RELIGION AND ART

St Matthew, Apostle, Evangelist ‘Why does your master eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ First Reading Ephesians 4:1-7,11-13  We are all to come to unity, fully mature in the knowledge of the Son of God I, the prisoner in the Lord, implore you to lead a life worthy of your vocation. Bear with one another charitably, in complete selflessness, gentleness and patience. Do all you can to preserve the unity of the Spirit by the peace that binds you together. There is one Body, one Spirit, just as you were all called into one and the same hope when you were called. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God who is Father of all, over all, through all and within all. Each one of us, however, has been given his own share of grace, given as Christ allotted it. To some, his gift was that they should be apostles; to some, prophets; to some, evangelists; to some, pastors and teachers; so that the saints together make a unity in the work of service, building up the body of Chris...

Sunday 25th in Ordinary Time  “My friend, I am not being unjust to you. Why be envious because I am generous?” First Reading Isaiah 55:6-9  My thoughts are not your thoughts  Seek the Lord while he is still to be found,  call to him while he is still near. Let the wicked man abandon his way,  the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn back to the Lord who will take pity on him, to our God who is rich in forgiving; for my thoughts are not your thoughts, my ways not your ways – it is the Lord who speaks. Yes, the heavens are as high above earth as my ways are above your ways,  my thoughts above your thoughts  Responsorial Psalm:  The Lord is close to all who call him. Second Reading Philippiands 1:20-24.26 Life to me is Christ; but death would bring me more  Christ will be glorified in my body, whether by my life or by my death. Life to me, of course, is Christ, but then death would bring me somethi...

Saturday Week 24 in Ordinay Time : Saint Janaurius 'The thing that is sown is weak but what is raised is powerful' First Reading 1 Corinthins 15:35-37,42-49  The resurrected body is heavenly by nature Someone may ask, ‘How are dead people raised, and what sort of body do they have when they come back?’ They are stupid questions. Whatever you sow in the ground has to die before it is given new life and the thing that you sow is not what is going to come; you sow a bare grain, say of wheat or something like that. It is the same with the resurrection of the dead: the thing that is sown is perishable but what is raised is imperishable; the thing that is sown is contemptible but what is raised is glorious; the thing that is sown is weak but what is raised is powerful; when it is sown it embodies the soul, when it is raised it embodies the spirit. If the soul has its own embodiment, so does the spirit have its own embodiment. The first man, Adam, as scripture says, became a living ...

Friday Week 24 in Ordinary Time Jesus made his way through towns and villages preaching First Reading 1 Corinthians 15:12-20  If Christ has not been raised, your belief is useless Now if Christ raised from the dead is what has been preached, how can some of you be saying that there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, Christ himself cannot have been raised, and if Christ has not been raised then our preaching is useless and your believing it is useless; indeed, we are shown up as witnesses who have committed perjury before God, because we swore in evidence before God that he had raised Christ to life. For if the dead are not raised, Christ has not been raised, and if Christ has not been raised, you are still in your sins. And what is more serious, all who have died in Christ have perished. If our hope in Christ has been for this life only, we are the most unfortunate of all people. But Christ has in fact been raised from the dead, the first-fru...

Tuesday Week 24 in Ordinary Time: Our Lady of Sorrows ‘Woman, this is your son.’ Then to the disciple he said, ‘This is your mother.’ First Reading 1 Corinthians 12:12-14,27-31  You together are Christ's body : each of you a different part Just as a human body, though it is made up of many parts, is a single unit because all these parts, though many, make one body, so it is with Christ. In the one Spirit we were all baptised, Jews as well as Greeks, slaves as well as citizens, and one Spirit was given to us all to drink. Nor is the body to be identified with any one of its many parts. Now you together are Christ’s body; but each of you is a different part of it. In the Church, God has given the first place to apostles, the second to prophets, the third to teachers; after them, miracles, and after them the gift of healing; helpers, good leaders, those with many languages. Are all of them apostles, or all of them prophets, or all of them teachers? Do they all have the gift of mirac...

' His state was divine , yet Christ Jesus did not cling to his equality with God' First Reading Numbers 24:4-9  If anyone was bitten by a serpent, he looked up at the bronze serpent and lived On the way through the wilderness the people lost patience. They spoke against God and against Moses, ‘Why did you bring us out of Egypt to die in this wilderness? For there is neither bread nor water here; we are sick of this unsatisfying food.’ At this God sent fiery serpents among the people; their bite brought death to many in Israel. The people came and said to Moses, ‘We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you. Intercede for us with the Lord to save us from these serpents.’ Moses interceded for the people, and the Lord answered him, ‘Make a fiery serpent and put it on a standard. If anyone is bitten and looks at it, he shall live.’ So Moses fashioned a bronze serpent which he put on a standard, and if anyone was bitten by a serpent, he looked at the bronze serpent an...

24th Sunday in Ordinary Time ‘Lord, how often must I forgive my brother if he wrongs me?' First Reading Eclasisticle 27: 33-28,9 Forgive your neighbour the hurt he does you; and when you pray, your sins will be forgiven Resentment and anger, these are foul things, and both are found with the sinner. He who exacts vengeance will experience the vengeance of the Lord.  who keeps strict account of sin. Forgive your neighbour the hurt he does you, and when you pray, your sins will be forgiven. If a man nurses anger against another, can he then demand compassion from the Lord? Showing no pity for a man like himself, can he then plead for his own sins? Mere creature of flesh, he cherishes resentment; who will forgive him his sins? Remember the last things, and stop hating. remember dissolution and death, and live by the commandments. Remember the commandments, and do not bear your neighbour ill-will; remember the covenant of the Most High, and overlook the offence. Responsorial Psalm:...