gold and silver

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Sunday, 4 May 2014 : 3rd Sunday of Easter (Second Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

1 Peter 1 : 17-21

You call upon a Father who makes no distinction between persons but judges according to each one’s needs; take seriously, then, these years which you spend in a strange land. Remember that you were freed from the useless way of life of your ancestors, not with gold and silver but with the precious blood of the Lamb without spot or blemish.

God, who has known Christ before the world began, revealed Him to you in the last days. Through Him, you have faith in God who raised Him from the dead and glorified Him in order that you might put all your faith and hope in God.

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Monday, 23 September 2013 : 25th Week of Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Pius of Pietrelcina, Priest (First Reading)

Liturgical Colour : White

Ezra 1 : 1-6

In the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, YHVH willed to fulfill the word He had said through the prophet Jeremiah, so He moved the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, to issue the following command and send it out in writing to be read aloud everywhere in his kingdom.

Thus speaks Cyrus, king of Persia : “YHVH, the God of heavens, who has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, has ordered me to build Him a Temple in Jerusalem, in the land of Judah. To everyone belonging to His people, may his God be with him! Let them go up to Jerusalem with the help of their God and there build the House of YHVH, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem.”

“In every place where the rest of the people of YHVH live, let the people of those places help them for their journey with silver, gold, and all kinds of goods and livestock. Let them also give them voluntary offerings for the House of YHVH which is in Jerusalem.”

Then they rose up – the heads of the families of Judah and Benjamin, the priests and the Levites, and all those whose spirit God had stirred up – and they decided to go and build the House of YHVH. And all of their neighbours gave them all kinds of help : gold, silver, livestock, and precious objects in great quantity, besides every kind of voluntary offering.

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A beautiful, artistic representation of the Sede Vacante with coat-of-arms of the Cardinal Camerlengo, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone

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The Umbrella above the keys (silver and gold) in the place of the usual papal tiara is the symbol of the sede vacante, to represent that the Papacy, the position of the Bishop of Rome is vacant. A more complete version of the symbol is with the coat-of-arms of the Cardinal Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, who is currently the Cardinal Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone of Italy.

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The Cardinal Camerlengo is in charge of the events and governance of the Holy See, and also of the conclave during the sede vacante, until the new Pope is elected. He is also the one entrusted to seal the previous Pope’s private apartments and the destruction of the Ring of the Fisherman.

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