RELIGION AND ART

 I PLEAD WITH HIM   Psalm 142   MAY THE LORD ANSWER WHEN YOU CALL I call to the LORD for help, I plead with him’ I bring him all my complaints, I tell him all my troubles. When I am ready to give up, he knows what I should do. In the path where I walk, my enemies have hidden a trap for me. When I look beside me, I see that there is no one to help me, no one cares for me. LORD, I cry to you for help, you, LORD, are my protector, you are all I want in this life. Listen to my cry for help, for I am sunk in despair. Save me from my enemies, they are too strong for me. Set me free from my distress;   then in the assembly of your people I will praise you because of your goodness to me.

 THE LORD IS OUR HELP Psalm 123 (124) Our help is in the name of the Lord. ‘If the Lord had not been on our side,’   this is Israel’s song. ‘If the Lord had not been on our side   when men rose up against us,   then would they have swallowed us alive   when their anger was kindled. Our help is in the name of the Lord. ‘Then would the waters have engulfed us,   the torrent gone over us; over our head would have swept   the raging waters.’ Blessed be the Lord who did not give us   a prey to their teeth! Psalm 142   Our help is in the name of the Lord. Our life, like a bird, has escaped   from the snare of the fowler. Indeed the snare has been broken   and we have escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord,   who made heaven and earth.

HERE I AM LORD  Here I am, Lord! I come to do your will.   I waited, I waited for the Lord and he stooped down to me; he heard my cry.   You do not ask for sacrifice and offerings,  but an open ear.  You do not ask for holocaust and victim.   Instead, here am I.  Psalm 39 (40)   Here I am, Lord! I come to do your will.    In the scroll of the book it stands written   that I should do your will.  My God, I delight in your law   in the depth of my heart.   Here I am, Lord! I come to do your will.   Your justice I have proclaimed in the great assembly. My lips I have not sealed;   you know it, O Lord.   Here I am, Lord! I come to do your will.

 SELF-RESPECT My child keep your self-respect, but remain modest.  Value yourself at your true worth. There is no excuse for a person who runs himself/herself down.  No one has respects a person who runs himself/herself down.   Sirach 10:28-29

 MY SUPPLICATION Do not remember against us the guilt of former times. Let your compassion hasten to meet us, for we have been brought very low. Help us, O God our saviour, for the sake of the glory of your name. Free us and forgive us our sins, because of your name. Let the groans of the prisoners come before you, your strong arm reprieve those condemned to die. Then we, your people, the flock of your pasture, will give you thanks forever and ever. From age to age we will recount your praise...... Psalm 79

THE DWELLING PLACE OF GOD How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts.  My soul is yearning for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh cry out to the living God. Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a next for herself in which she set her young, at your altars, O Lord of hosts, my king and my God. Blessed are they who dwell in your house, for ever singing your praise. Blessed the  men whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on the pilgrimage.......... Psalm 84 Liturgical Readings

THANKSGIVING Psalm 138 I thank you, Lord, with all my heart; you have heard the words of my mouth. In the presence of the angels I praise you. I bow down towards your holy temple. I give thanks to your name for your merciful love and your faithfulness. You have exalted your name overall. On the day I called, you answered me; you increased the strength of my soul. All earth kings shall thank you, O Lord, when they hear the words of your mouth.  They shall sing the ways of the Lord, 'How great is the glory of the Lord'.......