RELIGION AND ART

Friday Week 25 in Ordinary Time ‘Who do the crowds say I am?’ First Reading Ecclesiaste 3:1-11 There is a time for every occupation under heaven There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for everything under the heavens. A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to uproot the plant. A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to tear down, and a time to build. A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance. A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather them; a time to embrace, and a time to be far from embraces. A time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away. A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to be silent, and a time to speak. A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace. What advantage has the worker from his toil? I have considered the task that God has appointed for the sons of men to be busied about. He has made everything appropriate to its time, and h...

Thursday Week 25 in Ordinary Time ‘John? I beheaded him. So who is this I hear such reports about?’  First Reading Ecclesiaste 1:2-11  Nothing is new and all is vanity Vanity of vanities, the Preacher says. Vanity of vanities. All is vanity! For all his toil, his toil under the sun, what does man gain by it? A generation goes, a generation comes, yet the earth stands firm for ever. The sun rises, the sun sets; then to its place it speeds and there it rises. Southward goes the wind, then turns to the north; it turns and turns again; back then to its circling goes the wind. Into the sea all the rivers go, and yet the sea is never filled, and still to their goal the rivers go. All things are wearisome. No man can say that eyes have not had enough of seeing, ears their fill of hearing. What was will be again; what has been done will be done again; and there is nothing new under the sun. Take anything of which it may be said, ‘Look now, this is new.’ Already, long before our time...

Saint Padre Pio. Priest:  ‘Take nothing for the journey' First Reading Proverbs 30:5-9 Give me neither riches nor poverty, only my share Every word of God is tested; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Add nothing to his words, lest he reprove you, and you will be exposed as a deceiver. Two things I ask of you, deny them not to me before I die: Put falsehood and lying far from me, give me neither poverty nor riches; provide me only with the food I need; lest, being full, I deny you, saying, «Who is the LORD?». Or, being in want, I steal, and profane the name of my God. Responsorial Psalm: Your word, O Lord, is a lamp for my feet Gospel Luke 9:1-5  'Take nothing for the journey' Jesus called the Twelve together and gave them power and authority over all devils and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. He said to them, ‘Take nothing for the journey: neither staff, nor haversack, nor bread, nor money; and let non...

Tuesday Week 26 in Ordinary Time 'They are happy whose life is blameless' First Reading Proverbs 21;1-6,10-13  On wickedness and virtue Like a stream is the king's heart in the hand of the Lord; wherever it pleases him, he directs it. All the ways of a man may be right in his own eyes, but it is the Lord who proves hearts. To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice. Haughty eyes and a proud heart, the tillage of the wicked is sin. The plans of the diligent are sure of profit, but all rash haste leads certainly to poverty. Whoever makes a fortune by a lying tongue is chasing a bubble over deadly snares. The soul of the wicked man desires evil; his neighbor finds no pity in his eyes. When the arrogant man is punished, the simple are the wiser; when the wise man is instructed, he gains knowledge. The just man appraises the house of the wicked: there is one who brings down the wicked to ruin. He who shuts his ear to the cry of the poor will him...

St Matthew, Apostle, Evangelist ‘Why does your master eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ First Reading Ephesians 4:1-7,11-13  We are all to come to unity, fully mature in the knowledge of the Son of God I, the prisoner in the Lord, implore you to lead a life worthy of your vocation. Bear with one another charitably, in complete selflessness, gentleness and patience. Do all you can to preserve the unity of the Spirit by the peace that binds you together. There is one Body, one Spirit, just as you were all called into one and the same hope when you were called. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God who is Father of all, over all, through all and within all. Each one of us, however, has been given his own share of grace, given as Christ allotted it. To some, his gift was that they should be apostles; to some, prophets; to some, evangelists; to some, pastors and teachers; so that the saints together make a unity in the work of service, building up the body of Chris...

