Catholic Weekday Mass Today Online - Friday after Ash Wednesday 2022

[Music] do [Music] dear brothers and sisters in christ welcome to the live cast of this mass for friday after ash wednesday 4th of march 2022 our entrance antiphon the lord heard and had mercy on me the lord became my helper in the name of the father and of the son and the holy spirit amen peace be with you and with your spirit brothers and sisters let us acknowledge our sins and so prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mysteries lord jesus you were lifted up to draw all people to yourself lord have mercy lord have mercy you should the cross about suffering and sinfulness christ have mercy christ have mercy you open for your people the way from death into life 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 show gracious favor o lord we pray to the works of penance we have begun that we may have strength to accomplish with sincerity the bodily observances we undertake through our lord jesus christ your son who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the holy spirit god forever and ever amen a reading from the prophet isaiah thu says the lord shout for all you are worth raise your voice like a trumpet proclaim their faults to my people their sins to the house of jacob they seek me day after day they long to know my ways like a nation that wants to act with integrity and not ignore the law of his god they ask me for laws that are just they long for god to draw near why should we fast if you never see it why do penance if you if you never notice look you do business on your fast days you oppress all your workmen look you quarrel and squabble when you fast and strike the poor man with your feast fasting like yours today will never make your voice heard on high is that the sort of fast that pleases me a truly penitential day for men hanging your head like a reed lying down on sackcloth and ashes is that what you call fasting are they acceptable to the lord is not this the sort of fast that pleases me it is the lord who speaks to break unjust fatters and undo the thongs of the yolk to let the oppressed go free and break every yoke to share your bread with the hungry and shelter the homeless poor to clothe the man you see to be naked and not turn from your own kin then will your light shine like the dawn and your wound be quickly healed over your integrity will go before you and the glory of the lord behind you cry and the lord will answer call and you will say i am here the word of the lord thanks be to god i'll respond zero sum a humble contrite heart oh god you will not spurn a humble contrite heart oh god you will not spurn have mercy on me god in your kindness in your compassion lord out my offense o wash me more and more from my guilt and cleanse me from my sin a humble contrite heart oh god you will not spurn my offenses truly i know them my sin is always before me against you you alone have i sin what is evil in your sight i have done a humble contrite heart oh god you will not spurn for in sacrifice you take no delight burn offering from me you would refuse my sacrifice a contrite spirit a humble contrite heart you will not spurn a humble contrite heart o god you will not spurn the gospel acclamation glory and praise to you o christ my soul is waiting for the lord i count on his word because of the lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption glory and praise to you o christ the lord be with you and with your spirit a reading from the holy gospel according to matthew glory to you o lord john's disciples came to jesus and said why is it that we in the pharisees fast but your disciples do not jesus replied surely the bridegroom's attendance would never think of mourning as long as a bridegroom is still with them but the time will come for the bridegroom to be taken away from them and then they will fast the gospel of the lord praise you lord jesus christ my dear brothers and sisters in christ today being friday after ash wednesday it is appropriate that the church in this liturgy would like to focus on the theme of fasting since it is one of the three pillars of spiritual exercises during the season of land and yet it is important for us to recognize that fasting is not something peculiar only to the catholic faith even non-catholic and non-christian religions most of them would have some form of fasting of course even people who do not subscribe to any faith they do also fast but they fast for other reasons for good health have a proper diet and of course some for vanity for beauty so different people fast for different reasons and that is why today the scripture reading reminds us what is the context of fasting in the catholic tradition what is the primary purpose of fasting fasting is important for a spiritually provided we fast for the right reason in the first reading from the prophet isaiah isaiah reprimanded the people they appeared to be sincere in seeking for god day after day looking for his laws but they fast not because they truly want to seek god but for public display it was a pretense and that is true especially for those of us catholics when we fast sometimes and quite often perhaps we fast basically out of legalism and these can be applied as well for those who are from other religions as well there are some people they just followed the laws and we don't want to break the law of fasting that is demanded by our religion in this case we know that the church's law requires to fast and abstain from meat and from food on ash wednesdays and fridays and then on all the fridays of the year we are supposed to abstain from meat and then of course before you receive communion you are supposed to fast for an hour