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Showing posts with the label El Greco
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  Sheaves of Wheat Vincent van Gogh [ Web Gallery of Art ] T ruly, truly, I say to you,  unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit (John 12:24). In Ireland the Solemnity of St Patrick is celebrated this Sunday, with everything from the Mass for that feast including the Gloria. However, the readings are those of the Fifth Sunday of Lent, Year B. Readings  (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland) Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Gospel   John 12:20-33  ( English Standard Version Anglicised, India) Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks.   So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”   Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.   And Jesus answered them,  “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.   Truly, truly, I say to you, unles

'The Risen Christ was not an abstraction, or mere theological doctrine, to Shahbaz Bhatti.' Sunday Reflections, 3rd Sunday of Lent, Year B

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Christ Cleansing the Temple Luca Giordano [ Web Gallery of Art ] And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple  (John 2:15; Gospel). Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland) Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Gospel   John 2:13-25  ( English Standard Version Anglicised, India) The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father's house a house of trade.” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things

Their only words were: 'Jesus, help me!' Sunday Reflections, 1st Sunday of Lent, Year B

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  The Repentant Peter El Greco [ Web Gallery of Art ] 'Repent and believe in the gospel'  (Mark 1:16; Gospel). Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland) Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Gospel   Mark 1:12-15  ( English Standard Version Anglicised, India) The Spirit immediately drove Jesus out into the wilderness.   And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him. Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God,   and saying,  “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”   Léachtaí i nGaeilge Cupola Decoration Early Coptic Painter [ Web Gallery of Art ] One of my teachers in the Columban seminary in the 1960s was a saintly priest, Fr Edward McCormack. Father Ted, as we knew him, spent most of his life as a priest teaching Scriptur

'You died out of love and did not abandon us in our misery.' Sunday Reflections, 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

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Yachounomori Garden,Tatebayashi, Gunma, Japan  [ Wikipedia ;  photo ] Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland) Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Gospel  Mark 1:40-45  ( English Standard Version Anglicised, India) And a leper  came to him, imploring him, and kneeling said to him, “If you will, you can make me clean.”   Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him,  “I will; be clean.”   And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean.   And Jesus sternly charged him and sent him away at once,   and said to him,  “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, for a proof to them.”   But he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in desolate places, and people were coming to him from every quarter. Léachta
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Calling of Sts Peter and Andrew Cigoli [ Web Gallery of Art ] Readings  (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland) Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Gospel   Mark 1:14-20 ( English Standard Version Anglicised: India) Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God,   and saying,  “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.   And Jesus said to them,  “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”   And immediately they left their nets and followed him.   And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets.   And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed hi

Feast of the Holy Family, Year B; Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God, Year B

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St Joseph and the Christ Child El Greco [ Web Gallery of Art ] Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland) Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Gospel   Luke 2:22-40 [or 22, 39-40] ( English Standard Version Anglicised: India) And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they [the parents of Jesus] brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord  [(as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”)   and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, “a pair of turtle-doves, or two young pigeons”.   Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.   And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ.   And

St John of the Cross and Roy Campbell, two poets

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St John of the Cross Attributed to Francisco de Zurbarán [ Wikipedia ] Feast Day 14 December (24 November in the Old Calendar) Crisis Magazine  today (13 December) carries an interesting article about South African poet Roy Campbell (1901-1957) written by Joseph Pearce, under the intriguing title  A Convert Among Communists and Carmelites . I have used translations by Roy Campbell of poems by St John of the Cross (1542-1591) on this blog but never knew until I read Pearce's article of the intimate connection between the poet and the archives of the saint given to him by the Carmelite friars in Toledo, Spain, during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) for safekeeping. Continue at Bangor to Bobbio .

Virgin of Guadalupe, Patroness of unborn childre

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Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe Our Lady of Guadalupe Feast Day: 12 December Patroness of the Americas ,  of Mexico,  of Unborn Children  and Secondary Patroness of the Philippines The Story of Our Lady of Guadalupe Opening Prayer of the Mass of Our Lady of Guadalupe   12 December O God, Father of mercies,  who placed your people under the singular protection of your Son’s most holy Mother, grant that all who invoke the Blessed Virgin of Guadalupe, may seek with ever more lively faith the progress of people in the way of justice and of peace. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Continue at Bangor to Bobbio .

'As you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.' Sunday Reflections, Christ the King, Year A

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The Last Judgement , Michelangelo  [ Web Gallery of Art ] Readings   (Jerusalem Bible: Australia, England & Wales, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, Scotland) Readings   (New American Bible: Philippines, USA) Gospel   Matthew 25:31-46  ( English Standard Version Anglicised, India) Jesus said to his disciples: “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.   Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.   And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.   Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.   For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,   I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and yo

The Mysteries of the Rosary with the Great Painters

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 Madonna of the Rosary   Lorenzo Lotto [ Web Gallery of Art ] Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day’s journey away.  When they had entered the city, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying, Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James.  All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers ( Acts 1:12-14 ). First Reading, Mass of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary. Madonna of the Rosary   Lorenzo Lotto [ Web Gallery of Art ] Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a sabbath day’s journey away.  When they had entered the city, they went to the room upstairs where they were staying, Peter, and John, and James, and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James son o