RELIGION AND ART

THURSDAY WEEK 15 IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR C MY YOKE IS EASY AND MY BURDEN IS LIGHT FIRST READING ISAIAH  26:7-9,12,16-19 'Awake and exult, all you who lie in the dust' Readings The path of the upright man is straight, you smooth the way of the upright. Following the path of your judgements, we hoped in you, O Lord, your name, your memory are all my soul desires.   At night my soul longs for you and my spirit in me seeks for you; when your judgements appear on earth the inhabitants of the world learn the meaning of integrity.   O Lord, you are giving us peace, since you treat us as our deeds deserve.  Distressed, we search for you, O Lord; the misery of oppression was your punishment for us.   As a woman with child near her time writhes and cries out in her pangs, so are we, O Lord, in your presence:  we have conceived, we writhe as if we were giving birth; we have not given the spirit of salvation to the earth, no more inhabitants of the world...

WEDNESDAY 15 WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR C  TRUE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD THE FATHER AND THE SON FIRST READING ISAIAH 10 :5-7, 13-16  Does the axe claim more credit than the man who wields it? The Lord of hosts says this: Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger, the club brandished by me in my fury! I sent him against a godless nation; I gave him commission against a people that provokes me, to pillage and to plunder freely and to stamp down like the mud in the streets. But he did not intend this, his heart did not plan it so. No, in his heart was to destroy, to go on cutting nations to pieces without limit........ Readings PREMIÈRE LECTURE  ISAÏE  10, 5-7.13-16 « Le ciseau se glorifie-t-il aux dépens de celui qui s’en sert pour tailler ? » Lecture du livre du prophète Isaïe Ainsi parle le Seigneur : Malheureux ! Assour, l’instrument de ma colère, le bâton de mon courroux. Je l’envoie contre une nation impie, je lui donne mission ...

TUESDAY WEEK 15 IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR C FIRST READING ISAIAH 7:1-9     Isaiah tells the king not to fear In the reign of Ahaz son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Razon the king of Aram went up against Jerusalem with Pekah son of Remaliah, king of Israel, to lay siege to it; but he was unable to capture it. Readings The news was brought to the House of David. ‘Aram’ they said ‘has reached Ephraim.’ Then the heart of the king and the hearts of the people shuddered as the trees of the forest shudder in front of the wind. The Lord said to Isaiah, ‘Go with your son Shear-jashub, and meet Ahaz at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the Fuller’s Field road, and say to him: ‘“Pay attention, keep calm, have no fear, do not let your heart sink because of these two smouldering stumps of firebrands, or because Aram, Ephraim and the son of Remaliah have plotted to ruin you, and have said: Let us invade Judah and terrorise it and seize it for ourselves, and set up a k...

MONDAY 15 WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR C FIRST READING ISAIAH 1:10-17   APPRENEZ À FAIRE LE BIEN Take your wrongdoing out of my sight Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the command of our God, you people of Gomorrah. ‘What are your endless sacrifices to me? says the Lord. I am sick of holocausts of rams and the fat of calves. The blood of bulls and of goats revolts me. When you come to present yourselves before me, who asked you to trample over my courts? Readings Bring me your worthless offerings no more, the smoke of them fills me with disgust. New Moons, sabbaths, assemblies I cannot endure festival and solemnity. Your New Moons and your pilgrimages I hate with all my soul. They lie heavy on me, I am tired of bearing them.   When you stretch out your hands I turn my eyes away. You may multiply your prayers, I shall not listen. Your hands are covered with blood, wash, make yourselves clean. ‘Take your wrong-doing out of my sight. Cease to do e...

15 SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR C  CHRIST THE FIRST BORN OF ALL CREATION FIRST READING DEUTERONOMY 30:10-14 The Law is not beyond your strength or beyond your reach Readings Moses said to the people: ‘Obey the voice of the Lord your God, keeping those commandments and laws of his that are written in the Book of this Law, and you shall return to the Lord your God with all your heart and soul. ‘For this Law that I enjoin on you today is not beyond your strength or beyond your reach. It is not in heaven, so that you need to wonder, “Who will go up to heaven for us and bring it down to us, so that we may hear it and keep it?” Nor is it beyond the seas, so that you need to wonder, “Who will cross the seas for us and bring it back to us, so that we may hear it and keep it?” No, the Word is very near to you, it is in your mouth and in your heart for your observance.’ PSALM: Seek you the Lord you who are poor and your hearts will revive SECOND READING COLOSSIANS 1 :15-20  All th...

SATURDAY WEEK 14 IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR C: HERE I AM SEND ME FIRST READING Isaiah 6:1-8 Isaiah's lips cleansed with a burning coal Readings   In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord of Hosts seated on a high throne; his train filled the sanctuary; above him stood seraphs, each one with six wings: two to cover its face, two to cover its feet, and two for flying.   And they cried out to one another in this way, ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts. His glory fills the whole earth.’ The foundations of the threshold shook with the voice of the one who cried out, and the Temple was filled with smoke.   I said: ‘What a wretched state I am in! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have looked at the King, the Lord of Hosts.’ Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding in his hand a live coal which he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. With this he touched my mouth and said: ‘See now,...

FRIDAY WEEK 14 IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR C FIRST READING HOSEA 14 :2-11 Readings   A call to conversion and promise of safety The Lord says this: Israel, come back to the Lord your God; your iniquity was the cause of your downfall. Provide yourself with words and come back to the Lord. Say to him, ‘Take all iniquity away so that we may have happiness again and offer you our words of praise. Assyria cannot save us, we will not ride horses any more, or say, “Our God!” to what our own hands have made, for you are the one in whom orphans find compassion.’ Reflections I will heal their disloyalty, I will love them with all my heart, for my anger has turned from them. I will fall like dew on Israel. He shall bloom like the lily, and thrust out roots like the poplar, his shoots will spread far; he will have the beauty of the olive and the fragrance of Lebanon. They will come back to live in my shade; they will grow corn that flourishes, they will cultivate vines as renowned as the ...