Easter Sunday Mass, April 4, 2021

[Music] [Music] will [Music] let your glory shine forever [Music] [Applause] [Music] jesus [Music] [Applause] jesus [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] everything we live for your glory [Music] we live for your glory live for your [Music] glory [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] jesus let your kingdom come here let your will be done here in us jesus there is [Music] in your mighty name king of heaven comes [Music] rescued for your glory [Music] [Music] i [Music] king of heaven come now let your glory rain shining light the day king of heaven [Music] name king of heaven king of heaven come king of heaven [Applause] [Music] king of heaven come now let your glory rain shining like the day king of heaven comes up [Music] in your mighty name king of heaven [Music] [Music] so [Music] hello and welcome my name is father simon lobo i am the pastor here at saint benedict parish and we are so delighted that you decided to join us this sunday for mass if this is your first time experiencing mass for the first time in a while what you're going to see coming up is different parts there's a part at the beginning of the mass where we read from the bible different sections and then we're going to hear some preaching and then that's going to move into what's called the liturgy of the eucharist and there's some sacred prayers that we pray offering this sacrifice the sacred meal up to god and so i just invite you to participate in whatever way you can we're going to try and put as much as possible the words right on the screen and you can sing you can pray and just follow along and realize that you're not alone there's a whole community of people who are praying with you right now hey happy easter welcome to saint benedict parish and our sunday morning mass we're so glad you're here my name is laura i'm the children's minister here at saint benedict and i'm joined today by matt and i'm the communications coordinator here at st parish as well that's awesome happy easter match happy easter laura happy storyboarding it's we we made it lunch is over yeah friday was a couple days ago we're all done and we're at the beginning we're at the beginning of an easter season that's right i think we're done but we're actually just beginning just beginning this celebration that lasts longer than lent does i love that fact it's so exciting especially as we're coming out of what feels like a forever lent since you know uh we started quarantining for a pandemic last year during lunch yes and it feels like it's never ended so i'm not saying that part's over i'm just saying that we're here for easter longer than lent let's celebrate let's celebrate it exactly and so wherever you're watching from right now uh there's comments there under the video or you're watching and so we just want to encourage you in there to say hi to people and be sure hey where you're watching from and sometimes we like to ask a fun question and i'd love to know what your favorite easter treat is and you can't just say chocolate because that's boring let's see what kind of chocolate you like what's your favorite easter treat matt i like mini eggs a lot big fan of mini eggs those are good uh they're and even when they're like the hershey's ones those are also okay i think they call them eggies which probably gets around some sort of copyright thing but i just like the idea they have to call them eggies yeah kick out of that what about you laura i love cadbury cream eggs oh gosh yeah maybe okay i maybe get the wrong answer do you ever have any of the ones that like when like they have oreo flavored ones and they also have they have the uh the cookie ones okay they're literally cookie flavored i don't know what they are but there's like a cookie dough kind of it's like a curry cream the cream eggs are my favorite original cadbury cream eggs speaking you know what after math we have digital foyer and every and almost every week it's probably is it on the bingo board or maybe not right father alex talks about his love of mcdonald's yes so i might throw a little bit of it into here because uh during lent the they mcdonald's has a creme egg mcflurry right and that is like my favorite thing in the whole entire world it's very good i remember there was one uh easter a few years ago where i like drove around to multiple mcdonald's this is not not locally here in western canada and they did not they were all out of like cream bag i like went to one i went to the other it was a sad night yeah one day i asked i was like i i told my husband i wanted some he brought me home two one for that night and one for the next day it was awesome solid moves yeah that's why it was couldn't find any that nice stockings here all right fine that's that works out what flavor is a creme egg by the way uh chocolate and what's the flavor inside it though it's a real question vanilla e delicious vanilla it's close there's some caramelity i don't know nobody knows it's delicious notes of caramel it's just it's just a secret amazing deliciousness yeah yeah okay good enough there we go so let us know in the comments what your favorite uh easter candy is we love to hear about it and yeah like laura said afterwards you have the digital foyer that's the time where the priests are going to be here i'm going to be here i have my laptop here so you ask questions in the comments i will see them and i will answer them to the best of my ability i'll get them to answer it specifically because you don't talk to me you want to talk to them and so we have a lot of fun uh it's gonna be easter so i imagine it's gonna be a little bit you know a little bit extra fun maybe a little bit loopy because the guys will be just have done a bunch of masses and they're just an easter territorium so yeah i would expect they might be a little bit more uh wired than usual that's exciting so i can't necessarily promise that because it might be you know after mastery maybe their energy levels have dipped but maybe we'll have to kind of add some chocolate to the equation and make it a little bit more exciting and speaking of exciting ask the digital foyer because you're like okay mass is fantastic digital foil will be fun but does the fun end then no no it does not end then because we have suv kids online church with you with me and i mean we've been getting ready for the best day ever which is today easter and so get ready to party like honestly today is a day worthy to celebrate and we're gonna do that at svp kids online church when we are here in person on easter we get the balloons out we get like um glow sticks and things like that like today is so so whatever you can to make it a party at home do it and we want to invite kids we want to invite adults like anyone could come have a party with us celebrate that jesus is alive i have a question i have some questions for you okay is there gonna be music uh yes is it gonna be dancing um of course is there gonna be fun yes okay i'm it i'm in sweet i'm it this is great so we're gonna do that so mass digital voice stick around for sv kids online church the party easter party very exciting to do that and yeah we're really excited to have you as well so this is your first time uh watching with us here at st benedict parish i would love to connect with you you can go to st benedict dot ca slash connect and fill a little bit of information there and yeah that's just a way that you can kind of say hey i want to be a part of what you're doing here no matter where you're from right you could be in ontario or the united states or europe or asia or africa anywhere in the world if you want to be part of what we're doing here at the parish just go to st benedict dot ca connect and get involved here at bearish awesome and what a day to say i want to be part of uh this community right people are going to be they're going to want to do it so bad today i know yeah today is a day of new life why not like take a step in your new life that way very good point i love that and we also have our social media platforms they are buzzing for easter i'm sure there's all sorts of easter joy popping off in the various posts and timelines and everything else so uh we're on facebook facebook.com that's right spelled out and then on twitter same thing there 280 characters can that contain easter joy probably not containing it but we're gonna anyway it's gonna be great twitter also uh and then youtube youtube.com saint bp again spelled out lots of great videos on there if you missed any of the last couple of days all the the twitter and all that you can check it out it's gonna be very good you can share those videos other people which is awesome it's a little special easter tip videos as well and then we're on instagram on the gram laura we're on instagram yeah what are we on there sbp hfx right i keep asking you this you do every week i asked you everything especially right now with this how many times we've been together i know i know what they are i swear but it's always good to ask you as well you should i should test them later yeah it's true please don't do that okay i can't stand out too much testing i mean easter i could say not on easter i won't test you on easter yeah today it's not a day for that i just need to sit down and eat chocolate after all this yeah that's what's gonna happen yeah that's just kind of cool you deserve it because jesus is alive jesus is alive that's right very good so that said or keep the excitement going or take a few moments here or prepare to celebrate easter sunday mass lord god almighty [Music] great is the [Music] or [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] is let all