Catholic Mass Today 8th Sunday in Ordinary Time 27 Feb 2022 Bishop Greg Homeming Lismore Australia

we respectfully acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land upon which saint carthage's cathedral is built the widgetable viable people of the bungeeland nation who have walked and cared for this land for thousands of years and their descendants who still maintain these spiritual and cultural connections [Music] come to the feast of heaven and [Music] the earth of plenty god will provide for all that we need here at the table of plenty in the name of the father the son and of the holy spirit peace be with you as we gather together to continue to praise god let us have the courage to place our lives in the hands of our loving god lord jesus you almighty god and prince of peace lord have mercy you are son of god and son of mary christ of mercy you are word made flesh and splendor of the father lord have mercy and may almighty god have mercy on us forgive us our sins and bring us to everlasting life glory to god in the highest and on earth peace to people of good will we praise you we bless you we adore you we glorify you we give you thanks for your great glory lord god heavenly king o god almighty father lord jesus christ only begotten son lord god lamb of god son of the father you take away the sins of the world have mercy on us you take away the sins of the world receive our prayer you are seated at the right hand of the father have mercy on us for you alone are the holy one you alone are the lord you alone are the most high jesus christ with the holy spirit and let us pray grant us o lord that the course of our world may be directed by your peaceful rule and that your church may rejoice untroubled in her devotion through our lord jesus christ your son who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the holy spirit god forever and ever a reading from the book of ecclesiastes in a shaken sieve the rubbish is left behind so too the defects of a man appear in his talk the kiln tests the work of the potter the test of a man is in his conversation the orchard where the tree grows is judged on the quality of its fruit similarly a man's words betray what he feels do not praise a man before he has spoken since this is the test of men the word of the lord lord it is good to give thanks to you lord it is good to give thanks to you it is good to give thanks to the lord to make music to your name almost high to proclaim your love in the morning and your truth in the watches of the night the just will flourish like the palm tree and grow like a lebanon cedar lord it is good to give thanks to you planted in the house of the lord they will flourish in the courts of our god still bearing fruit when they are old still full of sap still green to proclaim that the lord is just in him my rock there is no wrong lord is good to give thanks to you a reading from the first letter of saint paul to the corinthians when this perishable nature has put on imperishability and when this mortal nature has put on immortality then the words of scripture will come true death is swallowed up in victory death where is your victory death where is your sting now the sting of death is sin and sin gets its power from the law so let us thank god for giving us the victory through our lord jesus christ never give in then my dear brothers never admit defeat keep on working at the lord's work always knowing that in the lord you cannot be laboring in vain the word of the lord please stand to welcome the gospel alleluia alleluia shine on the world like bright stars you are offering it the word of life hallelujah the lord be with you a reading from the holy gospel according to luke jesus told the parable to his disciples can one blind man guide another surely both will fall into a pit the disciple is not superior to his teacher but fully trained disciples will always be like his teacher why do you observe the splinter in your brother's eye and never notice the plank in your own how can you say to your brother brother let me take out the splinter in your eye when you cannot see the plank in your own hypocrite take the plank out of your own eye first and then you will see clearly through to take out the splinter that is in your brother's eye there is no sound tree that produces rotten fruit nor again a rotten tree that produces sound fruit for every tree that can be told by its own fruit people do not pick figs from thorns nor gather grapes from brambles a good man draws what is good from the store of goodness in the heart a bad man draws what is bad from the store in badness a man's word flows out of what he finds in his heart the gospel of the lord when i was in sydney outside our priory there was a road and every morning there was a strange old man that would walk up and down the pathway backwards and one of the fathers who was korean would look out the window every day and laugh at this man was walking backwards and that he'd walk back to his home backwards as well and i suppose he was trying to exercise certain muscles that probably you exercise better if you walk backwards but it was a sight to be seen and he must have been about 80 this old man walking backwards but sometimes going backwards is the only way to understand things and that applies i think in particular to today's gospel on its own it seems to be a random set of little sayings and when you look at them you wonder why they put together and it begins with jesus told his disciples a parable and it's one little saying after another that seems to be disjointed but i want to take you through it fundamentally backwards and you might begin to see how it all fits together the last paragraph in fact adverts to so many things in the old testament which says a sound tree produces sound fruit and a rotten tree produces rotten fruit it's a very powerful thing it's it's a very obvious thing but when you look at the imagery a sound tree in fact is a human being and the good fruit is holiness and when you see holiness in someone everyone is attracted to that person just as people are attracted to a good tree with good fruit if the fruit is not good no one goes to it and if the person doesn't manifest holiness they're not really an attractive person jesus begins by saying an attractive person its fruit is presented to everyone as holiness and it comes from their heart he comes from within and if you've ever met a holy person as i have they are the most attractive people they are as pope francis says the greatest thing the church has to present to anyone is the holiness of a member of the church so the question is going backwards well then how do we produce good fruit how do we develop holiness within ourselves and the lines immediately before it ah take the plank out of your own eye before you look at the splinter in someone else's eye we know that saying very well and yet we know ourselves that we're constantly judging people but not everybody only some people have you noticed that that some people are annoyed with this person and you're not and you're annoyed with that person but other people people aren't it's very interesting because it's the way the grace of god works when i was training people not training but preparing people for marriage at one point i would say to them the greatest gift that god gives you is the cross of the other and i say to him she's going to be your cross and i'll say to her he will be your cross to what end because he will perfect you and she will perfect you because that cross which is experienced through the other in a context of love changes the person changes the person where god wants to change you see the interesting thing is when you look at your life generally you don't know what needs to be changed but god intervenes by bringing people into your life who challenge you so greatly that you might begin to see the splinter in your own eye and that splinter would remain hidden if it wasn't for the plank that you see in the other person's eye and the whole point of that exercise is that