RELIGION AND ART

The virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel. He shall be living on curds and honey by the time he learns to reject the bad and choose the good.   Is. 7:14b-15 Prayer of the Church: All-powerful Father, we await the healing power of Christ your Son.  Let us not be discouraged by our weaknesses as we prepare for his coming.  Keep us steadfast in your love.  We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Readings for today

I myself will pasture my sheep; I myself will give them rest, says the Lord God. The lost I will seek out, the strayed I will bring back, the injured I will bind up, the sick I will heal, shepherding them rightly.  Eze. 34:15-16 Prayer of the Church: Almighty God, help us to look forward to the glory      of the birth of Christ our Saviour: his coming is proclaimed joyfully to the ends of the earth, for he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Readings for today

Come let us climb the Lord's mountain, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may instruct us in his ways, and we may walk in his paths.  For from Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Isa. 2:3 Readings Come to me Pauline Prayer of the Church: Lord, free us from our sins and make us whole.  Hear our prayer, and                                                            prepare us to celebrate the incarnation of your Son, who lives                                                            and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and                                                             ever.

The sceptre shall never depart from Judah, or the mace from between his legs, while tribute is brought to him, and he receives the people's homage. Gen. 49:10 Readings