the earth glory [Applause] and forever and [Applause] glory [Applause] [Music] [Applause] to [Music] glorious [Music] open the doors let the king of glory come in and forever the doors let the king of glory come in and forever forever the grace of our lord jesus christ and the love of god and the communion of the holy spirit be with you all and with your spirit good morning and happy easter welcome to our celebration here at st benedict and if this is your first time or you've been joining us many times i want you to know you are most especially welcome on this most special of days on which we celebrate the resurrection of jesus from the dead the one who once was dead but now lives forever my name is father alex one of the priests here at saint benedict and i'm joined by deacon david and our servers heather and isaac and father simon our pastor on behalf of our whole community here we want to wish you a very happy easter in order to enter more fruitfully into this celebration there's a few things i'd like to invite you to do this morning the first thing is if you could share this with somebody someone in your life someone in your heart uh the world needs the hope that the resurrection brings for us and you can share this hope with the people in your life very simple ways by pressing the share button if you're watching on facebook you could send or email the link to somebody or just invite someone into the tv room or the computer room wherever you're watching this right now so go ahead and do that uh we would really appreciate it the other thing i'd like to do is invite you to choose a prayer partner uh and so what i'll ask you to do is just type your name into the chat or the comments and as that you watch the names of different people scroll by i want you to kind of grab hold of one and commit to praying for that person during the rest of mass it's a way we can enter into this time of prayer as a community of faith and so go ahead and do that now i'm going to ask deacon david to be my prayer partner you got it brothers and sisters let us enter into this time of worship this celebration by first calling to mind our sins and acknowledging the ways we have fallen short of the grace to which god has called us so that we can receive the power and the grace of the resurrection into our lives so brothers and sisters let us call to mind our sins so as to prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mysteries i confess to almighty god and you my brothers and sisters that i have greatly sinned in my thoughts and in my words in what i have done and what i have failed to do through my fault through my fault through my most grievous fault therefore i ask a 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 amen [Music] song [Music] [Music] lord [Music] now we sing the gloria this ancient hymn of praise which we've been uh abstaining from singing the whole time of land and now we bring our praises and offer our hearts to god as we sing for his glory 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 oh god almighty father jesus christ only begotten son lord god lamb of god son of the father you take away the sins of the world of mercy on us you take away the sins of the world [Music] [Music] [Applause] have mercy on us [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] jesus the christ spirit in the glory of god the father [Music] amen [Music] through your only begotten son have conquered death and unlocked for us the path to eternity grant we pray that we who keep the solemnity of the lord's resurrection made through the renewal brought by your spirit rise up in the light of faith through our lord jesus christ your son who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the holy spirit one god for ever and ever amen and we're gonna listen to a few readings from sacred scripture and pay special attention to the reading from the gospel which is uh one of the earliest accounts the first accounts of jesus resurrection by eyewitnesses and you might invite god to speak to you in a personal and particular way through his word which is living and active a reading from the acts of the apostles peter began to speak you know the message that spread throughout judea beginning in galilee after the baptism that john announced how god anointed jesus of nazareth with the holy spirit and with power how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil for god was with him we are witnesses to all he did both in judea and in jerusalem they put him to death by hanging him on a tree but god raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear not to all people to us who were chosen by god as witnesses and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by god as judge of the living and the dead all the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name the word of the lord thanks be to god this is the day the lord has made let us rejoice and be glad this is the day the lord has made let us rejoice and be glad this is the day the lord has made let us rejoice and be glad this is the day the lord has made let us rejoice and be glad give thanks to the lord for he is good for his love endures forever let the family of israel say his love endures forever this is the day the lord has made let us rejoice and be glad this is the day the lord has made let us rejoice and be glad the lord's right hand has triumphed his right hand raised me i shall not die i shall live and recount his deeds this is the day the lord has made let us rejoice and be glad this is the day the lord has made let us rejoice and be glad the stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone this is the work of the lord a marvel in our eyes this is the day the lord has made let us rejoice and be glad is the day the lord has made let us rejoice and be glad a reading from the letter of saint paul to the colossians brothers and sisters if you have been raised with christ seek the things that are above where christ is seated at the right hand of god set your mind on things that are above not on things that are on earth for you have died and your life is hidden with christ in god when christ who is your life is revealed then you also will be revealed with him in glory the word of the lord thanks be to god um [Music] oh [Music] oh for this wondrous victory the lord of life who died glorified o mary come and say what you saw at break of day the empty tomb of my living lord i saw christ jesus risen and adored bright angels testified shroud and grave glow side by side yes christ my hope rose gloriously he goes before you into galilee share the good news sing joyfully his death is victory lord jesus victor king show us mercy [Music] oh [Music] christ has become our paths of sacrifice let us feast with joy in the lord [Music] hallelujah [Music] the holy gospel according to to you john early on the first day of the week while it was still dark mary magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb so she ran and went to simon peter and the other disciple the one whom jesus loved and said to them they have taken the lord out of the tomb and we do not know where they have laid him then peter and the other disciples set out and went towards the tomb the two were running together but the other disciple outran peter and reached the tomb he bent down and looked in and saw the linen rappings lying there but he did not go in then simon peter came following him and went into the tomb he saw the linen wrappings lying there and the cloth that had been on jesus's head not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself then the other disciple who reached the tomb first also went in and he saw and believed for as yet they did not understand the scripture that he must rise from the dead then the disciples returned to their homes but mary magdalene stood weeping outside the tomb and as she wept she bent down and looked into the tomb and she saw two angels in white sitting where the body of jesus had been lying one at the head and the other at the feet they said to her woman why are you weeping she said to them they have taken away my lord and i do not know where they have laid him when she had said this she turned around and saw jesus standing there and she did not know that it was jesus jesus said to her woman why are you weeping whom are you looking for supposing him to be the gardener she said to him sir if you have carried him away tell me where you have laid him and i will take him away jesus said to her mary she turned and said to him in hebrew rabbuni which means teacher jesus said to her do not hold on to me because i have not yet ascended to the father but go to my brothers and say to them i am ascending to my father and your father to my god and to your god mary magdalene went and announced to the disciples i have seen the lord and she told him that he had said these things to her the gospel of the lord praise you lord jesus christ is risen hallelujah this is this is honestly my favorite time of the year to celebrate easter and and last night we celebrated the easter vigil now uh if you didn't see that you got to go back online and watch the easter vigil uh i love it the beginning section is called the liturgy of lights where the the church is filled with darkness and then the one the easter candle is lit and we process in slowly and then little by little uh that is shared throughout the church and individual uh tapers are lit and this this darkness starts to be replaced by this glow of light that that goes throughout the year the church and then there's this anticipation building and then the exaltette is sung now uh last night father alex sang the exaltet and let me tell you it's pretty impressive 