Sunday 25th in Ordinary Time  “My friend, I am not being unjust to you. Why be envious because I am generous?” First Reading Isaiah 55:6-9  My thoughts are not your thoughts  Seek the Lord while he is still to be found,  call to him while he is still near. Let the wicked man abandon his way,  the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn back to the Lord who will take pity on him, to our God who is rich in forgiving; for my thoughts are not your thoughts, my ways not your ways – it is the Lord who speaks. Yes, the heavens are as high above earth as my ways are above your ways,  my thoughts above your thoughts  Responsorial Psalm:  The Lord is close to all who call him. Second Reading Philippiands 1:20-24.26 Life to me is Christ; but death would bring me more  Christ will be glorified in my body, whether by my life or by my death. Life to me, of course, is Christ, but then death would bring me somethi...

Saturday Week 24 in Ordinay Time : Saint Janaurius 'The thing that is sown is weak but what is raised is powerful' First Reading 1 Corinthins 15:35-37,42-49  The resurrected body is heavenly by nature Someone may ask, ‘How are dead people raised, and what sort of body do they have when they come back?’ They are stupid questions. Whatever you sow in the ground has to die before it is given new life and the thing that you sow is not what is going to come; you sow a bare grain, say of wheat or something like that. It is the same with the resurrection of the dead: the thing that is sown is perishable but what is raised is imperishable; the thing that is sown is contemptible but what is raised is glorious; the thing that is sown is weak but what is raised is powerful; when it is sown it embodies the soul, when it is raised it embodies the spirit. If the soul has its own embodiment, so does the spirit have its own embodiment. The first man, Adam, as scripture says, became a living ...

Friday Week 24 in Ordinary Time Jesus made his way through towns and villages preaching First Reading 1 Corinthians 15:12-20  If Christ has not been raised, your belief is useless Now if Christ raised from the dead is what has been preached, how can some of you be saying that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, Christ himself cannot have been raised, and if Christ has not been raised then our preaching is useless and your believing it is useless; indeed, we are shown up as witnesses who have committed perjury before God, because we swore in evidence before God that he had raised Christ to life. For if the dead are not raised, Christ has not been raised, and if Christ has not been raised, you are still in your sins. And what is more serious, all who have died in Christ have perished. If our hope in Christ has been for this life only, we are the most unfortunate of all people. But Christ has in fact been raised from the dead, the first-fru...

Tuesday Week 24 in Ordinary Time: Our Lady of Sorrows ‘Woman, this is your son.’ Then to the disciple he said, ‘This is your mother.’ First Reading 1 Corinthians 12:12-14,27-31  You together are Christ's body : each of you a different part Just as a human body, though it is made up of many parts, is a single unit because all these parts, though many, make one body, so it is with Christ. In the one Spirit we were all baptised, Jews as well as Greeks, slaves as well as citizens, and one Spirit was given to us all to drink. Nor is the body to be identified with any one of its many parts. Now you together are Christ’s body; but each of you is a different part of it. In the Church, God has given the first place to apostles, the second to prophets, the third to teachers; after them, miracles, and after them the gift of healing; helpers, good leaders, those with many languages. Are all of them apostles, or all of them prophets, or all of them teachers? Do they all have the gift of mirac...

' His state was divine , yet Christ Jesus did not cling to his equality with God' First Reading Numbers 24:4-9  If anyone was bitten by a serpent, he looked up at the bronze serpent and lived On the way through the wilderness the people lost patience. They spoke against God and against Moses, ‘Why did you bring us out of Egypt to die in this wilderness? For there is neither bread nor water here; we are sick of this unsatisfying food.’ At this God sent fiery serpents among the people; their bite brought death to many in Israel. The people came and said to Moses, ‘We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you. Intercede for us with the Lord to save us from these serpents.’ Moses interceded for the people, and the Lord answered him, ‘Make a fiery serpent and put it on a standard. If anyone is bitten and looks at it, he shall live.’ So Moses fashioned a bronze serpent which he put on a standard, and if anyone was bitten by a serpent, he looked at the bronze serpent an...