RELIGION AND ART

RESPECT FOR SACREDNESS OF GOD'S VESSELS (We too are HIS vessels respect for human's life and dignity) Daniel 5:1-6,13-14,16-17,23-28 © King Belshazzar gave a great banquet for his noblemen; a thousand of them attended, and he drank wine in company with this thousand. As he sipped his wine, Belshazzar gave orders for the gold and silver vessels to be brought which his father Nebuchadnezzar had looted from the sanctuary in Jerusalem, so that the king, his noblemen, his wives and his singing women could drink out of them. The gold and silver vessels looted from the sanctuary of the Temple of God in Jerusalem were brought in, and the king, his noblemen, his wives and his singing women drank out of them. They drank their wine and praised their gods of gold and silver, of bronze and iron, of wood and stone . Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared, and began to write on the plaster of the palace wall, directly behind the lamp-stand; and the king could see the...

Daniel 3:52-56 © You are blest, Lord God of our fathers.    To you glory and praise for evermore. Blest your glorious holy name.    To you glory and praise for evermore.   You are blest in the temple of your glory.    To you glory and praise for evermore. You are blest on the throne of your kingdom.    To you glory and praise for evermore.   You are blest who gaze into the depths.    To you glory and praise for evermore. You are blest in the firmament of heaven.    To you glory and praise for evermore.

Psalm 22(23):1-3a,5-6 © The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.   The Lord is my shepherd;   there is nothing I shall want. Fresh and green are the pastures   where he gives me repose.   Near restful waters he leads me,   to revive my drooping spirit. He guides me along the right path;   he is true to his name.   You have prepared a banquet for me   in the sight of my foes. My head you have anointed with oil;   my cup is overflowing.   Surely goodness and kindness shall follow me   all the days of my life. In the Lord’s own house shall I dwell   for ever and ever.    

GOD'S HOUSE AND ALTAR 1 Maccabees 4:36-37,52-59 © Judas and his brothers said, ‘Now that our enemies have been defeated, let us go up to purify the sanctuary and dedicate it.’ So they marshalled the whole army, and went up to Mount Zion.   On the twenty-fifth of the ninth month, Chislev, in the year one hundred and forty-eight, they rose at dawn and offered a lawful sacrifice on the new altar of holocausts which they had made. The altar was dedicated, to the sound of zithers, harps and cymbals, at the same time of year and on the same day on which the pagans had originally profaned it. The whole people fell prostrate in adoration, praising to the skies him who had made them so successful. For eight days they celebrated the dedication of the altar, joyfully offering holocausts, communion sacrifices and thanksgivings. They ornamented the front of the Temple with crowns and bosses of gold, repaired the gates and the storerooms and fitted them with doors. The...

SONGS OF JOY Psalm 126 When the Lord brought back the exiles of Sion, we thought we were dreaming. Then was our mouth filled with laughter; on our tongue, songs of joy. Then the nations themselves said, ''what great deeds the Lord worked for them!'' What great deeds the Lord worked for us! Indeed, we were glad. Bring back our exiles, O Lord, as streams in the south.  Those who are sowing in tears will sing when they reap. They go out, they go out, full of tears, bearing seed for the sowing; they come back, they come back with a song, bearing their sheaves.

YOUR TALENT Psalm 16(17):1,5-6,8,15 © I shall be filled, when I awake, with the sight of your glory, O Lord. Lord, hear a cause that is just,   pay heed to my cry. Turn your ear to my prayer:   no deceit is on my lips.   I kept my feet firmly in your paths;   there was no faltering in my steps. I am here and I call, you will hear me, O God.   Turn your ear to me; hear my words.  Guard me as the apple of your eye.   Hide me in the shadow of your wings As for me, in my justice I shall see your face   and be filled, when I awake, with the sight of your glory.

PRAYER FOR PROTECTION How many are my foes, O Lord! How many are rising up against me! How many are saying about me:  ‘There is no help for him in God.’ But you, Lord, are a shield about me,  my glory, who lift up my head. I cry aloud to the Lord. He answers from his holy mountain. I lie down to rest and I sleep. I wake, for the Lord upholds me. I will not fear even thousands of people  who are ranged on every side against me. Psalm 3 psalm 27