7:30pm Ash Wednesday Holy Mass - Wednesday, March 2nd, 2022

[Music] [Music] himself as fast [Music] elijah [Applause] [Music] is [Music] in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit the grace of our lord jesus christ and the love of god and the communion the holy spirit be with you all today we begin the 40 days of lenten journey that will take us with jesus to the holy week where we will experience his passion and death and then his resurrection on easter sunday today we begin the celebration with placing ashes on our foreheads or on our heads and this is has a powerful symbolic meaning i'll try to explain it a little bit during the homily let us pray grant oh lord that we may begin with holy fasting this campaign of christian service so that as we take up battle against spiritual evils we may be armed with weapons of self-restraint 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 a reading from the book of the prophet joel even now says the lord return to me with all your heart with fasting with whipping and with mourning rend your hearts and not your clothing return to the lord your god for his gracious and merciful slow to anger and abounding and steadfast love and relents from punishing who knows whether the lord will not turn and relent and leave a blessing behind him a grain offering and a drink offering to be presented to the lord your god blow the trumpet in zion sanctify a fast call a solemn assembly gather the people sanctify the congregation assemble the aged gather the children even infants at the breast let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her canopy between the vestibule and the altar let the priests the ministers of the lord weep let them spa let them say spare your people o lord and do not make your heritage a mockery a byword among the nations why should it be said among the peoples where is their god then the lord became jealous for his land and had pity on his people the word of the [Music] lord mercy o lord for we have sinned have mercy o lord for we have sinned have mercy on me o god according to your steadfast love according to your abundant mercy blood out my transgressions wash me throughly from my inequity and cleanse me from my sin have mercy o lord for we have sinned for i know my transgressions and my sin is over before me against you you alone have i sinned and done what is evil in your sight have mercy o lord for we have sinned create me a clean heart o god and put in you in right spirit within me do not cast me away from your presence and do not take your holy spirit from me have mercy [Music] restore to me the joy of your salvation and sustain me a willing spirit o lord open my lips and my mouth will declare your o praise for we have sinned have mercy o lord for we have sinned a reading from the second letter of saint paul to the corinthians brothers and sisters we are ambassadors for christ since god is making his appeal through us we entreat you on behalf of christ be reconciled to god for our sake god may made christ to be seen who knew no sin so that in christ we might become the righteousness of god as we work together with him we urge you also not to accept the grace of god in vain for the lord says aran at an acceptable time i have listened to you and on a day of salvation i have helped you see now is the acceptable time see now is the day of salvation the word of the lord thanks to god [Music] glory and praise to you lord jesus christ glory and praise to you lord jesus christ today do not harden your hearts but listen to the voice of the lord glory and praise to you lord jesus christ [Music] the lord be with you a reading from the holy gospel according to saint matthew jesus said to the disciples beware of practicing your piety before people in order to be seen by them for then you have no reward from your father in heaven so whenever you give alms do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets so that they may be praised by others truly i tell you they have received their reward but when you give alms do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing so that your arms may be done in secret and your father who sees in secret will reward you and whenever you pray do not be like the hypocrites for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners so that they may be seen by others truly i tell you they have received their reward but whenever you pray go into your room and shut the door and pray to your father who is in secret and your father who sees in secret will reward you and whenever you fast do not look dismal like the hypocrites for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting truly i tell you they have received their reward but when you fast put oil on your head and wash your face so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your father who is in secret and your father who sees in secret will reward you the gospel of the lord today i'm very excited that we begin this holy season of lent that will take us to easter to the resurrection of jesus because i know that in my life i need deeper and deeper conversion you and i we know that we still are weak we still fall into sin so the church in her great wisdom from ancient times has provided for us a time where we accompany christ in a more intense way we accompany him to the desert where he is tempted 40 days by the devil and he overcomes him and filled with the holy spirit he goes and ministers preaches the kingdom of god to the poor heals the