Daily Mass - 2020-08-20

[Music] family a prayer that we pray together is a powerful prayer so please pray together with me our ewtn family prayer today we make an act of hope o lord god through your son jesus christ you have taught us not to be afraid nor to worry about tomorrow you have revealed that all things are possible to the one who trusts and so lord god i hope by your grace for the pardon of all of my sins and after life here to gain eternal happiness because you have promised it who are infinitely powerful faithful kind and merciful in this hope i intend to live and die amen behold the lamb of god who takes away the sins of the world take this all of you and eat of it for this is my body which will be given up for you take this all of you and drink from it for this is the chalice of my blood [Music] do this in memory of me lord with the spirit of god [Music] to the people of god [Music] the streets [Music] as it was [Music] to the people [Music] in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit the lord be with you r brethren let us acknowledge our sins so to prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mysteries i confess to almighty god and to you my brothers and sisters that i have greatly sinned in my thoughts and in my words and what i have done and in what i have failed to do my fault through my fault through my most grievous fault therefore i ask blessed mary ever virgin all the angels and saints and you my brothers and sisters to pray for me to the lord our god may almighty god have mercy on us forgive us our sins and bring us to everlasting life [Music] is [Music] christmas songs [Music] so let us pray o god who made of the abbot saint bernard a man consumed with zeal for your house and a light shining and burning in your church grant through his intercession that we may be on fire with the same spirit and walk always as children of light 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 a reading from the book of the prophet ezekiel thus says the lord i will prove the holiness of my great name profaned among the nations in whose midst you have profaned it thus the nations shall know that i am the lord says the lord god when in their sight i prove my holiness through you for i will take you away from among the nations gather you from all the foreign lands and bring you back to your own land i will sprinkle clean water upon you to cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols i will cleanse you i will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you taking from your bodies your stony hearts and giving you natural hearts i will put my spirit within you and make you live by my statutes careful to observe my decrees you shall live in the land i gave your ancestors you shall be my people and i will be your god the word of the lord i will pour clean water on you and wash away all your sins 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 give me back the joy of your salvation and a willing spirit sustained in me i will teach transgressors your ways and sinners shall return to you for you are not pleased with sacrifices should i offer a burnt offering you would not accept it my sacrifice o god is a contrite spirit a heart contrite and humbled o god you will not sperm [Music] you [Music] if today you hear his voice [Music] dominos vobisco [Music] jesus again in reply spoke to the chief priests and the elders of the people and parables saying the kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son he dispatched his servants to summon the invited guest to the feast but they refused to come a second time he sent other servants saying tell those invited behold i have prepared a banquet my calves and fattened cattle are killed and everything is ready come to the feast some ignored the invitation and went away one to his farm another to his business the rest laid hold of his servants mistreated them and killed them the king was enraged and sent his troops destroyed their murderers and burned their city then the king said to his servants the feast is ready but those who were invited were not worthy to come in go out therefore into the main roads and invite to the feast whoever you find the servants went out into the streets and gathered all they found bad and good alike and the hall was filled with guests but when the king came in to meet the guests he saw a man there not dressed in a wedding garment he said to him my friend how is it you came in here without a wedding garment but he was reduced to silence then the king said to his attendants bind his hands and feet and cast him into the darkness outside where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth many are invited but few are chosen verbum domini throughout our lord's teaching in the gospels sometimes his parables are easier to grasp and sometimes they may take a little bit more effort and prayer to sit with and meditate upon to let them really sink in either way the parables are meant to stump us they are meant to shake us and rattle us out of our comfortness our lord came to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable and if we are honest most of us go in and out of these throughout our lives we are proudly in the middle of the comfortable range more than we are being afflicted we get very comfortable in where we are and tucked between the solemnity of the assumption of the blessed virgin mary on august 15th and the queenship of the blessed virgin mary on august 22nd on saturday and that's eight days of real reflection and renewal on the contribution of the blessed virgin mary in salvation history and the way that she continues to be our spiritual mother in the order of grace tucked between these two the assumption and the queenship is saint bernard of clairvaux the saint that we celebrate today and there's never a coincidence in the plan of almighty god saint bernard was born in fontaine france in 1090 into a large upper class family and we don't know a lot about the details of his younger life but that perhaps he was caught up in the lure of this world he was a little bit comfortable in his life and when his mother died it was like a wake-up call to him slap in the face he went through a conversion of life and a total restructuring about how he should be living both temporally in terms of worldly goods how he should be living in terms of his success and worldly goods even of his family and spiritually speaking of union with god seeking union with god and really combining both of these fears that we live in the temporal and the spiritual how can we live in the midst of this world and seek union with god and be at peace with god and maybe these words that he sought to live temporarily and moderately sometimes that word moderately can be twisted nowadays maybe a better word would be ascetically he sought to be an ascetic that is detached living a detached life seeking to be temperate in all things while