Ash Wednesday - Mass with Fr. Mike Schmitz

i invite you to stand you are merciful to all o lord and despise nothing that you have made you overlook people's sins to bring them to repentance and you spare them for you are the lord our god in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit the lord be with you with your spirit i want to welcome you all to our ash wednesday mass um this morning uh what an incredible opportunity we are starting lent right now it's already started because the moment you woke up you probably started fasting started abstaining from meat and snacks and all those things which is so good but this is the the highlight of ash wednesday it's not simply about what we're saying no to it's all about what we're saying yes to it's not just about what we're doing it's about who we're doing it for and that's what the mass is all about right not just about what we're doing it's about who we're doing it for that we begin this season of lent for the lord jesus for the glory of the father and in the power of the holy spirit and so you know it's so good because that opening antiphon from the book of wisdom if you want to look it up it's in uh wisdom chapter 11 is that that truth that god you overlook people's sins to bring them to repentance you're patient with us saint peter says later on you're patient with us so that we have time to come back to you and that's what this mass is all about is an opportunity to return to the lord with our whole heart to return to him from whom we have run away to return to him from whom we have drifted away so at the beginning of this mass we do that we confess our sins repent and we return to our father lord jesus you came to call sin sinners lord have mercy lord have mercy you came to seek and to save the lost christ have mercy christ have mercy you live to intercede for us at the right hand of the father lord have mercy lord have mercy may almighty god have mercy on us forgive us our sins and bring us to everlasting life amen 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 one god forever and ever amen invite you to be seated as we hear from god's word a reading from the book of the prophet joel chapter 2 verses 12-18 even now says the lord return to me with your whole heart with fasting and weeping and mourning rend your hearts not your garments and return to the lord your god for gracious and merciful is he slow to anger rich in kindness and relenting in punishment perhaps he will again relent and leave behind him a blessing offerings and libations for the lord your god blow the trumpet in zion proclaim a fast call an assembly gather the people notify the congregation assemble the elders gather the children and the infants at the breast let the bridegroom quit his room and the bride her chamber between the porch and the altar let the priests the ministers of the lord weep and say spare o lord your people and make not your heritage or reproach with the nations ruling over them why should they say among the peoples where is their god then the lord was stirred to concern for his land and took pity on his people the word of the lord thanks be to god [Music] the responsorial psalm be merciful o lord for we have sinned be merciful o lord for we have sinned have mercy on me o god and your goodness in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense thoroughly wash me from my guilt and of my sin cleanse me be merciful o lord for we have sinned for i acknowledge my offense and my sin is always before me against you only have i sinned and done what is evil in your sight be merciful o lord for we have sinned a clean heart create for me o god and a steadfast spirit renew within me cast me not out from your presence and your holy spirit take not from me be merciful o lord for we have sinned give me back the joy of your salvation and a willing spirit sustain in me o lord open my lips and my mouth shall proclaim your praise be merciful o lord for we have sinned [Music] a reading from the second letter of saint paul to the corinthians chapter 5 verse 20 to chapter 2 verse to chapter 6 verse 2. brothers and sisters we are ambassadors for christ as if god were appealing through us we implore you on behalf of christ be reconciled to god for our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin so that we might become the righteousness of god in him working together then we appeal to you not to receive the grace of god in vain for he says in an acceptable time i heard you and on the day of salvation i helped you behold now is a very acceptable time behold now is the day of salvation the word of the lord thanks be to god the lord be with you a reading from the holy gospel according to matthew gloria chapter 6 verses 1 through 6 and verses 16 through 18 jesus said to his disciples take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them otherwise you will you will have no recompense from your heavenly father when you give alms do not blow a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets to win the praise of others amen i say to 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 almsgiving may be secret and your father who sees in secret will repay you when you pray do not be like the hypocrites who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and not street corners so that others may see them amen i say to you they have received their reward but when you pray go to your room close the door and pray to your father in secret and your father who sees in secret will repay you when you fast do not look gloomy like the hypocrites they neglect their appearance so that they may appear to others to be fasting amen i say to you they have received their reward but when you fast anoint your head and wash your face so that you may not appear to be fasting except to your father who is hidden and your father who sees what is hidden will repay you the gospel of the lord jesus christ i should have a seat so just one one thing about a lent i love uh as we're starting the season it's one of my favorite seasons i think a lot of people it's their favorite season and for so many reasons but i think one of the reasons why this is my favorite is um because it's a it's like a it's an intentional season of action it's a season where um we're invited by the church to do something so the customary thing is what we heard in matthew's gospel today is um prayer fasting and almsgiving like these three powerful things that we can do in our in our lives that we don't necessarily always do um and we have we are given these 40 days we think this is awesome i've got 40 days to do these things to pray like i haven't prayed before to do some kind of penance to like clean things out of my life that i haven't that i've allowed to be there