RELIGION AND ART

Friday Week 23 in Ordinary Time: ' Hypocrite! Take the plank out of your own eye first' First Reading 1 Corinthians 9:16-19, 22-27  We go into strict training, like fighters at the games I do not boast of preaching the gospel, since it is a duty which has been laid on me; I should be punished if I did not preach it! If I had chosen this work myself, I might have been paid for it, but as I have not, it is a responsibility which has been put into my hands. Do you know what my reward is? It is this: in my preaching, to be able to offer the Good News free, and not insist on the rights which the gospel gives me. So though I am not a slave of any man I have made myself the slave of everyone so as to win as many as I could. I made myself all things to all men in order to save some at any cost; and I still do this, for the sake of the gospel, to have a share in its blessings. All the runners at the stadium are trying to win, but only one of them gets the prize. You must run in the sam...

Wednesday Week 23 in Ordinary Time - Saint Peter Claver, Priest 'Happy you who are hungry now: you shall be satisfied' First Reading 1 Corinthians 7:25-31  The world as we know it is passing away About remaining celibate, I have no directions from the Lord but give my own opinion as one who, by the Lord’s mercy, has stayed faithful. Well then, I believe that in these present times of stress this is right: that it is good for a man to stay as he is. If you are tied to a wife, do not look for freedom; if you are free of a wife, then do not look for one. But if you marry, it is no sin, and it is not a sin for a young girl to get married. They will have their troubles, though, in their married life, and I should like to spare you that. Brothers, this is what I mean: our time is growing short. Those who have wives should live as though they had none, and those who mourn should live as though they had nothing to mourn for; those who are enjoying life should live as though there we...

Mary's Birthday: The Nativity of Blessed Virgin Mary First Reading Micah 5:1-4  He will stand and feed his flock with the power of the Lord The Lord says this:  But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,  the least of the clans of Judah,  out of you will be born for me  the one who is to rule over Israel;  his origin goes back to the distant past,  to the days of old.  The Lord is therefore going to abandon them  till the time when she who is to give birth gives birth.  Then the remnant of his brothers will come back, to the sons of Israel.  He will stand and feed his flock  with the power of the Lord,  with the majesty of the name of his God.  They will live secure, for from then on he will extend his power  to the ends of the land., He himself will be peace. Gospel 1:1-16,18-23  The ancestry and conception of Jesus Christ A genealogy of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham:  Abraham was the father of Isaac...

Saturday Week 22 in Ordinary Time - Saint Teresa of Calcuta , Virgin 'What do you have that was not given to you?' First Reading 1 Corinthians 4:6-15  What do you have that was not given to you? Take Apollos and myself as an example and remember the maxim: ‘Keep to what is written.’ It is not for you, so full of your own importance, to go taking sides for one man against another. In any case, brother, has anybody given you some special right? What do you have that was not given to you? And if it was given, how can you boast as though it were not? Is it that you have everything you want – that you are rich already, in possession of your kingdom, with us left outside? Indeed I wish you were really kings, and we could be kings with you! But instead, it seems to me, God has put us apostles at the end of his parade, with the men sentenced to death; it is true – we have been put on show in front of the whole universe, angels as well as men. Here we are, fools for the sake of Christ...

Friday Week 22 in Ordniary Time ‘No one tears a piece from a new cloak to put it on an old cloak' First Reading 1 Corinthians 4:1-5  The Lord alone is our judge People must think of us as Christ’s servants, stewards entrusted with the mysteries of God. What is expected of stewards is that each one should be found worthy of his trust. Not that it makes the slightest difference to me whether you, or indeed any human tribunal, find me worthy or not. I will not even pass judgement on myself. True, my conscience does not reproach me at all, but that does not prove that I am acquitted: the Lord alone is my judge. There must be no passing of premature judgement. Leave that until the Lord comes; he will light up all that is hidden in the dark and reveal the secret intentions of men’s hearts. Then will be the time for each one to have whatever praise he deserves, from God. Responsorial Psalm:  The salvation of the just comes from the Lord Gospel Luke 5:33-39  When the bridegroom...

Thursday Week 23 in Ordinary Time - St, Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church ‘Leave me, Lord; I am a sinful man.’ First reading 1 Corinthian 3:18-23  The wisdom of the world is foolishness to God Make no mistake about it: if any one of you thinks of himself as wise, in the ordinary sense of the word, then he must learn to be a fool before he really can be wise. Why? Because the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. As scripture says: The Lord knows wise men’s thoughts: he knows how useless they are; or again: God is not convinced by the arguments of the wise. So there is nothing to boast about in anything human: Paul, Apollos, Cephas, the world, life and death, the present and the future, are all your servants; but you belong to Christ and Christ belongs to God. Responsorial Psalm:  The Lord’s is the earth and its fullness. Gospel Luke 5:1-11  They left everything and followed him Jesus was standing one day by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the crowd ...

Monday Week 22 in Ordinary Time -  ‘This text is being fulfilled today even as you listen.’ First Reading 1 Corinthians 2:1-5   The only knowledge I claimed was of the crucified Christ When I came to you, brothers, it was not with any show of oratory or philosophy, but simply to tell you what God had guaranteed. During my stay with you, the only knowledge I claimed to have was about Jesus, and only about him as the crucified Christ. Far from relying on any power of my own, I came among you in great ‘fear and trembling’ and in my speeches and the sermons that I gave, there were none of the arguments that belong to philosophy; only a demonstration of the power of the Spirit. And I did this so that your faith should not depend on human philosophy but on the power of God. Responsorial Psalm:  Lord, how I love your law! Gospel Luke 4:16-30  'This text is being fulfilled today, even as you listen' Jesus came to Nazara, where he had been brought up, and went into ...