10 minutes of acapella chance and he absolutely nailed it now that doesn't just happen he worked at it and i just want to give you a sense of how much effort he put in in preparation for the exaltette so we're just gonna play a short little video for you [Music] i love that what a what a boss he totally owned that anyways when i think back to that scene right where the church is filled with all these little lights it reminds me of gazing up at the stars have you ever done that i have fond memories of going up to a cottage with friends and and a warm summer evening going down to the water laying on the dock and just gazing at all of the stars and uh you know i i only recognize a few constellations the big dipper the little dipper maybe orion's belt but what's the best is when there's a meteor shower and you see a shooting star that flash of light that's that's there and it's gone in an instant well uh inevitably i'm the guy who always blinks and i miss it so and so friends are like okay just look up at that dark spot of the sky and you're bound to see one and so i stare and all i see is darkness you know but it makes me ask the question how is it that some people can see the light especially when others can only see darkness how is it that some people can see the light now i'm one of these guys who uh i'm a kind of a glass half empty guy i wish it wasn't true but but i do i see the darkness and frankly there's been so much darkness over this last year it goes without saying uh this global pandemic that's been going on and on these restrictions and and probably if you're watching right now it's because you're not able to be here and you probably feel the pain of separation from being here together with the community on easter sunday i know myself over this last year there's been moments where i've been so exhausted i've been so frustrated i felt so disconnected and it's been hard to see the lights one of the impacts of this it's taken quite a toll on our mental health and just a couple days ago i started praying for for people who struggle with anxiety and i started to list off the names of people that i know fairly close to me who struggle at least moderately if not seriously with anxiety and i i listed them off on my fingers without even trying i came up with 30 names there's an epidemic and i can only imagine how hard it must be to see the light when you're struggling with mental health or others maybe you're caught in the thinking that things won't ever get better you know you're looking at society and politics at legislation at education just a week ago i was at a a dinner party there's a conversation and and the basic tone of it was there's something wrong with the world and uh you know we don't know what it is but and there's obviously good things happening but it feels like we're trending in the wrong direction and even the church too serious challenges division darkness now if we look inwards we can see personal sin and i include myself in this struggling with with habits that are unhealthy sin that that we know it hurts us it hurts our relationships it damages our connection with god and especially when you're trying to hide sin it can you can feel so caught in darkness and i'm going to add one more to that list and that is the fear of death if there's one thing this pandemic has unveiled it's that the whole world is afraid of dying we're afraid of the darkness of death that certainty that finality the emptiness connected with suffering and pain and we will stop at nothing to avoid death to to deny death to delay death we'll shut down the economy we'll shut down travel we'll give up our freedoms we'll we'll we'll let go of basic human interactions to beat death now i'm i'm not like all for death or anything like that and obviously we have to be wise and prudence but as i reflect at its core covert 19 isn't the issue the issue is that we're afraid of death and it's wonderful that that big pharma is working on vaccines but like could they could they not come up with a vaccine for death because that is the deepest source of darkness and so i go back to the question with all of this darkness how is it that some can see the light i think back to that first holy week and what it was like for those followers of jesus as they were they were there they they knew that jesus had been captured arrested tortured and then crucified on the cross and he died no doubt they experienced the depth of darkness that severe grief and sadness maybe even anxiety and depression they might have been caught in that thinking things won't ever get better and certainly when it can't when it comes to personal sin i mean they all ran away with the exception of john every last one of them ran to save their own skin and peter who was supposed to be their great leader three times he denied jesus this one who had become his master his rabbi not to mention a dear friend and why do you think they all ran away and hid it's because they too were afraid of death and if they got caught they would probably be subject to the same fate as jesus now all of this is captured in one line in the gospel of john we just heard john 20 it says this early on the first day of the week while it was still dark mary magdalene came to the tomb now this darkness it's a reference to what was going on outside but is also that inner darkness that was so real for them and once mary gets to the tomb she finds the stone is rolled away and the tomb is empty and so begins the greatest plot twist in all of human history uh god had another plan when we thought all was lost when jesus was dead no jesus rose to new life he is alive he conquered death by his brilliant light by dying he destroyed death and by rising he restored life you see easter isn't just this time we get together you know for a little bit of a spiritual boost we celebrate easter because it is not only the greatest event event of the year it is the greatest event of all human history easter the resurrection changed everything you might ask the question well what difference does the resurrection make for me and i think it's this jesus who rose to new life wants to share that new life with you he wants for you to also experience him to encounter him as risen as alive as real and one of the indicators that someone has encountered jesus is that they can see the light i'll say this way the resurrection enables us to see the light even when others see darkness just go ahead and type that in the comments right now the resurrection enables us to see the light i mean think back to that scene staring up at the stars it's like why is it that some only see darkness but others have the capacity to see the light there's this spiritual sight the supernatural way in which jesus can enable us to see light even when others only see darkness now i used to think that this change this encounter this experience with jesus was something that would would always happen instantaneously like you flick a switch and the light goes on and bam i can see now that does happen for people for sure but i think for many it's much more gradual jesus is so much more gentle in the way that he reveals himself and i go back to that gospel story where uh you know mary she comes to the tomb it's empty she runs to tell the others and then peter and another disciple we think it's john they run back to the tomb and here's what it says then the other disciple john who reached the tomb first also went in and he saw and believed now what do you think john saw when he went into the tomb do you think you went in there and like had a conversation with jesus no there was nothing in there he didn't see anything well except for you know the grave cloths and and this this head cloth that was rolled up on the side and you know there was this theory grave robbers had come and stolen jesus which which doesn't make any sense at all they wouldn't have left behind the most valuable thing in the tomb those cloths and then carried away a naked corpse however john he went in he saw and believed and i think when you think about it here he is going into a tomb a place that is cold and dank and stinky and dark a place of death and he looks into that and he can see the light why because the resurrection enables us to see the light the resurrection change john and and i think for him it was probably like a dimmer switch there was like this little bit of wait a second i'm starting to clue in something's going on and and it as it unfolds finally later in the upper room when jesus does appear it's like bam the lights go on full and he's like yes it's true jesus is risen he is alive and that changes everything you think back to all of those disciples their previous experience of darkness the grief the sadness the personal sin even the fear of death was transformed by jesus it was blasted away by his lights those disciples who were petrified of death later again with the exception of john later every single one of those apostles was martyred for the faith they looked death square in the face and they realized you know what i don't have to be afraid of death because jesus is alive he is my savior and his salvation extends even into the next life jesus changed everything he conquered death itself and he wants to share that new life with us he wants to give us the ability to see the light now i ask you this question do you want to be able to see the lights i mean i hope you do but what's the alternative we can just sit around and complain that it's dark there's so much darkness in the world or we can continue to to live in fear of death and many do but jesus wants for us to experience his lights and so often it's it's so loving it's so gentle it's so