and giving like to be more generous more giving more more like jesus than we normally are and there's something about that that again this season of action the season of being able to do something it's a season of purpose i like lent for all those reasons but one of the reasons i love lent is because it's also a season of return what i mean by that is there are so many people who will come back to church on today maybe i don't know if this is your first online mass maybe you you realized it was it's ash wednesday and i want to maybe start going to mass but i can't go to get to mass in person yet and so you logged on and you're praying with us right now there's something powerful about that because i think the season of lent is a season that so many people want they realize something is missing and they want to return to the lord because i think so often we're tempted to run away i think instead of returning more so often we're tempted to run away or even even more accurately i think we're tempted to drift away because that's kind of our default our d have you ever paid attention to your heart yourself maybe other people sometimes it's easier to see that in other people than ourselves but oftentimes our default is comfort like oftentimes our default is is ease of times our default is to run away our default is homeostasis like if you just like get rid of whatever kind of stress whatever kind of like battle i don't want to have to do this because my default is comfort my default is ease my default is to escape in fact um there was a and we think that if we do that then we'll have like a full life we think if we just eliminate all the stresses eliminate the battles eliminate the struggles we have in our lives then then i'd really be free to be happy then i'd free i'd be free to be the person i want to be and yet there was an experiment uh done in the university of stanford a bunch of years ago where they took some bacteria they took some you know some single-celled organisms and they put them in an ideal environment an environment had no stress the amount of light and dark that these uh bacteria needed they gave them that exact thing they found a temperature that would be perfect for these bacteria that's exactly what they put them in the amount of energy source whatever that was for these bacteria they gave them everything they needed and they eliminated every form and every source of stress and what happened is that bacteria began to die it just died that one was given a a environment of homeostasis when it was given environment of ease where it didn't have to struggle it didn't have to fight it didn't have any battles it just they just died and i think that's the same thing is true for our faith like i think a lot of times like oh my gosh i just i just want to be in a place where i can be at peace i just want to be in a place where there's no stress and i completely understand that because there's a lot of stresses in our lives there's a lot of battles in our lives and yet our relationship with god i would say this it has to be challenged in order to grow that our relationship with christ has to be challenged in order to grow if it's going to thrive and i think i think a lot of us again lent come back to this moment we want our relationship with god to not just be okay or to be so so or to be yeah it's there i think we want our relationship with the lord to thrive to let it that it's actually something powerful there's actually something that is maybe a state like this that your faith in the lord is a force to be reckoned with another way to say it is your relationship with christ is a force in this world for good that actually it's strong enough to stand up to attacks it's strong enough to stand up to the battles both exterior and interior i think we want that kind of faith we want that kind of relationship with the lord that has a strength on its own that is a force to be reckoned with and if it's going to be like that if it's going to thrive it's going to be if it's going to be a force that needs to be reckoned with then we can't always default to comfort we can't always default to ease and we can't always default to escape i think i've been thinking about that word a lot escape lately because to run away right to escape especially now and especially the season of lent's coming of starting right now i was asked to uh i was had a conversation with a man named mark hart mark hart is a works for a a ministry called life team and he asked me a question he said that uh his younger daughter as lent was approaching asks asked him she said dad what are we going to do for lent because so much has already been taken away from us that it just seems kind of kind of weird to give away even more because that's what we typically do right we give up stuff for len and she just said during this time of the coronavirus there's this time of cobit like so much has already been taken from us what else is there to give up i thought that was a really really good question because it's true so much has been taken away but if i think you look at your life because i've looked at my life i realized that in the place of all those things that were taken away i know that many of us have filled up those spaces with things that numb ourselves to what's been taken i think there are real griefs and real sorrows in our lives the real real things that we've had to sacrifice and that our on our choosing not our choice to sacrifice them they've just been taken away and i think a lot of us have responded to that by seeking other sources of comfort remember because we default comfort we default ease and when something gets taken away that was giving us comfort then we find other comfort sources and so that's one of the reasons why i think there's been more people on social media than in the last year than maybe ever they've been more people seeking out streaming services and that distraction and that numbing and that comfort that maybe ever that's one of the reasons why i think in the last year there was something like alcohol sales was up over 30 all over the country because when something gets taken away i think a lot of us we still default to comfort so the question i mean the question is so much has been taken away what can we offer i think one of the things we can offer is whatever we've been using to escape from this reality like whatever it is that we've been we've introduced into our lives so that we could escape the difficulty and not like and i understand like there are times when we need to run right in fact they talk about this when you're you're in a dangerous situation the number one thing you can do run get out of that dangerous situation that's a real legitimate actually decision to make but when