RELIGION AND ART

WEDNESDAY FIFTH WEEK OF LENT YEAR C First Readings    Daniel 3:14-20,24-25,28  God has sent his angel to rescue his servants King Nebuchadnezzar said, ‘Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, is it true that you do not serve my gods, and that you refuse to worship the golden statue I have erected? When you hear the sound of horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, or any other instrument, are you prepared to prostrate yourselves and worship the statue I have made? If you refuse to worship it, you must be thrown straight away into the burning fiery furnace; and where is the god who could save you from my power?’ Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to King Nebuchadnezzar, ‘Your question hardly requires an answer: if our God, the one we serve, is able to save us from the burning fiery furnace and from your power, O king, he will save us; and even if he does not, then you must know, O king, that we will not serve your god or worship the statue you have erected.’ These words infuriated King Nebu

A ltar Server Prayer:   Father in heaven, Your Son Jesus Christ showed his love for you by serving his brothers and sisters in need.  I now ask you to give me your help I serve you and your people Open my mouth to praise you in word and song. Open my ears to hear your word. Open my hand to do your work well.  Take from me all evil and distracting thoughts.   Help me to know what I should do and do it well. Help me to serve reverently at your Holy Altar and  give you praise and glory now and for ever.  Amen Mass Readings Lectures   I, John, saw another angel rising where the sun rises, carrying the seal of the living God; he called in a powerful voice to the four angels whose duty was to devastate land and sea, ‘Wait before you do any damage on land or at sea or to the trees, until we have put the seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.’ Then I heard how many were sealed: a hundred and forty-four thousand, out of all the tribes of Israel. After that I saw a huge number, im

Thus says the LORD, who opens a way in the sea and a path in the mighty waters, who leads out chariots and horsemen, and powerful army, till they lie prostrate together, never to rise, snuffed out and quenched like a wick. Remember not the event of the past, the things of long ago consider not; see, I am doing something new! Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? In the desert I make a way, in the wasteland, river. Wild beasts honor me, jackals and ostriches, for I put water in the desert and rivers in the wasteland for my chosen people to drink, the people whom I formed for myself, that they might announce my praise.  Isa. 43:16-21 Readings