gradual i experienced this about a week and a half ago i woke up in darkness now i'm not a morning person so i had to drag my carcass out of bed and i went upstairs to pay homage at the sacred coffee pot and uh and as i was i was pouring my cup i was about to head downstairs with with this fresh cup of joe and out of the corner of my eye i saw this faint orangey red glow out the window along the horizon and i was drawn towards this this almost imperceptible bit of light and i sat down and over the next 30 or 40 minutes i watched as the colors changed as the that colors became pinks and yellows as the navy blue sky turned to lighter and lighter shades of blue and by the way that was not my view my view was very obstructed i had you know these tree branches and telephone wires and roof tops but then at one moment through all of that there was one ray of sun like that that broke through and i was overcome by this emotion this welling up within me this feeling this is what i've been waiting for i've been longing for the sun to rise and forgive the pun but but it's like i've been longing for the son of god jesus to rise and he never disappoints you know as as the son continued to to to rise on the horizon the glow increased and and this feeling was like do other people know this is happening you know i should go get my brother priest or i should wake up the neighbors this is amazing i mean i know it's just this natural experience of sunrise but it became this supernatural reminder for me that jesus is rising and let me tell you something he is bringing the light and i was i was just reminded in that moment of this matt mar song he's a catholic worship artist he wrote this song called alive again and in it there's this line i can see the light before i see the sun rise and that's it some people by the grace of the resurrection are able to see light even before when others still just see darkness i want to give you one last example from one of the greatest heroes of my lifetime pope john paul ii who you know throughout his papacy he kept talking about this coming springtime he's saying there's a new springtime for the church pay pay attention it's it's gonna come and his critics were like dude what are you even talking about uh no i'm sure they didn't address uh the pope that way that's no way to talk to the pope they probably were like holy father what are you even talking about like like uh we don't see it like all we see is darkness from he was pope from 1978 to 2005 and through that time period of course again good things happened but there were many many things that that were darkness seemed to increase in the world and in the church and yet the pope kept saying a new springtime is coming and i was reflecting on that like what is it that john paul ii could see when others could only see darkness and i believe he looked off to the horizon he squinted his eyes and he saw in the future i see jesus alive and if jesus is there then the future is full of hope i want to just conclude with a little time of prayer and i want to pray for that person right now who's watching who's been overwhelmed by darkness especially this last year uh with all that's going on you've you've just been overcome by so much darkness i want to pray for that person who is afraid of death and maybe even in your head you're thinking to yourself you know what um i know i shouldn't be afraid of covenant i know i shouldn't be afraid of death but you are or maybe there's that person you you have a loved one for whom you're paralyzed with fear that they might die i want to pray for that person who is watching right now you've somehow stumbled on this homily you're not even sure how you got here maybe somebody shared it with you you're not even sure what you believe i want to pray for you because jesus is risen and he is real right now and he wants to shine light into your life so if you would just close your eyes and open your heart just even that little crack so that one ray of light can burst in [Music] jesus we believe that you truly died and that you rose to new life you have conquered death and there is no darkness on earth that can stop you jesus we want to share in your resurrection give us give us the gift of new life and help us to see your light even when others only see darkness come lord jesus into our hearts [Music] after listening to that homily about jesus resurrection from the dead what we're going to do now as a community is to profess our belief in the resurrection and in all that god has revealed about himself in and through jesus and if you're watching this and you're not even necessarily a christian or you don't know what you believe uh or your struggle with some of the beliefs that's okay we just invite you to join us as we profess our faith to the extent that you that you can believe that you want to believe and so join us as together we say i believe in god the father almighty creator of heaven and earth and in jesus christ his only son our lord who was conceived by the holy spirit born of the virgin mary 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 the father of the mighty 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 after having professed our faith now we join together our prayers for the church for ourselves for the world and so i'd invite you to begin sharing your prayers with us even right now you can share them in the chat or in the comments this is the day that the lord has made like the psalmist we rejoice and are glad trusting in the steadfast love of the lord who has risen from the dead which endures forever we present to him our prayers for the church throughout the world that the easter message of new life will take root in our hearts and lead us to a deeper love of our risen lord we pray to the lord lord hear our prayer for our archbishop brian dunn and for all the parishes of the archdiocese of halifax yarmouth but the presence of the spirit of new life will grow and deepen in all of us we pray to the lord lord hear our prayer for those baptized this weekend for all of us as we renew our baptismal commitment that we will live out the graces that we have received and trust in the lord to bring transform transformation to our lives we pray to the lord lord hear our prayer for children preparing for first communion and for the adults who celebrated their first communion last evening that during this easter season of new life they will grow in their understanding and appreciation of the gift of jesus in the eucharist we pray to the lord lord hear our prayer for the sick and for all who suffer that they will know that christ who suffered whose suffering led to new life is always with them we pray to the lord lord hear our prayer for those who have gone before us that they may sing the eternal easter song with all the saints in glory we pray to the lord lord hear our prayer we lift up our prayer partners from the beginning of mass that name or person that you chose and so let's just pray silently for each other if you join us late don't worry we're praying for you too we pray to the lord we pray for your prayers your petitions the burdens and concerns and worries that you bring this day we lift those up to god we pray to the lord god of endless love god of eternal life in the name of the risen one lord jesus who lives forever we come to you in confidence and joy asking you to hear and answer our prayers for we make them through that same jesus our lord now and forever amen this point marks our transition now into the the liturgy of the eucharist which is the high point of our celebration today and as we begin to prepare the altar with the gifts at what's called the offertory or the preparation of gifts we bring uh bread and wine and by the power of the holy spirit and the words of jesus they're transformed into the body and blood soul and divinity of jesus and we offer this to the father this is the time we offer ourselves all that we are all that we have all we ever could be we bring to this altar one expression of that is by giving of our financial resources it's an act of trust worship of god acknowledging that all we are all we have comes from him so we make an act of faith by returning some of it back to him you'd like to join a a financial gift to this act of worship today you can do so by going to saint benedict dot ca slash give there's all kinds of ways to give but if you're just joining us for the first time or you don't you don't necessarily know what you believe that's okay you're off the we don't expect you to give this is something that we do as followers of jesus as an act of worship and trust and the god has provided everything for us so i thank you in advance for your generosity [Music] god is able he will never fail he is done great things lifted up he defeated the grave raised to life is able in his name [Music] we overcome for the lord our god is able [Music] to god is with us [Music] god is on our side he will make the way far above foreign in his name we overcome for the lord our god [Music] god is with us he will go before he will never leave us he will never leave us god is lifted up he defeated the grave raised to life our god is able in [Music] lifted up [Music] we overcome [Music] god is with us he will go before he will never leave us god is lifted up he defeated the grave raised to life god is able in his name we overcome for the lord our god is able for the lord our god is able for them our god is able [Music] 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 the glory of his name for our good and the good of all his holy church exultant with paschal gladness oh lord we offer the sacrifice by which your church is wondrously reborn and