RELIGION AND ART

Friday Week 20 in Ordinary Time : Saint Pius X, Pope ‘Master, which is the greatest commandment of the Law?’   First Reading Ezekiel 37:1-14 A vision of Israel's death and resurrection The hand of the Lord was laid on me, and he carried me away by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley, a valley full of bones. He made me walk up and down among them. There were vast quantities of these bones on the ground the whole length of the valley; and they were quite dried up. He said to me, ‘Son of man, can these bones live?’ I said, ‘You know, Lord.’ He said, ‘Prophesy over these bones. Say, “Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. The Lord says this to these bones: I am now going to make the breath enter you, and you will live. I shall put sinews on you, I shall make flesh grow on you, I shall cover you with skin and give you breath, and you will live; and you will learn that I am the Lord.”’ I prophesied as I had been ordered. While I was prophesying, there was a ...

Thursday Week 20 in Ordinary Time - Saint Bernard, Abbort, Doctor “The wedding is ready; but as those who were invited proved to be unworthy ” First Reading Ezikiel 36:23-28 I will remove the heart of stone from your bodies and give you a heart of flesh The word of the Lord was addressed to me as follows: ‘I mean to display the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned among them. And the nations will learn that I am the Lord – it is the Lord who speaks – when I display my holiness for your sake before their eyes. Then I am going to take you from among the nations and gather you together from all the foreign countries, and bring you home to your own land. I shall pour clean water over you and you will be cleansed; I shall cleanse you of all your defilement and all your idols. I shall give you a new heart, and put a new spirit in you; I shall remove the heart of stone from your bodies and give you a heart of flesh instead. I shall put...

Wednesday Week 20 in Ordinary Time ' Have I no right to do what I like with my own?  ' First Reading Ezekiel 34:1-11  An oracle against bad and selfish shepherds The word of the Lord was addressed to me as follows: ‘Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them: ‘“Shepherds, the Lord says this: Trouble for the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Shepherds ought to feed their flock, yet you have fed on milk, you have dressed yourselves in wool, you have sacrificed the fattest sheep, but failed to feed the flock. You have failed to make weak sheep strong, or to care for the sick ones, or bandage the wounded ones. You have failed to bring back strays or look for the lost. On the contrary, you have ruled them cruelly and violently. For lack of a shepherd they have scattered, to become the prey of any wild animal; they have scattered far. My flock is straying this way and that, on mountains and on high hills; my flock has been scattered all ov...

Tuesday Week 20 in Ordinary Time ‘For men’ he told them ‘this is impossible; for God everything is possible.’   First Reading Ezekiel 28:1-10  Against the arrogance of the king of Tyre The word of the Lord was addressed to me as follows, ‘Son of man, tell the ruler of Tyre, “The Lord says this: Being swollen with pride, you have said: I am a god; I am sitting on the throne of God, surrounded by the seas. Though you are a man and not a god, you consider yourself the equal of God. You are wiser now than Danel; there is no sage as wise as you. By your wisdom and your intelligence you have amassed great wealth; you have piles of gold and silver inside your treasure-houses. Such is your skill in trading, your wealth has continued to increase, and with this your heart has grown more arrogant. And so, the Lord says this: Since you consider yourself the equal of God, very well, I am going to bring foreigners against you, the most barbarous of the nations. They will draw sword again...

Monday Week 20 in Ordinary Time ‘If you wish to be perfect, go and sell what you own and give the money to the poor' First Reading Ezekiel 24:15-24  The Lord will profane his sanctuary The word of the Lord was addressed to me as follows, ‘Son of man, I am about to deprive you suddenly of the delight of your eyes. But you are not to lament, not to weep, not to let your tears run down. Groan in silence, do not go into mourning for the dead, knot your turban round your head, put your sandals on your feet, do not cover your beard, do not eat common bread.’ I told this to the people in the morning, and my wife died in the evening, and the next morning I did as I had been ordered. The people then said to me, ‘Are you not going to explain what meaning these actions have for us?’ I replied, ‘The word of the Lord has been addressed to me as follows, “Say to the House of Israel: The Lord says this. I am about to profane my sanctuary, the pride of your strength, the delight of your eyes, th...

20thSunday in Ordinary Time ' I have been sent to the pagans as their apostle' First Reading Ezekiel 56:1,6-7  I will bring foreigners to my holy mountain Thus says the Lord: Have a care for justice, act with integrity, for soon my salvation will come and my integrity be manifest. Foreigners who have attached themselves to the Lord to serve him and to love his name and be his servants – all who observe the sabbath, not profaning it, and cling to my covenant – these I will bring to my holy mountain. I will make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their holocausts and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar, for my house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples Responsorial Psalm:  Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you. Second Reading Romans 11:13-15, 29-32  With Israel, God never takes back his gifts or revokes his choice Let me tell you pagans this: I have been sent to the pagans as their apostle, and I am proud of being sent,...

The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary ‘My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord and my spirit exults in God my saviour' First Reading apocalypse 11:18,12:1-2,10  A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman adorned with the sun The sanctuary of God in heaven opened and the ark of the covenant could be seen inside it. Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman, adorned with the sun, standing on the moon, and with the twelve stars on her head for a crown. She was pregnant, and in labour, crying aloud in the pangs of childbirth. Then a second sign appeared in the sky, a huge red dragon which had seven heads and ten horns, and each of the seven heads crowned with a coronet. Its tail dragged a third of the stars from the sky and dropped them to the earth, and the dragon stopped in front of the woman as she was having the child, so that he could eat it as soon as it was born from its mother. The woman brought a male child into the world, the son who was to rule all the nations with ...

Thursday Week19 in Ordinary Time - Saint Maximillian Kolbe, Priest, Martyr ‘Is it against the Law for a man to divorce his wife on any pretext whatever?’ First Reading Ezekiel 16:1-15,60,63  I clothed you with my own splendour but you made yourself a prostitute The word of the Lord was addressed to me as follows, ‘Son of man, confront Jerusalem with her filthy crimes. Say, “The Lord says this: By origin and birth you belong to the land of Canaan. Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. At birth, the very day you were born, there was no one to cut your navel-string, or wash you in cleansing water, or rub you with salt, or wrap you in napkins. No one leaned kindly over you to do anything like that for you. You were exposed in the open fields; you were as unloved as that on the day you were born. ‘“I saw you struggling in your blood as I was passing, and I said to you as you lay in your blood: Live, and grow like the grass of the fields. You developed, you grew, you rea...

Tuesdy Week 19 in Ordinary Time   Saint Clare, Virgin ‘Anyone who welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. First Reading Ezekiel 2:8-2,4  He gave me the scroll to eat and it was as sweet as honey I, Ezekiel, heard a voice speaking. It said, ‘You, son of man, listen to the words I say; do not be a rebel like that rebellious set. Open your mouth and eat what I am about to give you.’ I looked. A hand was there, stretching out to me and holding a scroll. He unrolled it in front of me; it was written on back and front; on it was written ‘lamentations, wailings, moanings.’ He said, ‘Son of man, eat what is given to you; eat this scroll, then go and speak to the House of Israel.’ I opened my mouth; he gave me the scroll to eat and said, ‘Son of man, feed and be satisfied by the scroll I am giving you.’ I ate it, and it tasted sweet as honey. Then he said, ‘Son of man, go to the House of Israel and tell them what I have said.’ Responsorial Psalm:  Your prom...