sick you know raise the dead cast out demons until the time where he is betrayed and arrested and tortured and crucified and then on the third day easter sunday rise from the dead so i'm very excited i'm very grateful to god and to the church that i'm giving all of us are giving that golden opportunity to become more and more like christ to be closer to him the church says that the lent the lenten season is a holy season is a sacred season because we need to really focus on the lord and on us to responding to his grace now the church as the gospel today the gospel today indicates three ways praying fasting and almsgiving jesus did not invent this the whole old testament is filled with example when the people of god corporal corporately together and individually prayed fasted and shared with the poor did alms giving especially in times of idolatry in times of persecution in times of calamity and that's why we see in the bible for example the example of david for example after he was he killed committed adultery killed the husband of you know batsheba the woman with whom he had adultery and she was bearing a child and you know the prophet nathan was sent to david and the prophet nathan in the name of god denounced david so david repented repented and a sign of repentance he went to his quarters and he put ashes he wore sackcloth and he cried and he cried he lamented repentance and he wanted also to spare the baby that the baby died and so in times of deep repentance in times of calamity the people of god in the old testament in the new testament in the history of the church put ashes we take the example for example queen esther you may have heard the beautiful story of queen esther in the book of esther in the old testament where the people of god were in exile in babylon and she was chosen to be the queen she was very very beautiful she was very pretty but the prime minister of the king hated the jewish people so he talked he spoke with the king and you know they decided especially the prime minister that all the jewish people would be exterminated and so queen esther knew that knew about this she couldn't go and talk to the king directly because no one was allowed in the courts of the king without permission otherwise they'd be killed immediately so she prayed she removed her royal dresses she removed her jewelry she removed her you know everything that she was wearing and she fasted and she put ashes on her head and the bible goes as far as to say she didn't put only ashes but she put dung on her head she wanted to humble herself before god and cry out to him lord save your people they're going to be exterminated do something help me present myself before the king and help me intercede for my people and this is what she did you know she she washed herself again put her royal you know uh retirement and then she went into the presence of the king and the king was taken aback because no one would be coming in his presence without prior permission but then he he smiled at her so what's the what's the matter my dear esther and she told him that his prime minister was about to exterminate you know her her people and so god saved the people through the humbling esther humbled himself and cried out to god and she put ashes and more than ashes and then we have the example of david and not david daniel the prophet daniel who also cried out to god lords save your people bring them back to you because they have betrayed you they have gone into idolatrous worship they have forgotten the covenant and so again daniel put ashes so it's not something new the church is in continuity with what was done in the old testament now you may want to you might want to say to ask well how come the gospel speaks about praying fasting and alms giving only in secret are we not hypocrites showing off that we are together and we're going to have ashes on our head in the shape of the cross no we're not because jesus wants us to have an external sign the cross the cross with ashes is not a sacrament is only a sign that reflects that shows in inner disposition our inner disposition should be lord convert my heart help me return to you this is what we call repentance we are called to be reconciled with god you know we cannot show off every day after our celebration we're called to pray in private give alms in private let the left let the right hand not know what your left hand is doing and when we fast we have to do it with privates in private in secret because the father who sees in secret will reward you jesus says so there's no contradiction between today coming together as a body as a people as a church receiving the sign the sacramental of ashes and then beginning the holy season of lent with praying more intensely doing doing alms sharing with the poor in private and also abstaining from food so the church says rick recommends that we fast on today on ash wednesday and on good friday because but there's nothing that prevents you from choosing your own days of fasting or abstaining from certain food you know when when the bible and the church speaks about fasting they speak first and foremost about food now we have become addicted to eating to food so we need to maybe have less smaller portions we need also to think about fasting from time to time from the internet from social media from our smartphone fasting and praying fasting alone does not mean anything because fasting alone could be dieting well it's the the time where i can you know i could lose