promise of an inheritance that can never be spoilt or soiled and never fade away, because it is being kept for you in the heavens. Lectures Through your faith, God’s power will guard you until the salvation which has been prepared is revealed at the end of time. This is a cause of great joy for you, even though you may for a short time have to bear being plagued by all sorts of trials; so that, when Jesus Christ is revealed, your faith will have been...

SUNDAY 8 WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR C  A MAN'S WORDS FLOW OUT WHAT FILLS HIS HEART MY DAILY OFFERING:  O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer you my prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world. First Reading(s)   Ecclesiasticus 27:5-8  The test of a man is in his conversation In a shaken sieve the rubbish is left behind, so too the defects of a man appear in his talk. The kiln tests the work of the potter, the test of a man is in his conversation. The orchard where a tree grows is judged on the quality of its fruit, similarly a man’s words betray what he feels. Do not praise a man before he has spoken, since this is the test of men. Lectures Responsorial Psalm: It is good to give thanks to you O Lord Second Reading  1 Corinthians 15:54-58   Death is swallowed up in victory When this perishable nature has put on imperishability, and when this mortal nature has p...

JESUS LAID HIS HANDS UPON CHILDREN AND BLESS THEM SATURDAY 7TH  WEEK IN   ORDINARY TIME YEAR C MY DAILY OFFERING:  O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer you my prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world. First  Reading(s)  James 5:13-20   A good man's heartfelt prayer has great power If any one of you is in trouble, he should pray. If anyone is feeling happy, he should sing a psalm. If one of you is ill, he should send for the elders of the church, and they must anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord and pray over him.  The prayer of faith will save the sick man and the Lord will raise him up again; and if he has committed any sins, he will be forgiven. So confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, and this will cure you; the heartfelt prayer of a good man works very powerfully. Elijah was a human being like ourselves, he prayed hard...

GOD MADE MALE AND FEMALE FROM BEGINNING FRIDAY 7TH  WEEK IN   ORDINARY TIME YEAR C MY DAILY OFFERING:  O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer you my prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world. First  Reading(s)   James 5:9-12  Do not ask for judgement, or you may receive it Do not make complaints against one another, brothers, so as not to be brought to judgement yourselves; the Judge is already to be seen waiting at the gates. For your example, brothers, in submitting with patience, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord; remember it is those who had endurance that we say are the blessed ones. You have heard of the patience of Job, and understood the Lord’s purpose, realising that the Lord is kind and compassionate.  Above all, my brothers, do not swear by heaven or by the earth, or use any oaths at all. If you mean ‘yes’, you must say ‘yes’; if yo...

DO NOT BE AN OBSTACLE TO ANY CHILD THURSDAY 7TH  WEEK IN   ORDINARY TIME YEAR C MY DAILY OFFERING:  O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer you my prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world. First  Reading(s)   James 5:1-6 The Lord hears the cries of those you have cheated  An answer for the rich. Start crying, weep for the miseries that are coming to you. Your wealth is all rotting, your clothes are all eaten up by moths. All your gold and your silver are corroding away, and the same corrosion will be your own sentence, and eat into your body.    Lectures It was a burning fire that you stored up as your treasure for the last days. Labourers mowed your fields, and you cheated them, listen to the wages that you kept back, calling out; realise that the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. On earth you have had a life of comfort and ...

IF IT IS THE LORD'S WILL WEDNESDAY WEEK 7 IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR C MY DAILY OFFERING:  O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer you my prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world.  I offer them for all the intentions of your Sacred Heart: the salvation of souls, reparation for sin, the union of all Christians. I offer them for the intentions of our Bishops and all Apostles of prayer, and in particular for those recommended by our holy Father Pope Francis this month.   Pieta .  First Reading James 4:13-17  You cannot know what will happen tomorrow Here is the answer for those of you who talk like this: ‘Today or tomorrow, we are off to this or that town; we are going to spend a year there, trading, and make some money.’ You never know what will happen tomorrow: you are no more than a mist that is here for a little while and then disappears. The most you should ever say is...