through the experience of the plank in the other you will see the splinter in your own eye and you'll begin to work with that to pray with that and be purified by that because without that holiness is not possible the path to holiness is not something that you choose i'll do this and i'll become holy you know i'll say prayers at this time of the day and i'll do this and i'll give to that person that won't make anybody holy but it's the struggle with the splinter which leads to holiness because that splinter makes possible inner purification it is the means by which god changes you holiness is the fruit of the grace of god changing me and changing you it's not the fruit of the things that i do or the many prayers that i say or the fasting or dependences because these things don't achieve anything because of that splinter let's go back one more step what happens what is it that guides me in addressing the splinter in my eye the answer quite obvious is a teacher and who is my teacher as we look back to the line before my teacher is christ my teacher is christ who gives me the gospel my teacher is christ that i meet and know myself and i am trained in this struggle by jesus christ and that's the beginning of the way forward the disciple is not superior to his teacher the fully trained disciple will always be like his teacher and so if we allow christ to train us in this struggle we become like jesus christ we take on as faint paul would say the form of christ the possibility of divination begins to happen and the first sentence which is in fact the final one that we reach can one blind man guide another surely both will fall into a pit what are we called to guide each other in we go back to the end of the gospel we're called to guide people in holiness only problem is we don't know what holiness is we don't know how to be holy we do not know the ways of god we don't we cannot read the times and and the events the way god reads them and so this path backward in the gospel is so important because we've reached the point where christ can train us and teach us and as we submit to the teaching of the lord we become no longer blind guides but people who know from our experience our struggle and through the softening of our hearts through the grace of god in coming to know ourselves we are in a better position to know the other person then we are able to guide not by teaching but by living the way that following christ has taught us and let's stand and profess our faith i believe in god the father almighty [Music] suffered under pontius pilate was crucified died and was buried he descended into hell on the third day he rose again from the dead he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of god the father almighty from there he will come to judge the living and the dead i believe in the holy spirit the holy catholic church the communion of saints the forgiveness of sins the resurrection of the body and life everlasting amen and let us bring our prayers to our loving father for the church as she brings forth the fruits of the holy spirit let us pray to the lord lord hear our prayer for small nations under threat of domination by strong neighboring states that their political and cultural autonomy will be protected let us pray to the lord lord hear our prayer for the nation of australia that a strong spirit of civility and tolerance will limit the need to resolve differences by recourse to law let us pray to the lord r lord hear our prayer for ourselves that ash wednesday will inspire us to undertake renewal of heart and mind this lent let us pray to the lord lord hear our prayer that all who are sick and bereaved may receive healing and acceptance through christ and the intercession of saint mary of the cross let us pray to the lord lord hear our prayer for those who died in hope of immortality especially carmel golly mary fisher shirley bogdan etzel neva mary red pat and lyle tines claire pollard [Music] and gloria cassidy let us pray to the lord lord hear our prayer and let us continue to pray for those who have died of covet 19 the rapid recovery of those who've contracted the virus for the strengthening of those who fight the virus and for ourselves that we will have god's protection let us pray to the lord lord hear our prayer we make these and all our prayers through christ our lord [Music] lord let your mercy be on us as we place our trust in you the word of the lord is faithfulness and love his love can never be measured his beauty is like nothing we have ever seen us [Music] pray brothers and sisters that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to god the almighty father may this oblation o lord cleanse and renew us and may it become for those who do your will the source of eternal reward through christ our lord the lord be with you 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 laid the foundations of the world and have arranged the changing of times and seasons you formed us in your own image and set us over the whole world in all its wonder to rule in your name over all you have made and forever praise you in your mighty works through christ our lord and so with all the angels we praise you as in joyful celebration we acclaim holy [Music] is he who comes in the name of the lord 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 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 [Music] 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 [Music] the mystery of faith we proclaim your death o lord and profess your resurrection 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 together with francis our pope me your unworthy servant and all the clergy remember also our brothers and sisters who have fallen asleep in the hope of the resurrection and all who have died in your mercy welcome them into the light of your face have mercy on us all we pray that with the blessed virgin mary mother of god blessed joseph her spouse the blessed apostle saint teresa saint john of the cross and all the saints who have pleased you throughout the ages we may merit to be coheirs to eternal life and may praise and glorify you through your son jesus christ 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 at the savior's command and formed by divine teaching we dare to say our father be done on earth 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 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 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 lamb of god you take away the sins of the world have mercy on of us you take away the [Music] sins of mercy on us lamb of god you take away the sins of the world [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 unless a grain of weed shall fall upon it remains but a single grave with no life if we have died with him then we shall live with him if we hold for we shall reign with him unless a grain of wheat shall fall upon the ground and die it remains but a single grave with no life if anyone serves me then they must follow me wherever i am my servants [Music] and let us pray lord nourish by your saving gifts we beseech your mercy to by this same sacrament with which you feed us in this present age you may make us partakers of life eternal through christ our lord the lord be with you and bow your heads and pray for god's blessing in this time of pandemic may the lord grant you his protection may he protect those you love and those for whom you pray in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen thanks be to [Music] you god of heaven poet of sunset and painter of sky father almighty who's running to find us giving his son who must suffer and die glory to the father the son and the spirit let's sing it again and again glory to the father the son and the spirit forever [Music] [Music] and i won't let it go [Music] savior of the world you've sacrificed for me and i will cling to you i won't let go [Music] you

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Id: mh4c2FzWlXc

Length: 30min 58sec (1858 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 25 2022