RELIGION AND ART

Saturday Week 26 in Ordinary Time ‘Happy the eyes that see what you see' First Reading Job 42:1-3.5-6.12-16 In dust and in ash I repent Job answered the Lord and said: «I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be hindered. I have dealt with great things that I do not understand; things too wonderful for me, which I cannot know. I had heard of you by word of mouth, but now my eye has seen you. Therefore I disown what I have said, and repent in dust and ashes. Thus the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his earlier ones. For he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she-asses. And he had seven sons and three daughters, of whom he called the first Jemimah, the second Keziah, and the third Kerenhappuch. In all the land no other women were as beautiful as the daughters of Job; and their father gave them an inheritance along with their brothers. After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; a...

Friday Week 26 in Ordinary Time: The Holy Angels See that you never despise any of these little ones' First Reading Job 38:1.12-21; 40:3-5 The immeasurable greatness of God The Lord addressed Job out of the storm and said: «Have you ever in your lifetime commanded the morning and shown the dawn its place for taking hold of the ends of the earth, till the wicked are shaken from its surface? The earth is changed as is clay by the seal, and dyed as though it were a garment; but from the wicked the light is withheld, and the arm of pride is shattered. Have you entered into the sources of the sea, or walked about in the depths of the abyss? »Have the gates of death been shown to you, or have you seen the gates of darkness? Have you comprehended the breadth of the earth? Tell me, if you know all: Which is the way to the dwelling place of light, and where is the abode of darkness, that you may take them to their boundaries and set them on their homeward paths? You know, because you we...

Thursday October 1st in Ordinary Time:   “The kingdom of God is very near to you.” We celebrate Our Blessed Mother. Our Lady Queen of Nigeria our Patroness Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, Virgin, Doctor of the Church First Reading Job 19:21-27  My Avenger lives and will set me close to him when I awake Job said: Pity me, pity me, o you my friends, for the hand of God has struck me! Why do you hound me as though you were divine, and insatiably prey upon me? Oh, would that my words were written down! Would that they were inscribed in a record: That with an iron chisel and with lead they were cut in the rock forever! But as for me, I know that my Vindicator lives, and that he will at last stand forth upon the dust; whom I myself shall see: my own eyes, not another's, shall behold him, and from my flesh I shall see God; my inmost being is consumed with longing. Responsorial Psalm:   I believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living Gospel ...

Saint Jerome ,Priest and Doctor of the Church: Wednesday Week 26 in Ordinary Time GOD'S GREATNESS   'No one who sets a hand to the plow and  looks to what was left behind is fit for the Kingdom of God'  First Reading Job 9:1-12.14-16 How can man be in the right against God? Job answered his friends and said: I know well that it is so; but how can a man be justified before God? Should one wish to contend with him, he could not answer him once in a thousand times. God is wise in heart and mighty in strength; who has withstood him and remained unscathed? He removes the mountains before they know it; he overturns them in his anger. He shakes the earth out of its place, and the pillars beneath it tremble. He commands the sun, and it rises not; he seals up the stars. He alone stretches out the heavens and treads upon the crests of the sea. He made the Bear and Orion, the Pleiades and the constellations of the south; he does great things past finding out, marvelous things be...

The Arch Angels : Saint Micheal, Gbriel and Rapheal The Arch Angels 'You will see heaven laid open and, above the Son of Man, t he angels of God ascending and descending. ’ First Reading Daniel 7:9-10.13-14   His robe was white as snow As I watched: Thrones were set up and the Ancient One took his throne. His clothing was bright as snow, and the hair on his head as white as wool; his throne was flames of fire, with wheels of burning fire. A surging stream of fire flowed out from where he sat; thousands upon thousands were ministering to him, and myriads upon myriads attended him. The court was convened, and the books were opened. As the visions during the night continued, I saw one like a son of man coming, on the clouds of heaven; when he reached the Ancient One and was presented before him, he received dominion, glory, and kingship; nations and peoples of every language serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not be taken away, his kingship shall not...

Monday Week 26 in Ordinary Time 'Anyone who is not against you is for you. ’ First Reading Job 1:6-22  The Lord gave, the Lord has taken back: blessed be the name of the Lord One day the Sons of God came to attend on the Lord, and among them was Satan. So the Lord said to Satan, ‘Where have you been?’ ‘Round the earth,’ he answered ‘roaming about.’ So the Lord asked him, ‘Did you notice my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth: a sound and honest man who fears God and shuns evil.’ ‘Yes,’ Satan said ‘but Job is not God-fearing for nothing, is he? Have you not put a wall round him and his house and all his domain? You have blessed all he undertakes, and his flocks throng the countryside. But stretch out your hand and lay a finger on his possessions: I warrant you, he will curse you to your face.’ ‘Very well,’ the Lord said to Satan ‘all he has is in your power. But keep your hands off his person.’ So Satan left the presence of the Lord. On the day when Job’s sons and da...

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time 'Which of the two did the father’s will?’ First Reading Ezekiel 18:25-28  When the sinner renounces sin, he shall certainly live The word of the Lord was addressed to me as follows: ‘You object, “What the Lord does is unjust.” Listen, you House of Israel: is what I do unjust? Is it not what you do that is unjust? When the upright man renounces his integrity to commit sin and dies because of this, he dies because of the evil that he himself has committed. When the sinner renounces sin to become law-abiding and honest, he deserves to live. He has chosen to renounce all his previous sins; he shall certainly live; he shall not die. Responsorial Psalm:  Remember your mercy, Lord. Second Reading Philippians 2:1-11   Be united in your love Brothers and sisters: If there is any encouragement in Christ, any solace in love, any participation in the Spirit, any compassion and mercy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, with the same love, unit...