RELIGION AND ART

Monday Week 20 in Ordinary Time ‘If you wish to be perfect, go and sell what you own and give the money to the poor' First Reading Ezekiel 24:15-24  The Lord will profane his sanctuary The word of the Lord was addressed to me as follows, ‘Son of man, I am about to deprive you suddenly of the delight of your eyes. But you are not to lament, not to weep, not to let your tears run down. Groan in silence, do not go into mourning for the dead, knot your turban round your head, put your sandals on your feet, do not cover your beard, do not eat common bread.’ I told this to the people in the morning, and my wife died in the evening, and the next morning I did as I had been ordered. The people then said to me, ‘Are you not going to explain what meaning these actions have for us?’ I replied, ‘The word of the Lord has been addressed to me as follows, “Say to the House of Israel: The Lord says this. I am about to profane my sanctuary, the pride of your strength, the delight of your eyes, th...

20thSunday in Ordinary Time ' I have been sent to the pagans as their apostle' First Reading Ezekiel 56:1,6-7  I will bring foreigners to my holy mountain Thus says the Lord: Have a care for justice, act with integrity, for soon my salvation will come and my integrity be manifest. Foreigners who have attached themselves to the Lord to serve him and to love his name and be his servants – all who observe the sabbath, not profaning it, and cling to my covenant – these I will bring to my holy mountain. I will make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their holocausts and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar, for my house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples Responsorial Psalm:  Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you. Second Reading Romans 11:13-15, 29-32  With Israel, God never takes back his gifts or revokes his choice Let me tell you pagans this: I have been sent to the pagans as their apostle, and I am proud of being sent,...

The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary ‘My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord and my spirit exults in God my saviour' First Reading apocalypse 11:18,12:1-2,10  A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman adorned with the sun The sanctuary of God in heaven opened and the ark of the covenant could be seen inside it. Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman, adorned with the sun, standing on the moon, and with the twelve stars on her head for a crown. She was pregnant, and in labour, crying aloud in the pangs of childbirth. Then a second sign appeared in the sky, a huge red dragon which had seven heads and ten horns, and each of the seven heads crowned with a coronet. Its tail dragged a third of the stars from the sky and dropped them to the earth, and the dragon stopped in front of the woman as she was having the child, so that he could eat it as soon as it was born from its mother. The woman brought a male child into the world, the son who was to rule all the nations with ...

Thursday Week19 in Ordinary Time - Saint Maximillian Kolbe, Priest, Martyr ‘Is it against the Law for a man to divorce his wife on any pretext whatever?’ First Reading Ezekiel 16:1-15,60,63  I clothed you with my own splendour but you made yourself a prostitute The word of the Lord was addressed to me as follows, ‘Son of man, confront Jerusalem with her filthy crimes. Say, “The Lord says this: By origin and birth you belong to the land of Canaan. Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. At birth, the very day you were born, there was no one to cut your navel-string, or wash you in cleansing water, or rub you with salt, or wrap you in napkins. No one leaned kindly over you to do anything like that for you. You were exposed in the open fields; you were as unloved as that on the day you were born. ‘“I saw you struggling in your blood as I was passing, and I said to you as you lay in your blood: Live, and grow like the grass of the fields. You developed, you grew, you rea...

Tuesdy Week 19 in Ordinary Time   Saint Clare, Virgin ‘Anyone who welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. First Reading Ezekiel 2:8-2,4  He gave me the scroll to eat and it was as sweet as honey I, Ezekiel, heard a voice speaking. It said, ‘You, son of man, listen to the words I say; do not be a rebel like that rebellious set. Open your mouth and eat what I am about to give you.’ I looked. A hand was there, stretching out to me and holding a scroll. He unrolled it in front of me; it was written on back and front; on it was written ‘lamentations, wailings, moanings.’ He said, ‘Son of man, eat what is given to you; eat this scroll, then go and speak to the House of Israel.’ I opened my mouth; he gave me the scroll to eat and said, ‘Son of man, feed and be satisfied by the scroll I am giving you.’ I ate it, and it tasted sweet as honey. Then he said, ‘Son of man, go to the House of Israel and tell them what I have said.’ Responsorial Psalm:  Your prom...

ST. DOMINIC, PRIEST: ‘Why were we unable to cast it out? First Reading Habakkuk 1:12-2:4  If the vision comes slowly, wait: it will come without fail Are not you, from ancient times the Lord, my God, my Holy One, who never dies? O Lord, you have made this people an instrument of justice, set it firm as a rock in order to punish. Your eyes are too pure to rest on wickedness, you cannot look on at tyranny. Why do you look on while men are treacherous, and stay silent while the evil man swallows a better man than he? You treat mankind like fishes in the sea, like creeping, masterless things. A people, these, who catch all on their hook, who draw them with their net, in their dragnet gather them,and so, triumphantly, rejoice. At this, they offer a sacrifice to their net, and burn incense to their dragnet, for providing them with luxury and lavish food. Are they then to empty their net unceasingly, slaughtering nations without pity? I will stand on my watchtower, and take up my post...

Friday Week 18 in Ordinary Time 'Yes, the Lord is restoring the vineyard ' First Reading Nahum 3:1,3,3:1-3,6-7  Israel restored; Nineveh ruined  See, over the mountains the messenger hurries!  ‘Peace!’ he proclaims.  Judah, celebrate your feasts,  carry out your vows,  for Belial will never pass through you again;  he is utterly annihilated.  Yes, the Lord is restoring the vineyard of Jacob  and the vineyard of Israel.  For the plunderers had plundered them,  they had broken off their branches.   Woe to the city soaked in blood,  full of lies,  stuffed with booty,  whose plunderings know no end!  The crack of the whip!  The rumble of wheels!  Galloping horse,  jolting chariot,  charging cavalry,  flash of swords, gleam of spears...  a mass of wounded,  hosts of dead,  countless corpses;  they stumble over the dead.  I am going to pelt you with filth,...