my a few pounds but that's not fasting christian fasting goes together with praying i will lord i'm going to give more time daily praying giving you a quality time of prayer and listening to you through your word i'm going also to deprive myself certain things so that i can share with the poor that is very important so saint paul calls us an ambassador ambassadors for christ and lent is a dis rediscovery of the grace of our baptism in our baptism jesus sealed us the father sealed us put in us a character that nobody can remove we have been sealed by the holy spirit we have been made beloved children of the father united with jesus filled with the holy spirit so the whole season of lent is a rediscovery of the awesome grace of our baptism and saint paul reminds us that in our baptism where we have become ambassadors for christ and he says be reconciled be reconciled to god and to one another forgive and that's where also lent is a very wonderful time grace-filled time for to go to the sacrament of confession or reconciliation we will have at some point in march we will have a lenten evening of reconciliation there will be a few priests and you'll be invited to come but as you know during the weekdays we have confession after each mass on sundays we have confession before and after each mass so that is why i am excited that god and the church are giving us a great opportunity to become more united with jesus to allow him to fill us more and more and more with his spirit with his love with his joy and with his mercy and jesus tells us don't be don't look gloomy if you're really living your lent your fasting your praying and your alms giving put oil the other translation put oil on your face the other translation is put perfume on your face don't look gloomy so that people will say oh my goodness these gloomy catholics these gloomy christian no it's a time of grace it's a time of joy even if we have to cry out to the lord like queen esther like david like you know daniel especially for our brothers and sisters in ukraine that are being destroyed killed devastated we have to also pray for the russian people who are suffering because of their dictator so we need to pray brothers and sisters we need to fast we need to enter into this season with a lot of joy but with a lot of trust and faith because the times are very difficult as we all know and we need the sign of the ashes to say to the lord lord i'm humbling our myself as an individual and we're humbling ourselves before you crying out lord spare your people have mercy on all of your creation lord bring joy to our lives help us follow you jesus christ with more order with more intensity amen and now we're going to offer a few prayers of intercession and then we will ask you to come forward like we come in communion holy communion and you will receive the ashes please rise at the start of lent let us be guided by pope francis who in the words of saint paul calls us not to grow tired of doing good and while we have the opportunity do good to all may the church be renewed in this time of lent so that by prayer fasting and almsgiving all become one in jesus for this we pray to the lord lord hear our prayer may our prayer in our own secret place draws closer to jesus in holy friendship we pray to the lord may our lenten fasting and repentance help curb our selfishness in order that we will live generously for others for this we pray to the lord may our giving in charity to others come from a deep sense of justice towards those in need and be filled with mercy for this we pray to the lord may all who follow christ be ambassadors of his reconciliation so that all can experience god's salvation we pray to the lord heavenly father have mercy upon us in your kindness and help us to grow in the image of jesus christ who is our lord and savior now and forever amen one last thing before we distribute the ashes the ashes being a sacramental anybody any non-catholic can receive the ashes okay so you don't have to be a catholic to receive the ashes okay because it's not a sacrament so please be seated dear brethren brothers and sisters let us humbly ask god our father that he be pleased to bless with the abundance of his grace these ashes which we will put on our heads in penitence oh god who are moved by acts of humility and respond with forgiveness to works of penance lend your merciful ear to our prayers and in your kindness pour out the grace of your blessing on your servants who are marked with these ashes so that as they follow the lenten observances they may be worthy to come with minds made pure to celebrate the paschal mystery of your son through christ our lord so thank you [Music] we rise again [Music] we rise [Music] to again ourselves [Music] [Music] an offering [Music] we offer you [Music] the dreams [Music] give our visions [Music] to you [Music] then [Music] the spring [Music] the rain will use [Music] [Music] is [Music] thanks be to the father thank you [Music] to you [Music] i will be your god [Music] you will be my people i will give [Music] oh [Music] i will be your god you will be [Music] i will give you [Music] oh will be [Music] is [Music] [Music] you [Music] [Music] oh [Music] of redemption [Music] in your triumph [Music] [Music] to you lord open your ears [Music] of redemption called to him [Music] mercy [Music] oh [Music] there is mercy [Music] you go [Music] in your trials [Music] whenever you fall [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] do [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] i love you my hands and [Music] i [Music] forgive you i love you [Music] [Music] pray brothers and sisters that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to god the almighty father as we solemnly offer the annual sacrifice for the beginning of lent we entreat you o lord that through works of penance and charity we may turn away from harmful pleasures and cleansed from our sins may become worthy to celebrate devoutly the passion of your son who lives and reigns for ever and ever amen the lord be with you and with your spirit lift up your hearts let us give thanks to the lord our god it is truly right and just our duty and our salvation always and everywhere to give you thanks lord holy father almighty and eternal god for you will that our self-denial should give you thanks humble our sinful pride contribute to the feeding of the poor and so help us imitate you in your kindness and so we glorify you with countless angels as with one voice of praise we acclaim [Music] is [Music] you are indeed holy o lord the fount of all holiness make holy therefore these gifts we pray by sending down your spirit upon them like the dewfall so that they may become for us the body and the blood of our lord jesus christ at the time he was betrayed and entered willingly into his passion he took bread and giving thanks broke it and gave it to his disciples saying take this all of you and eat of it for this is my body which will be given up for you in a similar way when supper was ended he took the chalice and once more giving thanks gave it to his disciples saying take this all of you and drink from it for this is the chalice of my blood the blood of the new and eternal covenant which will be poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins do this in memory of me [Music] [Music] therefore as we celebrate the memorial of his death and resurrection we offer you lord the bread of life and the chalice of salvation giving thanks that you have held us worthy to be in your presence and minister to you humbly we pray that partaking of the body and blood of christ we may be gathered into one by the holy spirit remember lord your church spread throughout the world and bring her to the fullness of charity with francis our pope and michael our bishop and all the clergy remember also our brothers and sisters who have fallen asleep in the hope of the resurrection welcome them into the light of your face have mercy on us all we pray that with the blessed virgin mary mother of god with blessed joseph her spouse with the blessed apostles saint dominic and all the saints who have pleased you throughout the ages we may merit to be co-heirs to eternal life and may praise and glorify you through your son jesus christ through him and with him and in him o god almighty father in the unity of the holy spirit all glory and honor is yours forever [Music] [Applause] [Music] at the savior's command and formed by divine teaching we dare to say our father who art in heaven thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil deliver us lord we pray from every evil graciously grant peace in our days that by the help of your mercy we may be always free from sin and safe from all distress as we await the blessed hope and the coming of our savior jesus christ lord jesus christ who said to your apostles peace i leave you my peace i give you look not on our sins but on the faith of your church and graciously grant her peace and unity in accordance with your will who live and reign for ever and ever the peace of the lord be with you always let us offer each other the sign of peace [Music] lamb of god you take away the sins of [Music] you take away the sins of the world [Music] lamb of god you take away [Music] behold the lamb of god behold him who takes away the sins of the world blessed are those called to the supper of the lamb lord i am not worthy should enter under my roof and only say the way [Music] so [Music] so [Music] yes [Music] [Applause] we gather together [Music] let each one be gladly [Music] and [Music] gives rejoice [Music] oh [Music] [Music] filled with hope and grace day we see your face [Music] comments oh [Music] yes [Music] and we seek to be one in christ says [Music] our lord of peace [Music] [Music] yes [Music] my god you know [Music] you let us pray may the sacrament we have received sustain us o lord that our lenten fast may be pleasing to you and be for us a healing remedy through christ our lord during lent at the end of mass before the final blessing there's always a prayer over the people pour out a spirit of compunction repentance o god on those who bow before your majesty and by your mercy may they merit the rewards you promise to those who do penance through christ our lord you can understand that there will be no confession tonight because the priests and probably yourself are exhausted the lord be with you r may almighty god bless you the father and the son and the holy spirit amen go now in peace glorifying the lord by your life [Music] who will call on his name sing the praise and the glory of god could the lord forget his love [Music] who will [Music] he will gently call your name should you wander away from him [Music] who will call and the glory of god [Music] [Applause] you

Channel: St. Mary's Parish - Vancouver

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Id: rIQClGaiIMk

Length: 69min 57sec (4197 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 02 2022