nourished through christ our lord 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 [Music] it is truly right and just our duty and our salvation at all times to acclaim you o lord but on this day above all to lord you yet more gloriously oh in christ our passover has been sacrificed for he is the true lamb who has taken away the sins of the world my dying he has destroyed our death and by rising restored our life therefore overcome with paschal joy every land every people exalts in your praise and even the heavenly powers with the angelic hosts sing together the unending hymn of your glory as they acclaim [Music] oh [Music] is who comes in the name of the lord [Music] 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 make them holy 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 oh 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 whose command we celebrate these mysteries for on the night he was betrayed he himself took bread and giving 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 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 the mystery of faith when we [Music] 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 and 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 his 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 most blessed virgin mary mother of god with blessed joseph her spouse with your blessed apostles and glorious martyrs with saint benedict and with all the saints on whose 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 in your pilgrim church on earth with your servant francis our pope and brian our bishop 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 you have summoned before you in your compassion o 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 at 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 him and with him and in him oh god almighty father in the unity of the holy spirit glory and honor is yours [Music] forever [Music] oh [Music] 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 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 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 we live and reign forever and ever amen peace of the lord be with you always and with your spirit and let us offer each other the sign of peace lamb of god you take away the sins of the world [Music] lamb of god you take away the sins of the world lamb of god you take away the sins of the world don't know be smart [Music] [Music] 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 you should enter under my roof but only say the word and my soul shall be healed the time of communion in which the the church the believers in jesus come together in communion with jesus himself in the eucharist body blood soul and divinity we acknowledge that because of the times we're in you're not here today and you can't participate uh in this act of sacramental communion but nevertheless you can pray to receive spiritual communion that jesus himself would enter into your heart right now in this moment so we invite you in and to pray this act of spiritual communion with us as we experience as a church this moment of communion together my jesus i believe that you are present in the most blessed sacrament i love you above all things and i desire to receive you into my soul since i cannot receive you sacramentally now come spiritually into my heart i embrace you as if you have already come and unite myself holy to you never permit me to be separated from you amen that no one caught in sin remain inside the lie of inward shame but fix our eyes upon the cross and run to him who showed great love and bled for us freely you bled for us is risen from the dead trampling over death by death come awake come awake come and rise up from the grave christ is risen from the dead we are one within again come awake come awake come and rise up from the grave [Music] beneath the weight of [Music] crown no burden great can hold you down in strength you will reign forever let your church grow clear christ is risen from the dead trampling over death by death come awake come awake come and rise up from the grave christ is risen from the dead we are one with him again come awake come awake come [Music] where is your victory in the church come stand in the light the glory of god has defeated the night who is [Music] where is your victory oh church comes down in the light our god is not dead he's alive he's alive christ is rising from the dead trampling over death [Music] come awake come awake come and rise up from the grave christ is risen from the dead trembling over death by death come awake come come and awake up from the grave christ is risen from the dead we are one with him again come awake come awake come and rise up from the [Music] look upon your church o god with unfilling love and favor so that renewed by the paschal mysteries she may come to the glory of the resurrection through christ our lord [Music] all right well happy easter to you again and all your loved ones uh before we go we just want to share a few more things with you a couple announcements easter announcements the first is um in addition to a regular sunday giving there's also a special easter collection which uh we budget for every year and so we really appreciate your generosity at this time of year and it's because of your giving that allows us to continue to operate in this time and and provide this beautiful experience for so many people who are stuck at home or cannot go out in public places and so thank you so much for your generosity in helping us reach many people we also have a new issue of the benedictus out it's our monthly magazine it's got great stories about you can read interviews of the four people who just received sacraments at our easter vigil very exciting amazing stories if you're not signed up for our newsletter you can sign up at st benedict dot ca slash read if you are signed up for a weekly newsletter uh we sent the benedict to write to your email and so that's there don't go anywhere just yet uh before you get into christmas brunch i'd love to hang out with you christmas wow it's been a long night okay it's very short short night sleeping i'm starting to to lose it around the edges here but before you go for easter brunch hang out with father simon and i in the digital foyer we'd love to hear from you want to hear your questions i want to interact with you a little bit and after that you can start getting easter brunch ready and sit the kids in front of spp kids online church with laura o'rourke our special easter edition so stick around for that [Music] bow down for the blessing almighty god bless you through today's easter solemnity and in his compassion defend you from every assault of sin amen and may he who restores you to eternal life in the resurrection of his only begotten son endow you with the prize of immortality amen amen now that the days of the lord's passion have drawn to a close may you who celebrate the gladness of the paschal feast come with christ's help and exalting in spirit to those feasts that are celebrated in eternal joy amen and may the blessing of almighty god the father and the son and the holy spirit come down on you and remain with you forever amen go in peace hallelujah [Music] thanks be to god hallelujah [Music] [Music] [Music] it's the weight of your glory brings the proud to their knees and the light of revelation lets the blind man see it's the power of the cross breaks away death's embrace and we celebrate our freedom dancing on an empty [Music] [Music] day sing for johnny shout your name with celebrate your resurrection [Music] is [Music] and we celebrate our freedom [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] day [Music] hello and welcome to the digital foyer happy easter everybody we're so glad to be with you today for you to be with us today for easter sunday mass i am joined on my left by our pastor and easter egg enthusiast father simon lobo and uh it's your chocolate bunny boy father alex pilate is here and father alex for longs got to say yes merry christmas buddy hey merry christmas merry christmas and happy new year the peace of the season oh man i can't wait for christmas brunch he's bored so so good it's so good really what's the difference like turkey ham this is a very common question for people for non-christians often to say like what's the whole easter thing like did you do christmas already kind of people don't really know the whole thing that they're yeah easter is a whole in fact i mean christmas gets all kind of the uh it gets all the media attention the spotlight but easter is the highest point of the year it's interesting you say that christmas gets all the media attention because i saw somebody get some media attention this week about easter oh and it was the guy on my left your father simon lobo that is true yeah i i'm famous what stage was came in to interview me here at the church almost on this very few feet away from where we're standing right now he's actually a really famous guy his sports you probably know all about he's a great great broadcaster he's done some some tsn as well he's very good great voice oh yeah he does he's awesome yeah and he's and he's like six foot five or something like he's really very tall but uh he's a personal friend of bill scholar who's on staff and he had reached out to bill and and we lined it up and it was just just so grateful for the chance to be able to share a little bit about how we're we're entering into uh these holiest of days over these last few days here in a in a kind of a physical way both physical in person as well as digital online that's right yeah so it's good good to see you on there if you if you're watching because you