it's life when it's just life and our response is to run our response is escape then i think that we're we're missing out because we either run away or we return we either escape or we look at this present moment and we embrace this present moment in fact there is this classic christian theological principle reality it's called the the sacrament of the present moment what that means ultimately if you boil it down with the sacrament of the present moment is is that god is not to be found in the past and god is not to be found in the future but god is to be found here and now i think we a lot of times have this idea of like well there and then but god can only be found in the here and now in every single moment in every moment regardless of its difficulty or of its ease every single moment is an opportunity for us to either escape or to embrace that moment and a moment to let ourself be found by god or a moment to run away from god a moment to return to him or to drift away from him so my invitation like this lent as we were beginning this season this season of purpose the season of action this season where we're called to do something to examine your heart and your life and say okay yes maybe you've been one of those people or many of those people who from whom so much has been taken but maybe you're also like many of the rest of us where we have run away from reality that we have run away from the present moment that we've been trying to escape by numbing ourselves by defaulting to comfort and ease and homeostasis when we're actually called to return to return to the present moment to return to the life that we're in right now and not escape but truly embrace the lord in every single season and every single moment in just a moment in just a moment we're going to have the distribution of ashes and what we normally do as you probably know is you normally trace the sign of the cross in ashes on people's foreheads and yet this year because of the coronavirus the bishops of the world basically have decided that that's not how we're going to do it it's not going to be ashes on people's forehead because that involves contact and so instead what we're going to do is um people come forward before they come forward we'll say one time remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return people respond with amen so that's i invite you to respond then just with that amen and then um the boys will come forward the men will come forward and will simply sprinkle ashes on their heads now this is an ancient biblical practice where you would cover yourself in ashes and sackcloth so it's it's it's unique and kind of new that we have the sign of the cross on our foreheads it's beautiful i love it but this is even more ancient the sign of like here's ashes here is here is um the the remnants of a life that's been burned up here's a remnant of a life that i no longer want to cling to here's a sign of repentance a sign that i'm going to return i don't want to run away anymore i want to return to the lord i don't want to escape anymore i want to embrace even the difficulties of life i want to because i want to embrace god in this present moment and so as the men come forward and i sprinkle the ashes on their heads they'll make the sign of the cross on themselves and as they come forward put yourself in their shoes put yourself in their place recognizing that that two in this moment the lord is calling you to not run away but to return and to not escape the realities even the difficult realities of life but to embrace them and in doing so also embrace him i invite you to stand my 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 brought the grace of your blessing on your servants who are marked with these ashes 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 amen my brothers and my sister remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return [Music] foreign having turned away from sin and turned towards the lord we now bring to our heavenly father all of our prayers [Music] for the members of the church as they accept the ashes of repentance and renewal and for a renewed deal for all christians as ambassadors of the gospel we pray to the lord r lord hear our prayer for the leaders of nations and the important challenges and decisions they face and all who work to implement justice and dignity for their peoples we pray to the lord r lord hear our prayer for all who begin this time of renewal in god's love by prayer fasting and almsgiving and for the catechumens of the church preparing for baptism during lent we pray to the lord r lord hear our prayer for generosity and sharing with the poor and needy this lent and for the sick hospitalized and homebound who cannot join us today we pray to the lord r lord hear our prayer for all who have died recently and for all who mourn we pray to the lord r we continue our prayer by offering our diocese of duluth prayer for vocations as we pray this prayer i invite you to pray for vocations in your own diocese as well almighty father we beg you for an increase in religious vocations and holy marriages in our diocese help us to be generous in our response to your call choose from our homes those who are needed for your work and strengthen us with the courage to say yes and to follow you help us as a diocese as a parish as families to encourage and foster vocations to the priesthood permanent diaconate and consecrated life we commend our prayers to our patroness mary queen of the rosary and ask this through jesus christ our lord amen as we prepare the altar for the celebration of the eucharist one of the things that we're reminded of is the fact that throughout the course of lent we offer up things right we give things what are you giving up um that's a great question what are you giving up um but an even better question i think in some ways is the follow-up questions of that which is to whom are you giving it we can give up something that's fine just eliminating it from our lives or we can give it to the lord so that every time we give up whatever the thing is it could be something small it can be something big it doesn't matter every time we do that it's giving to the lord it's an act of worship and so again we're about to enter into we've been we've been in mass right this is mass this is we're worshiping the lord but also in this massively profound way for the next 40 days whatever it is that you have chosen to give up or those things those things you've chosen to give up they're not simply an exercise of discipline they're meant to truly be an exercise of worship an act of worship so as we're giving up to the lord the sacrifice is of his son you can unite what you are giving up for the next 40 days not just again as discipline but as