but many of us we try to circumvent the law we are more concerned with what does the law really require of us than the fasting itself and so we find all kinds of questions people would ask so father can i eat meat on friday can i take if i cannot eat meat can i take seafood how much seafood can i eat can i consume on that day then can i eat frog meat because the amphibians creature turtle meat because they are reptiles but they also live in the sea as well can we use condominiums how much can we add to our flavor for the food and for the soup and all these questions people would ask even when it comes to fasting for receiving convenience should we begin one hour from the time we receive one hour from beginning the month actually all these are very legalistic questions for us our intention is just too fast but we have forgotten the spirit of fasting and so today it is important for us to come back to the real reason for fasting less we fast in vain and that fasting does not help us just as it was in the case of the israelites in today's first reading today in the gospel john disciples came to jesus and said why is it that we in the pharisee is fast but your disciples do not and jesus response was surely the bridegroom's attendant would never think of mourning as long as the bridegroom is still with them but the time will come for the bridegroom to be taken away from them then they will fast in this shocking response it seems that jesus was dismissing the great value of fasting jesus was telling the disciples there was not yet the necessity to fast unless a bridegroom is taken away in other words we don't fast for the sake of fasting fasting must have a spiritual motive so what does it mean when jesus says when the bridegroom is taken to obey bridegroom is always a symbol of joy of celebration for the jews when there is a marriage the bride and the bridegroom they were treated like kings and queens during that whole week because it was the greatest celebration in a person's life and so there will be feasting there will be fun there they'll be dancing and so certainly it is not appropriate for the people to fast when the bright and bright groom they are celebrating and so jesus makes it clear when the break room is around we do not fast we should celebrate with them and this for this reason too you notice that in the church teaching solemnities and sundays are not included as days of fasting that is why the season of land have more than five weeks if you calculate properly more than 40 days simply because we do not include sundays as days of fasting because it's a celebration of jesus passion death and resurrection and so when do we fast we fast when there is no more joy in our life when there is sadness when there is emptiness in life and this often comes about because of our sins when we sin we are not happy with ourselves we can be pretending to be happy to be celebrating but we know that we are not at peace within ourselves we are full of guilt full of anger and bitterness revenge we are always finding forth with people at the same time we know that we are not so righteous and so it burdens us people who live in sin have cannot find real peace no matter how much they searched and so when peace is missing when there is emptiness in our hearts when there is no joy no real joy then the lord said then you should fast fasting will help us to be in touch with ourselves we give us that spirit or the disposition to look into ourselves and to see what is really really challenging us what are the things that we need to face ourselves what are those demons in us that needs to be unleashed and of course fasting also comes about when the break room is missing break room of course in this case refers to jesus jesus is our bridegroom so when we have lost the lord in our life because we are strayed away from him because we have spent very little time with the lord in prayer and reflection and we don't make time for the lord our relationship has become very weak and superficial so when the lord is not present in our life when god is far away when we do not feel his presence with us there is the lack of intimacy then again because a bridegroom is a way is taken away from us what must we do fasting is a means by which we yearn for the lord start fasting combines of course with prayer because fasting provides the disposition for prayer so that we can focus better and not be distracted by the world and by the noise in this world but then fasting is also for us when we feel alienated from our brothers and sisters especially when we are eliminated even from ourselves from a heart of compassion and this is particularly that's why fasting is associated not just only with prayer but with almsgiving because many of us we don't feel with the poor with those who are suffering especially in this covit pandemic those of us who are better off those of us whose jobs are very stable in fact even making money during this time of the pandemic we can be lacking compassion for those who are struggling because of this cov19 pandemic some of them have lost their job some of them in financial difficulties and many of them especially if their family members are infected with the virus a lot of challenges managing the family so very often we lack compassion because we lack touch with the real world it's very good for some of you if you don't really believe you go early in the morning or very late at night early in the morning do you know there are so many people sleeping in the park so many everywhere you see here there not so many doesn't mean there's hundreds luck but what i mean is that there are people who are sleeping on the streets and sometimes you look at them they have