saw us on there hello yeah i'm glad you can join us this is a time where you can ask some questions oh yeah and i'll get the priest to uh to to answer them i promise i'm gonna hold their feet to the fire but first they have a comment kathy says father alex you're saying that exalted beautifully last night oh yeah nice uh hey thanks kathy i yeah i was so nervous let me tell you i got up that like i was like i didn't have any nerves at all and then the moment i stepped up there uh my pores opened and i started sweating the five guys burgers and fries that i had for dinner and just like everything like my stomach went tight and it was yeah it was a little i'm not you know i don't i i love singing i've come a long way but i don't feel especially confident about my singing voice well that's okay um you know that's you you're always growing and it's always good but it was fun it's a great challenge and it's such a beautiful beautiful song like it's just got such a yeah there's so much in there and it's thing about bees yeah i love the part about the bees making the wax and the wax candle and yeah what's the significance of that father-son yeah great question i think we should go to our greek scholar so honestly actually isn't it a thing you have to use like in liturgy you're supposed to use real wax candles made from beeswax i think it's probably connected to creation right it's that god actually uh bees are part of his his wonderful glorious creation and so we're using that okay i'm just totally rambling here at this point that's okay you know what i was thinking about it because i as i was like i was you know preparing and it just occurred to me it's uh i mean the the ancient like the fathers of the church the um like the early theologians kind of wrote about uh bees and the collection of wax and stuff like uh honey as a symbol of christianity and but i was reflecting on it you know we are like the bees like we work we create we bring our our own work our hands our humanity but at the end of the day it's like that that the light the fire is something entirely added it's sort of like the symbol of grace uh and the power of the resurrection added to our the limitations of our humanity that's kind of was my very well put i think there we go and just adding to that there's a question here in the chat yeah uh did you lip sync last night i would have done a little better job there were quite a few uh little mistakes in there you can catch if i thought it was flawless i honestly didn't notice at all i mean i might have tuned out a few times well you know what it's like you didn't catch it last night you go to our facebook page and go to our youtube channel and check it out there it's the individual mass it's on there or don't it'll be no honestly so it's a three-hour video and how far in is it would you say oh it's well you can always skip over the the announcements if you want those early sl slides at the beginning so it's really within the first 10 minutes uh we start right uh so uh it's pretty cool i have to say the crew man uh we were watching some of the footage last night and both the sound the the uh the video the shots by the fire we almost got lit on fire last night hey it was super easy to use again what's that would have been we would have made the news again yeah so uh there was there was sparks flying you can even see it on the video and i didn't think we were going to be able to light the easter candle because of how windy it was right but somehow by some miracle uh we did it and deacon david he is he was on top of it and he had that i think that glass thing on top is called the follower oh and he just he whipped it out right in the nick of time before the wind blew out the the the light and so we were able to process them with that and there's so many cool shots as candles are being lit the light is being shared it's it's worth watching so you can go back and check that out i've heard i already heard good things about it even before we talked about this morning so yeah go check it out a uh an emmy-winning performance or a webby i don't know what's uh are there awards for uh catholic uh streamed masses i don't know we should we should at least look at it but let's let's start we shall start start a war that's what we should do we should get into that i like that uh there's a question here from lisa who asked what happened to paul's beard i don't know if you uh you know if you're familiar but paul is a frequent musician here at the parish he had kind of his easy top thing going on there and it has now been trimmed uh in a very uh i'll get down here is paul is can we get paul down here to show the beard off a little bit that's a good question so paul was it a lent thing what was the story there buddy yeah there's a coven thing covered beard wow wanted to try it and then i did and it got too hot so i got rid of it there we go okay there we go now you look like your dad again of course like so many of us paul resembles his dad like 95 percent some of us like a little resemblance yeah but mostly personality in there so thank you paul i appreciate that i want to give a little shout out because paul has so graciously stepped out of the spotlight and and gone back to a modest beard length but last night there were four very special people who came into full communion with the catholic church uh heather donna dorothy and tony and a particular shout out to tony's beard tony tremper has got a beard uh an amazing beard which now because paul has stepped out of the runnings i think tony's got the best beard at st benedict parish so way to go tony and and we love you all four of you donna dorothy heather and tony you are so welcome and uh it was great to be able to celebrate those sacraments last night the three sacraments of initiation baptism for donna as well as um as well as confirmation for the four of them and a few of them also received first holy communion so uh very cool i mean they all received communion but dorothy had already had already been receiving communion so anyways uh just super awesome and just such a joyful celebration last night yeah if you want to see more from from them as well go to saint peter.ca st benedict dot ca slash read and read our most recent better dictions just came out just now there's interviews with them which is awesome read a little bit about them see their faces it's cool you can see his beard in the benedictus oh yeah very much an addictive spirit so you mentioned you mentioned five guys which i'm really grateful for yeah uh don't did did the easter bunny leave you guys anything else indeed wants to know uh anything there's a few little things lying around uh we may be wearing a few pairs of them okay okay among other things i'm very excited for that little preview for the socks a little bit later on here so a little some chocolate so i got a chocolate bunny you know i think it says easter like a chocolate bunny right true yeah i jesus chocolate bunny oh we also got uh some dairy queen gift certificates okay so uh nothing says easter like a blizzard right what's your favorite blizzard flavor hard that is so hard sorry you put me on the street easy if i'm like hey first time i'm going to directly right now what blizzard yeah you know what i would probably go smarties okay um but oreo's safe like are safe is i don't know is there like a mocha something uh is the other there's some chocolatey ones here you say mocha do you want like a coffee flavor yeah okay they've done coffee crisp before i think coffee crisps that's it only in canada this guy you can't even get it in the united states such a poser he doesn't even know the names of the blizzard flavors color alex is unimpressed what's your blizzard what do you think what are you oreo that's easy very easy i like that oreo like a cookie dough i like uh those but recovery sky when it comes to the blizzard there score shout out to my mom she loves score this guy pretends like he likes he knows fast food but he doesn't he doesn't know fast food oh man well you know what you mentioned you mentioned this let's get a little consensus here so let's cool it down with a little bit of content can i just one quick real question before we go there yeah there was a really good question and it's a bit unusual i guess we didn't do a digital foyer on good friday so okay one of the questions was uh why do priests remove their chasables which is this outer kind of poncho type vestment and their shoes on good friday to venerate the cross and we will turn to our associate pastor father alex to answer that question why i actually don't know the answer to this question i mean i could make something up but uh i'm not going to so i'm gonna throw it right back at the guy who asked the question so uh that's true yeah so i think our cameraman chris knows the answer so we're just gonna give it to you from chris uh well in exodus chapter three there's the story of the burning bush and so as moses is approaching uh god says remove your sandals for the ground on which you are standing as holy ground and i think that could be one interpretation or explanation for why priests approach this this cross which is being venerated the sacred uh reminder of uh it that it was through the cross that came our salvation and so we remove our our our shoes and approach the cross and i think the outer garments again it's it's uh it's almost like a sign of humility that's uh that we're we're approaching not not naked but but with fewer layers as we just approached before god uh to to venerate the cross in which jesus died so anyways we'll have to do a bit more research but i think those are some good reasons anyways there you go okay good talks