worship moved by love blessed are you lord god of all creation for through your goodness we have received the bread we offer you fruit of the earth and work of human hands it will become for us the bread of life blessed are you lord god of all creation for through your goodness we have this wine to offer fruit of the vine and work of human hands it will become our spiritual drink bring my brothers and sisters that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to god the almighty father may the lord accept the sacrifice at your hands to the praise and glory of his name for our good and good of all his holy church as we solemnly offer the annual sacrifice of the beginning of lent we entreat you o lord that through works of penance and charity we may turn away from harmful pleasures and cleanse from our sins may become worthy to celebrate devoutly the passion of your son who lives and reigns forever and ever amen the lord be with you with your spirit lift up your hearts we lift them up to the lord let us give thanks to the lord our god it is right and just 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 through christ our lord for by your gracious gift each year your faithful await the sacred paschal feasts with the joy of minds made pure so that more eagerly intent on prayer and on the works of charity and on participating in the mysteries by which they have been reborn they may be led to the fullness of grace that you bestow upon your sons and upon your daughters and so with angels and archangels with thrones and dominions and with all the hosts and powers of heaven we sing the hymn of your glory as without end we acclaim holy holy holy lord god of hosts heaven and earth are full of your glory hosanna in the highest blessed is he who comes in the name of the lord hosanna in the highest you are indeed holy oh lord and all you have created rightly gives you praise for through your son our lord jesus christ by the power and working of the holy spirit you give life to all things and you never cease to gather a people to yourself so that from the rising of the sun to its setting a pure sacrifice may be offered to your name therefore o lord we humbly implore you by the same spirit graciously make holy these gifts we have brought to you for consecration that they may become the body and blood of your son our lord jesus christ and whose command we celebrate these mysteries for on the night he was betrayed he himself took bread in giving you thanks he said the blessing broke the bread 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 he 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 the mystery of faith we proclaim your death oh lord and profess your resurrection until you come again therefore o lord as we celebrate the memorial of the saving passion of your son his wondrous resurrection and ascension into heaven and as we look forward to his second coming we offer you in thanksgiving this holy and living sacrifice look we pray upon the oblation of your church recognizing the sacrificial victim by whose death you will to reconcile us to yourself grant that we who are nourished by the body and blood of your son and filled with this holy spirit may become one body one spirit in christ may he make of us an eternal offering to you so that we may obtain an inheritance with your elect especially with the blessed virgin mary blessed virgin mary the mother of god with blessed joseph her husband with your blessed apostles and glorious martyrs and with all your saints what on his constant intercession in your presence we rely for unfailing help may this sacrifice of our reconciliation we pray o lord advance the peace and salvation of all the world be pleased to confirm in faith and charity your pilgrim church on earth with your servant francis our pope the order of bishops all the clergy and the entire people you have gained for your own listen graciously to the prayers of this family whom we have summoned before you in your compassion or merciful father gather to yourself all your children scattered throughout the world to our departed brothers and sisters and to all who are pleasing to you with their passing from this life give kind admittance to your kingdom there we hope to enjoy forever the fullness of your glory through christ our lord through whom you bestow on the world all that is good through him and with him and in him oh god almighty father in the unity of the holy spirit all glory and honor is yours forever and ever r at the savior's command informed by divine teaching we dare to say our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name 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 in the coming of our savior jesus the power and the christ are yours now and forever 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 forever and ever amen may the peace of the lord be with you always and with your spirit lamb of god you take away the sins of the world have mercy on us lamb of god you take away the sins of the world have mercy on us lamb of god you take away the sins of the world grant us peace foreign behold the lamb of god behold him who takes away the sins of the world blessed are those who are called to the supper of the lamb lord i am not worthy that you should enter under my roof but only say the word and my soul shall be healed an act of spiritual communion my jesus i believe you are present in the most holy sacrament i love you above all things and i desire to receive you into my soul since i cannot at this moment receive you sacramentally come and leave spiritually into my heart i embrace you as if you are already there and unite myself holy to you never permit me to be separated from you amen 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 amen saint michael the archangel defend us in battle be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil may god rebuke him we humbly pray and who thou are prince of the heavenly host by the power of god cast into hell satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls amen the lord be with you right your spirit i want you to bow down for the blessing pour out a spirit of compunctional god on those who bow down before your majesty and by your mercy may they merit the rewards you promise to those who do penance through christ our lord the lord be with you and with your spirit may almighty god bless you all the father the son and the holy spirit go in peace glorifying the lord by your life thanks be to god soviet regina martinez eric cortier vita dulce [Music] flantas [Music] standing o [Music] clemence [Music] virgo mariah you

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Id: TkSLM5an8aM

Length: 38min 25sec (2305 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 17 2021