RELIGION AND ART

MONDAY FIFTH WEEK OF LENT YEAR C 'I AM INNOCENT  OF THIS WOMAN'S DEATH !'  Readings First Reading  Daniel 13:1-9,15-17,19-30,33-62    Susannah and the elders  In Babylon there lived a man named Joakim. He had married Susanna daughter of Hilkiah, a woman of great beauty; and she was God-fearing, because her parents were worthy people and had instructed their daughter in the Law of Moses. Joakim was a very rich man, and had a garden attached to his house; the Jews would often visit him since he was held in greater respect than any other man. Two elderly men had been selected from the people that year to act as judges. Of such the Lord said, ‘Wickedness has come to Babylon through the elders and judges posing as guides to the people.’ These men were often at Joakim’s house, and all who were engaged in litigation used to come to them. At midday, when everyone had gone, Susanna used to take a walk in her husband’s garden. The two elders, who used to watch her every day as she ca

FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT YEAR C:  NEITHER DO I CONDEMN YOU, GO AND SIN NO MORE First Reading Isaiah 43 :16-21 See, I am doing a new deed, and I will give my chosen people drink Readings Thus says the Lord, who made a way through the sea, a path in the great waters; who put chariots and horse in the field and a powerful army which lay there never to rise again, snuffed out, put out like a wick: Lectures No need to recall the past, no need to think about what was done before. See, I am doing a new deed, even now it comes to light; can you not see it? Yes, I am making a road in the wilderness, paths in the wilds. The wild beasts will honour me, jackals and ostriches, because I am putting water in the wilderness (rivers in the wild) to give my chosen people drink. The people I have formed for myself will sing my praises. Responsorial Psalm: What marvels the Lord worked for us! Indeed we were glad Second Reading Philippians 3:8-14 I look on everything as so much rubbish if only I

First Reading Jeremiah 11:18-20 (Readings for Saturday 2nd April 2022) 'Let us cut him off from the land of the living, so that his name may be quickly forgotten' The Lord revealed it to me; I was warned. O Lord, that was when you opened my eyes to their scheming. I for my part was like a trustful lamb being led to the slaughter-house, not knowing the schemes they were plotting against me, ‘Let us destroy the tree in its strength, let us cut him off from the land of the living, so that his name may be quickly forgotten!’ Readings But you, the Lord of Hosts, who pronounce a just sentence,  who probe the loins and heart,  let me see the vengeance you will take on them,  for I have committed my cause to you. Lectures Responsorial Psalm: Lord I take refuge in you. Gospel John 7:40-52 The Law does not allow us to pass judgement on a man without hearing him Several people who had been listening to Jesus said, ‘Surely he must be the prophet’, and some said, ‘He is the Christ’, bu

First Reading Wisdom 2 :1,12-22 Let us lie in wait for the virtuous man and condemn him to a shameful death The godless say to themselves, with their misguided reasoning: Readings ‘Our life is short and dreary, nor is there any relief when man’s end comes, nor is anyone known who can give release from Hades. Let us lie in wait for the virtuous man, since he annoys us and opposes our way of life, reproaches us for our breaches of the law and accuses us of playing false to our upbringing. He claims to have knowledge of God, and calls himself a son of the Lord. Before us he stands, a reproof to our way of thinking, the very sight of him weighs our spirits down; his way of life is not like other men’s, the paths he treads are unfamiliar. Lectures In his opinion we are counterfeit; he holds aloof from our doings as though from filth; he proclaims the final end of the virtuous as happy and boasts of having God for his father. Let us see if what he says is true, let us observe what