now yes all right absolutely time for socks every week digital foyer the priests were funny socks they go head-to-head last week they kind of punted on it really it was like black socks red socks so it was a little bit a little bit unoppressive but they're really just getting us ready for easter and the easter socks so just let's get ready and see these let's go first all right i'll go i'll go here we go so uh i am wearing if you watch my homily listen to my helmet i'm wearing some sparkly socks uh from nasa to represent you know that that ability that why why is it that some people can see the lights when others only see darkness and so shout out to jerry and sue larue who are awesome who uh gave me some easter socks there we go eastern nasa sox almost said christmas socks all right well i have um these are uh cat in full battle armor riding in narwhal a kitty cat in full battle armor riding a narwhal is that like a samurai pizza cat or something like that i mean it's just it's there's this ancient association of cats and armor with the resurrection of jesus um and nothing says easter like a cat riding into battle on the back of an artwork that would never happen in real life that is so fake come on i can't believe where's your face father simon some people look at socks they don't they don't ask these questions anyway feel free to vote on who had the better socks this week was it the nasa star socks or the uh armored cat writing a narwhal oh shout out to shout out to lisa matheson there we go these may be my favorite socks yet i mean they're out there they're like three or four the most random yeah they're gonna do that they're fantastic but you know what those are so fun we know the fun is not stopping right here because the fun is just going to increase because suv kids online church has an easter party coming up right now laura this is your party [Music] ah rats um okay here we go i'm just gonna have to clean this right up here [Music] oh that's a lot of mess okay i am so sorry about this all right oh so messy well now that that's cleaned up that actually was a big mess happy easter everyone my name's laura and i'm the host here of sbp kids online church and i'm so excited that you've taken a few minutes to sit down and join me wherever you are to celebrate easter it's the most important day ever and it's the cool thing about you being here watching me on a screen is that it isn't just you watching me by yourself but you can know that you're watching this with kids from all over the world too and if you're watching that means you're a friend whether you're a little kid a big kid or a kid at heart and one day way to make sure that we're all getting to know our friends here is by knowing each other's names so the first way to do that is by yelling your name out loud and clear i want to hear your name are you ready go for it awesome the next way to get to know all our friends better is by writing our names in the comments to this video so if you see comment box anywhere and if you're allowed to go tell us your name why don't you go over there and type in your name and since we want to get to know each other even better on this wonderful best day ever i want to know what your favorite thing about easter is so you can tell the people that you're in a room with that answer but i also want to know if the in the comments if you can too so why don't you go to the comments tell us your name what your favorite thing is about easter and i'll be there watching and i'm ready to say hi to you three two one now you and i both know that easter is about way more than eggs and chocolate and this green grass stuff that i'm going to be vacuuming up for weeks and weeks it's about the biggest moment in human history but before we get to that i thought it might be fun to take a look at how easter was celebrated in the past okay not quite as far back as the very first easter at that time jesus's disciples were hiding behind closed doors and well i think we've all had enough of that this past year no i'm talking about how generations before us used to celebrate easter like our grandparents and great grandparents they used to do it in style let's be real here some of you are probably in your pjs right now or at least in comfy clothes but earlier generations really knew how to make this day festive and of course some traditions that we all know and love today started many many years ago take easter eggs for example like like this one i don't i don't want to break my other egg here like this one here look how beautiful that is easter eggs were first decorated more than 500 years ago as a symbol of new life check this out you've got egg art of all kinds like carved eggs wooden eggs and even painted eggs you even have plastic eggs or my personal favorite the chocolate cream egg oh my goodness i can't wait to eat this one today there are so many fun eggs at easter time and i thought maybe we could play a game called is that thing really an egg do you want to play let's do it how you play is that thing really an egg see if you can tell which objects are eggs and which ones are not if it's not an egg can you tell what it is if it is an egg can you guess what kind it is [Music] we'll start with a super easy one [Music] is this thing really an egg stand up if you think it is and sit down if you think it isn't [Music] if you think it is not an egg you are correct but what is it stand up if you think it's a football sit down if you think it's a hammer [Music] if you think this is the football you're correct now let's try something a little bit harder is this thing really an egg stand up if you think it is and sit down if you think it isn't [Music] if you think it's an egg you are correct but do you know what kind it is stand up if you think it's a turkey egg and sit down if you think it's a robin's egg [Music] if you think it's a robin's egg you're correct now let's try something even a little bit harder is this thing really an egg stand up if you think it is sit down if you think it isn't if you think it's an egg you're correct but what kind of egg is it stand up if you think it's a chicken's egg sit down if you think it's a turtle day [Music] if you think it's a chicken egg you're correct they don't all look like the ones you get in the store [Music] is this thing really an egg stand up if you think it is and sit down if you think it isn't [Music] this is not an egg but what is it stand up if you think it's a watermelon and sit down if you think it's a cuca melon [Music] it is a tiny little keuka melon all right let's see what we have next is this thing really an egg stand up if you think it is sit down if you think it isn't if you think it's an egg you're correct but what kind is it stand up if you think it's a beetle egg sit down if you think it's a shark egg [Music] if you think this is a shark egg you're right here comes the very last round [Music] is this thing really an egg stand up if you think it is sit down if you think it isn't [Music] if you think it's not an egg you're correct but what is it stand up if you think it's the back of a bald head and sit down if you think it's a ball of clay [Music] this is the back of a bald head thanks for playing [Music] i hope all of you have had a lot of not so serious fun with those easter eggs and i hope as you were guessing none of those real eggs got busted like this one did oh man but as we'll see in just a few minutes easter is actually all about things that are messy and broken and finding a way to put it all back together again but right now i've got one more classic easter tradition to share with you chocolate easter bunnies the first one showed up in germany in the mid-1850s but they became popular in 1890 when an american shop worker stuck a five foot chocolate bunny in his window five feet that's like taller than a lot of you this is i can't i might be around five feet here there we go i really think you should also know that 81 of parents will sneak some of their kids easter candy so watch your basket i'll probably sneak some of my kids easter candy too with that in mind i've got a really special easter activity that you may want to try with your family today so it is called bust your bunny bust your body how to play you're going to need a chocolate easter bunny and i need to get some other things over here some icing for anyone who's playing you can use a tub of icing you can make your own you can use a tube of icing whatever you can also play in teams if you'd like so if you're playing in teams you only need one bunny and one icing thing for each team you're also going to need one hand towel and one hammer yes i did say a hammer but if you can't get one of those you could also use a book or a can of soup or even your fist if it's not a solid bunny so i'm going to show you how this game is played and then you and your family can come back to this video later if you want to get in on the fun of it at home so here's how you play first each team is going to need to bust their bunny yep you heard me so you're definitely going to want to cover your bunny with the with the towel trust me this is really important because then that'll keep you from getting any of the pieces flying around everywhere and then you won't be able to play the game okay so then you're going to want to whack it with your hammer trust me when i say you really only need one whack if it's a hollow bunny absolutely just one wack if it's solid you might need a few more but do not hit it too many times once everyone has properly busted their bunny the game is ready to begin your whole family will count to three and then begin gluing the bunny back together with the frosting the first team