RELIGION AND ART

TUESDAY SECOND WEEK IN ADVENT Reading Isaiah 40:1-11  Consolations from the heart of Jerusalem ‘Console my people, console them’ says your God. ‘Speak to the heart of Jerusalem and call to her that her time of service is ended, that her sin is atoned for, that she has received from the hand of the Lord double punishment for all her crimes.’ Universalis A voice cries, ‘Prepare in the wilderness a way for the Lord. Make a straight highway for our God across the desert. Let every valley be filled in, every mountain and hill be laid low. Let every cliff become a plain, and the ridges a valley; then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all mankind shall see it; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.’.....   Gospel Matthew 18:12-14 The one lost sheep gives him more joy than the ninety-nine that did not stray Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Tell me. Suppose a man has a hundred sheep and one of them strays; will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hillside and go in search of t

MONDAY 2ND WEEK OF ADVENT Reading Isaiah 35:1-10 The return of the redeemed through the desert  Let the wilderness and the dry-lands exult, let the wasteland rejoice and bloom, let it bring forth flowers like the jonquil, let it rejoice and sing for joy. The glory of Lebanon is bestowed on it, the splendour of Carmel and Sharon; they shall see the glory of the Lord, the splendour of our God. Strengthen all weary hands, steady all trembling knees and say to all faint hearts, ‘Courage! Do not be afraid. ‘Look, your God is coming, vengeance is coming, the retribution of God; he is coming to save you.’.... Universalis   Gospel Luke 5:17-26 'Your sins are forgiven you: get up and walk' Jesus was teaching one day, and among the audience there were Pharisees and doctors of the Law who had come from every village in Galilee, from Judaea and from Jerusalem. And the Power of the Lord was behind his works of healing. Then some men appeared, carrying on a bed a paralysed man whom the

SATURDAY FIRST WEEK OF ADVENT Reading  Isaiah 30:19-21,23-26  The Lord God will be gracious to you and hear your cry Thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel:  People of Zion, you will live in Jerusalem and weep no more. He will be gracious to you when he hears your cry; when he hears he will answer. When the Lord has given you the bread of suffering and the water of distress, he who is your teacher will hide no longer, and you will see your teacher with your own eyes. Whether you turn to right or left, your ears will hear these words behind you, ‘This is the way, follow it.’ He will send rain for the seed you sow in the ground, and the bread that the ground provides will be rich and nourishing. Your cattle will graze, that day, in wide pastures. Oxen and donkeys that till the ground will eat a salted fodder, winnowed with shovel and fork.... Universalis Gospel  Matthew 9:35-10:1,5,6-8  The harvest is rich but the labourers are few Jesus made a tour through all the towns and vill

FRIDAY FIRST WEEK IN ADVENT First Reading Isaiah 29:17-24  In a very short time, the deaf will hear and the eyes of the blind will see  The Lord says this: In a short time, a very short time, shall not Lebanon become fertile land and fertile land turn into forest? The deaf, that day, will hear the words of a book and, after shadow and darkness, the eyes of the blind will see. But the lowly will rejoice in the Lord even more and the poorest exult in the Holy One of Israel; for tyrants shall be no more, and scoffers vanish, and all be destroyed who are disposed to do evil: those who gossip to incriminate others, those who try at the gate to trip the arbitrator and get the upright man’s case dismissed for groundless reasons. Universalis   Therefore the Lord speaks, the God of the House of Jacob, Abraham’s redeemer: No longer shall Jacob be ashamed, no more shall his face grow pale, for he shall see what my hands have done in his midst, he shall hold my name holy. They will hallow th