also being an ascetic saint bernard's whole life after his conversion became consumed with the love of god the love of god was not just simply a lofty idea and an almost unattainable proposition as proposed by theologians of his day but the love of god for him was reality the love of god has come down to the earth and dwelt among us literally in the person of jesus christ and you can see this when you not just know about his life but when you read his sermons his writings he would often speak of jesus christ as the bridegroom and he would speak about the bride being the people that jesus came to redeem his faithful so bridegroom and bride this analogy this reality of heaven that heaven is a wedding feast today's gospel compares the kingdom of heaven exactly like this to a wedding feast to a royal banquet that a kingdom of heaven is like a king who gave a wedding feast for his son the imagery of a wedding feast of eternal life is not unfamiliar throughout the sacred scriptures through the old and the new testament the book of revelation calls eternal life the wedding feast of the lamb some key terms in the gospel might be for us the word invitation this invitation that almighty god sends out to each one of us this invitation of faith like a bridegroom proposing to his bride this invitation of life in union with another cannot be forced and it cannot be coerced so our proposal of our god to each one of us is never forced this proposal that god makes god as bridegroom and us as bride his people can never be coerced it can only be proposed the gospel was never forced the gospel is always proposed for our salvation and a choice must be made and when it comes down to it a choice for god or against god it's as simple as that a choice for god or against god and here's part of the second reading of the divine office this morning i thought i'd share with you from saint bernard's writing to help illustrate this point about love because i think we need to hear in all ages we need to hear about love especially love proper ordered toward god that the love of god is manifest in all of reality that god comes to us not just two thousand years ago in the form of a child empties himself from all eternity and becomes a child and lives suffers dies rises from the dead but the love of god is still made manifest in our lives if we really believe in our lives that the love of god dwells within us that we are changed and that the divine indwelling is not just something out there but is something within here literally that the love of god dwells within you and me do we really believe that saint bernard says love is sufficient of itself it gives pleasure by itself and because of itself it is its own merit its own reward love looks for no calls outside itself no effect beyond itself it profits its profit lies in its practice i love because i love i love that i may be loved love is a great thing so long as it continually returns to its fountain head back to its source always drawing from there the water which constantly replenishes it of all the movements sensations and feelings of the soul love is the only one in which the creature can respond to the creator saint bernard says and make some sort of similar return without an equal however unequal though it be for when god loves all he desires is to be loved in return the sole purpose of his love is to be loved and in the knowledge that those who love him are made happy by their love of him and he says the bridegroom's love or rather the love which is the bridegroom ask and return nothing but faithful love again this return in love let the beloved then love in return should not abride love and all above love's bride could it be that love not be loved and that saying upon saint bernard's lips is also a saying that saint francis assisi picked up himself and would constantly utter throughout his life love is not loved it was like a pen chant love is not loved in the midst of the world he saw that love himself god god who is love is not being loved properly as he should be and that's the problem we need to love god as he manifests himself to us as love saint bernard continues rightly lynn does she give up all other things and give herself holy to love alone that means the bride in giving love back all she can do is respond in love when she has poured out her whole being in love what is that comparison with unceasing turrent of its original source clearly lover and love soul and word bride and bridegroom creature and creator do not flow from the same source that's a very interesting point that saint bernard gives us this morning clearly love and love lover and love that means lover meaning us the one who returns love to god and love soul and word bride and bridegroom bride meaning his people bridegroom meaning god creature us creator god do not flow with the same volume the same force one might as well equate a thirsty man with a fountain i like to leave you with that imagery of almighty god as being a fountain not just a simply a little water fountain that we go to and get a sip of water but this ever infinite fountain that is flowing and bubbling up even within us if we are in the state of grace we know that we are a new creation as the prophet ezekiel points to us in chapter 36 in the first reading today this is a reading that is read during the easter vigil it's the seventh reading of the easter vigil and it conveys to us the reality of the new creation that we have been made new and that we have been reborn in christ and that ultimately we are in the end all we can be is thirsty for god we can't be love itself love itself is god god is love all we can do is go to that source go to that fount and drink like a thirsty man again and again and again to keep going back to that source of love let's ask saint bernard of clairvaux to help us especially in our world today to regain this this sense of the love of god that the love of god is what the world needs today this going back to the source and drinking from this source and we will never be satisfied as jesus says only in him will we have the source of eternal life welling up within us and we will always want to go back to that source to that fountainhead praise be the god and father of our lord jesus christ in his great mercy he gave us new birth to a living hope by his son's resurrection from the dead to him we pray for the president congress and governors that they be enabled by god's assistance and protection to carry out their duties with honesty and ability and that the immaculate conception patroness of the united states may pray for us who have recourse to her for the many needs of our nation and the world at this time we pray to the lord that all members of the church aware of their call to holiness may devote time each day to prayer and reflection on the truths christ taught us we pray to the lord that children may grow through loving family relationships and