no home or they just cannot stay with their family for whatever reasons they're people who are hungry no food and here we are wasting away food we are throwing away so very often those of us who have been living a good life we are suffered by our parents we are provided with everything we tend to take all these things for granted we don't appreciate actually in fact we make so much money we complain about this complain about that and there are many people who are much much more deprived than us that's why we don't cherish what we have from god instead of counting our blessings we are saying with how come we don't have this how come i don't have a big car how come i'm not living in the bungalow and all these things lack of appreciation lack of identification with those who are suffering and that's why we miss a joy of service the joy of giving today my dear brothers and sisters indeed today the gospel jesus is asking us truly we must go back must find integrity in our fasting do not fast like damn you say fasting like yours will never make your voice heard on high hanging your head like a reed lying down on sackcloth and ashes is that what you call fasting no real fasting truly means the change of heart change of heart towards god change of heart towards ourselves change of heart towards our brothers and sisters we be more forgiving more tolerant more embracing when we have hearts of compassion and love that is the whole purpose of fasting then we are truly in union with god with ourselves and with our brothers and sisters amen blessed are you lord god of all creation for your goodness hear this bread we offer you fruit of the earth and work of human hands it will become for us the bread of life blessed be god forever for true goodness if this wine we offer you through the divine handbook of human hands it will become our spiritual dream blessed be god forever pray 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 for the praise and glory of his name for our good and the good of all his holy church we offer lord the sacrifice for lenten observance praying that he may make our intentions acceptable to you and add to our powers of self-restraint through christ our lord amen the lord be with you and 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 through the right and just our duty and our salvation always and everywhere to give you thanks lord holy father mighty and eternal god for through bodily fasting restrain our faults raise up our minds and bestow both virtue and its rewards through christ our lord through him the angels praise your majesty dominions are those and powers tremble before you heaven and the virtues of heaven and the blessed seraphim worship together with exaltation may our voices we pray join with theirs in humble praise as 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're indeed holy o lord the found 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 in a similar way when supper was centered 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 o lord and profess your resurrection until you come again therefore as we celebrate the memory of his death and resurrection we offer you lord the bread of life and the chalice of salvation giving thanks that have helped us worthy to be in your presence and minister to you only 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 without 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 the blessed virgin mary mother of god we blessed joseph her spouse with the blessed apostles 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 o god almighty father in the unity of the holy spirit all glory and honor is yours forever and ever at the savior's amen 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 delivers 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 obey the blessed hope and the coming of our savior jesus christ for the kingdom the power and the glory are yours now and forever lord jesus christ who said the apostles peace i lift you my peace i give to you look not on our sins but in 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 amen peace of the lord be with you always and with your spirit that is of each other the sign of peace 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 behold the lamb of god below him who takes you 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 a communion antiphon oh lord make me know your ways teach me your path act of spiritual communion lord jesus you are our bridegroom you have come to give us joy give us life and you want us to celebrate life and love with you by our sins our negligence and most of all by our look oneness we have eliminated ourselves from you and from your people so lord jesus today as i received you in this bread and wine you're truly your body and blood i pray that you will grant me this grace once again to rejoice in your love and most of all your abiding presence so that i can truly love others the way you have loved me give me lord jesus always close you and never allow my sin to be separated from you amen let us

Channel: Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Singapore

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Keywords: Catholic, Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Church, Archdiocese of Singapore, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Singapore, Archbishop William Goh, William Goh, Homily, Sermon, Scripture Reflection, Singapore, Proud2BCatholic, ArchComms, Mass, Jesus, Eucharist, catholic mass today live, catholic mass, Holy Spirit, catholic mass today, Weekday Mass, Daily Mass, Lent, Ash Wednesday, yt:cc=off

Id: 1XIGAfEjZCA

Length: 34min 16sec (2056 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 03 2022