ST. PETER'S CHAIR WEEK 6 IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR C MY DAILY OFFERING:  O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer you my prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world.  I offer them for all the intentions of your Sacred Heart: the salvation of souls, reparation for sin, the union of all Christians. I offer them for the intentions of our Bishops and all Apostles of prayer, and in particular for those recommended by our holy Father Pope Francis this month.   Pieta  First Reading (s) First Peter 5:1-4  Watch over the flock, not simply as a duty but gladly Now I have something to tell your elders: I am an elder myself, and a witness to the sufferings of Christ, and with you I have a share in the glory that is to be revealed. Be the shepherds of the flock of God that is entrusted to you: watch over it, not simply as a duty but gladly, because God wants it; not for sordid money, bu...

PEACEMAKERS WORK FOR PEACE:  SEEDS THAT BEAR HOLINESS   MONDAY 7TH  WEEK IN   ORDINARY TIME YEAR C MY DAILY OFFERING:  O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer you my prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world. First Reading(s)   James 3:13-18  Show wisdom and avoid ambition If there are any wise or learned men among you, let them show it by their good lives, with humility and wisdom in their actions. But if at heart you have the bitterness of jealousy, or a self-seeking ambition, never make any claims for yourself or cover up the truth with lies, principles of this kind are not the wisdom that comes down from above: they are only earthly, animal and devilish. Wherever you find jealousy and ambition, you find disharmony, and wicked things of every kind being done; whereas the wisdom that comes down from above is essentially something pure; it also makes for peace,...

THE LORD IS COMPASSION AND LOVE 7TH SUNDAY IN   ORDINARY TIME YEAR C MY DAILY OFFERING:  O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer you my prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world. First Reading(s)   1 Samuel 26:2,7-9,11-13,22-23  Do not lift your hand against the Lord's anointed Saul set off and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, accompanied by three thousand men chosen from Israel to search for David in the wilderness of Ziph.  In the dark David and Abishai made their way towards the force, where they found Saul lying asleep inside the camp, his spear stuck in the ground beside his head, with Abner and the troops lying round him. Lectures Then Abishai said to David, ‘Today God has put your enemy in your power; so now let me pin him to the ground with his own spear. Just one stroke! I will not need to strike him twice.’ David answered Abishai, ‘Do not kill him, for who ...

THE TONGUE IS LIKE A FLAME SATUR DAY WEEK 6 IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR C Memorial  BVM MY DAILY OFFERING:  O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer you my prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world.  First  Reading(s)  James 3:1-10  The tongue cannot be tamed Only a few of you, my brothers, should be teachers, bearing in mind that those of us who teach can expect a stricter judgement.  After all, every one of us does something wrong, over and over again; the only man who could reach perfection would be someone who never said anything wrong he would be able to control every part of himself. Once we put a bit into the horse’s mouth, to make it do what we want, we have the whole animal under our control.  Or think of ships: no matter how big they are, even if a gale is driving them, the man at the helm can steer them anywhere he likes by controlling a tiny rudder. So is t...

ANYONE WHO LOSES HIS LIFE FOR MY SAKE WILL SAVE IT FRI DAY WEEK 6 IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR C MY DAILY OFFERING:  O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer you my prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world.  First Reading James 2: 14-24, 26  A body dies without spirit; faith without good works is not alive Take the case, my brothers, of someone who has never done a single good act but claims that he has faith. Will that faith save him? If one of the brothers or one of the sisters is in need of clothes and has not enough food to live on, and one of you says to them, ‘I wish you well; keep yourself warm and eat plenty’, without giving them these bare necessities of life, then what good is that? Faith is like that: if good works do not go with it, it is quite dead.  This is the way to talk to people of that kind: ‘You say you have faith and I have good deeds; I will prove to you that I have...