healthy friendships we pray to the lord let the holy spirit stir up in our hearts a greater love of christ and of his church we pray to the lord for the faithful departed that in god's mercy they may be freed from their sins and enjoy new life in the company of the saints we pray to the lord all powerful ever living god direct our steps in the way of your love so that our whole life may be fragrant with all we do in the name of jesus your beloved son who lives and reigns with you in the holy spirit god forever and ever [Music] [Music] [Music] lord we pray [Music] which [Music] me [Music] r is [Music] is [Music] is [Music] pray brethren and my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to god the almighty father we offer to your majesty o lord a sacrament of unity and peace as we celebrate the memorial of the abbot saint bernard a man outstanding in word indeed whose throat strove to bring about order and concord to your church through christ our lord [Music] dominoscoped [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] 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 as on the festival of saint bernard you bid your church rejoice so to you strengthen her by the example of his holy life teach her by his words of preaching and keep her safe and answer to his prayers and so with the company of angels and saints we sing the hymn of your praise as without and we acclaim [Music] me sees to you therefore most merciful father we make humble prayer and petition through jesus christ your son our lord that you accept and bless these gifts these offerings these holy and oblivious sacrifices which we all fear firstly for your holy catholic church be pleased to grant her peace to guard unite and govern her throughout the whole world together with your servant francis our pope and stephen our bishop and all those who holding to the truth and on the catholic and apostolic faith remember lord your servants and all gathered here whose faith and devotion are known to you for them we offer you the sacrifice of praise for they offer for themselves and all who are dear to them for the redemption of their souls and hope of health and well-being and paying their homage to you the eternal god living and true in communion with those whose memory we venerate especially the glorious ever virgin mary mother of our god and lord jesus christ and blessed joseph her spouse your blessed apostles and martyrs peter and paul andrew james john thomas james phillip bartholomew matthew simon and jude linus cletus clement sixtus cornelius cyprian lawrence gosaganus john of paul cosmas and damian and all your saints we ask that through their merits and prayers in all things we may be defended by your protecting help through christ our lord amen therefore lord we pray graciously accept this oblation of our service that of your whole family order our days and your peace and command that we be delivered from eternal damnation encountered among the flock of those you have chosen through christ our lord amen be pleased o god we pray to bless acknowledge and approve this offering in every respect make it spiritual and acceptable so that it may become for us the body and blood of your most beloved son our lord jesus christ on the day before he was to suffer he took bread in his holy and venerable hands and with eyes raised to heaven to you oh god his almighty father 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 this precious chalice in his holy and venerable hands and once more giving you thanks he said the blessing and gave the chalice 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 mysterious day [Music] therefore oh lord as we celebrate the memorial of the blessed passion the resurrection from the dead and the glorious ascension into heaven of christ your son our lord we your servants and your holy people offer to your glorious majesty from the gifts that you have given us this pure victim this holy victim the spotless victim the holy bread of eternal life and the chalice of everlasting salvation be pleased to look upon these offerings with a serene and kindly countenance and to accept them as once you are pleased to accept the gifts of your servant abel the just the sacrifice of abraham our father in faith and the offering of your high priest melchizedek a holy sacrifice a spotless victim in humble prayer we ask you almighty god command that these gifts be borne by the hands of your holy angel to your altar on high in the sight of your divine majesty so that all of us through this participation at the altar receive the most holy body and blood of your son may be filled with every grace and heavenly blessing through christ our lord amen remember also lord your servants who have gone before us with a sign of faith and rest in the sleep of peace grant them o lord we pray and all who sleep in christ a place of refreshment light and peace through christ our lord amen to us also your servants are those sinners hope in your abundant mercies graciously grant some share and fellowship with your holy apostles and martyrs with john the baptist stephen matthias barnabas ignatius alexander marcelinus peter felicity perpetua agatha lucy agnes cecilia anastasia and all your saints amid us to beseech you into the company not weighing our merits but granting us your pardon through christ our lord through whom you continue to make all these good things o lord you sanctify them fill them with life bless them and bestow them [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] christie [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] is [Music] is [Music] is is tour animal it as the father loves me so i also love you remain in my love says the lord for those who cannot now receive jesus in the blessed sacrament we offer the following prayer oh jesus since i cannot now receive thee under the sacramental veil i beseech thee with a heart full of love and longing to come spiritually into my soul through the immaculate heart of thy most holy mother and abide with me forever thee in me and i in thee in time and in eternity in mary are men [Music] is [Music] god [Music] r [Music] m [Music] [Music] comes [Music] [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] is [Music] oh [Music] [Music] let us pray may the food we have received o lord as we honor saint bernard work its effect in us so that strengthened by his example and instructed by his teaching we may be caught up in love of your incarnate word who lives and reigns forever and ever the lord be with you may almighty god bless you the father and son and the holy spirit go forth the mass has ended [Music] oh to bring us [Music] oh is [Music] is [Music] [Music] oh [Music] is prayer for vocations [Music] [Music] oh jesus christ you

Channel: EWTN

Views: 16,025

Keywords: ytsync-en, homily, 381-1938, 381

Id: nzMXbfIwTWI

Length: 59min 16sec (3556 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 20 2020