to finish and gets a good looking bunny wins oh remember it has to look good okay are you ready bunny busting about to happen in three two one i think i got it oh it needs a little bit more busting let's try this oh that's a good one [Music] um [Music] maybe wow um that was a mess but i'm sure when you do this your final results will be well just as creative as mine is and interesting too make sure you post a pic of your glued back together bunny in the social media to show all of your friends and family and you can use the hashtag sppkkids so i can see it too now i'm gonna need to wash up i'll be right back [Music] my goodness it's been messy today now as we said earlier easter is all about something good coming out of something bad it's about a plan that god formed from the foundation of the world just like this tulip grew from a dry bulb in a dark earth god's plan took shape out of darkness and brokenness at at just the exact right time he brought the most amazing breathtaking beautiful event this world has ever known let's take a look in the beginning god created everything he formed people in his own image there was nothing between god and us it was peaceful it was perfect but then we turned away from god when sin entered the world everything broke it seemed there was no way for us to be whole again but god loved us so much that he made a plan to rescue us [Music] god sends his very own son jesus to live among us jesus connected with people old and young happy or hurting people like you and me jesus healed the sick and forgave those who hurt others his closest friends saw jesus was the one sent by god to fix this broken world and make us right with god they couldn't wait for it to happen when jesus entered jerusalem huge crowds gathered to welcome him but the religious leaders thought jesus would change too much they made plans to stop him at a special dinner jesus told his friends that he had to leave them but he would return that night jesus was arrested he was beaten and given a fake trial the religious leader sent jesus to the roman governor who could sentence him to die pilate found jesus had broken no law but a mob called for jesus to be killed pilate gave in he handed jesus over to roman soldiers jesus carried the heavy rough beam of his own wooden cross up a hill soldiers nailed jesus hands and feet to the rough wood and raised them off the ground but jesus never stopped showing god's love and mercy even from the cross jesus asked god to forgive those people who were hurting him finally jesus called out it is finished then he died jesus's body was placed inside a stone tomb with a huge rock blocking the entrance it seemed the plan had failed that the world was broken forever that no one could put the pieces back together early sunday morning on the day we call easter mary magdalene hurried to the tomb she wanted to make sure jesus's body was buried properly but something was wrong the stone was rolled away when mary looked inside the tomb was empty mary saw a man and asked for help the man called her name and then she knew it was jesus alive god's plan could not be stopped even by death his love was too big jesus god's son took all our broken pieces all of our sin and made something new jesus lived and died and rose again so we could be right with god forever wow i hear that story every easter and every easter it still amazes me i mean god sent jesus to this world to remind me that he is greater than anything that could ever go wrong in my world the simple fact that jesus came back to life is proof to me that i can face anything bad that happens when you believe in jesus and follow him you begin living in peace with a god who can always take away the broken pieces and make them into something amazing on easter we celebrate that jesus is alive he rose from the dead not even death could contain him he is alive and that's why we celebrate this season easter is all about the empty tomb but there's another reason to celebrate one that should affect us every day of the year jesus is alive in you romans 8 says the spirit of god who raised jesus from the dead lives in you did you catch that the same powerful spirit that brought jesus back to life lives inside of you and just as god raised christ jesus from the dead he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same spirit living within you can you believe that promise god's spirit is inside of you and gives you power for today and eternal life when this day is over so if all of that is true then let's live for jesus today let's love like jesus today let's celebrate easter today and tomorrow and the next day happy easter every day of the year and that's why we celebrate that's why today is the best day ever so let's get this party started [Applause] [Music] [Music] alive [Music] the antichrist [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] face to face i am yours jesus you are mine [Music] celebrate jesus [Music] happy day happy day i'll never be the change [Music] [Music] his name [Music] happy day happy day i'll never [Music] [Music] hey everyone and happy easter today is going to be the best day ever my name is kalyn and i'm justin we're so excited to party with you today to get things started we have a super fun video here check it out [Music] [Applause] [Music] do [Music] [Applause] [Music] that was the best what a way to kick off the best holiday ever easter see the thing is easter is the most awesome day because we're celebrating that jesus is alive and when we're following jesus every day could totally be the best day ever you bet and we're kicking off this celebration right with the best game ever so here's how we'll play we'll show you a picture and then there will be an easter egg hiding somewhere in that picture you will have 20 seconds to spot the easter egg and then find something in your house that is the same color and bring it back to your seat that's right and don't worry if you missed the first one because we'll play three rounds total okay here comes the first one [Music] [Music] and time's up did you see that yellow egg justin what did you find that was yellow actually i found this yellow easter egg want to see what's inside bunny clappers cool okay i hope you're ready for the next one because here it comes so and time's up that purple egg was hiding so well justin did you find anything around here that was purple sure did there happen to be a purple easter egg in my basket i can't wait to see what my mom put in it eggs with slime okay there's one more egg to find and here it comes now [Music] time's up man that green egg was a little hard to see tell me about it but i saw it just in time to grab something green but you gotta guess what it is hmm let me think is it a green easter egg you know and look what's inside rubik's cubes cool that really was the best game ever if you've been hanging out with sbp kids online church recently you know that we've been preparing for this day the best day ever for a few weeks now and as we've been preparing we've been learning the words that we read in the bible that the angel said to jesus's friends when they came to the tomb where he was buried it's the message of the good news the first idea that they had that something had happened so why don't we say it all together now if you don't know it yet that's okay the words are right here here we go matthew 28 6 he is not here he has risen just as he said he would matthew 28 6 i love that and that verse makes me want to worship [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so get everybody talking yeah we won't stop [Music] is alive right now [Music] [Applause] death couldn't beat him nothing could hold him down jesus is alive [Music] [Music] is jesus is alive right now jesus is alive [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] is is [Music] the bible it's books of history stories letters and poetry that fit together to form god's one big story the epic adventure of how he created us and loves us so much that he made a way to rescue us as we travel through the bible from genesis to revelation we discover people who met god and found their lives changed forever now for an amazing story inspired by the entire bible in the beginning god created a magnificent paradise and everything in it was good he created water and land and plants and trees and birds and fish and animals and then from the very dust of the earth god created a man called adam he created a woman called eve they were the first two people on earth made in god's image living peacefully in paradise adam and eve were friends with god but then they made a terrible choice god had given adam and eve one rule you must not eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil if you do you will certainly die but the temptation was too great for adam and eve they broke god's rule and what was once a paradise became a broken world people started telling lies it was the woman you put here with me she made me eat it brother fought against brother no selfishness spread through generations when there had been peace in the garden now there was pain and sin and death separating people from their creator but god had a plan to make peace once again with the people he loved so much hundreds of years after adam and eve broke his rule god chose a man named abraham and said all nations on earth will be blessed because of you look up at the sky count the stars if you can that's how many children will be born into your family so abraham had a son isaac and isaac grew up to have two sons of his own jacob and esau and those two sons had children of their own jacob who god renamed israel he himself had 12 sons so god had given abraham a huge family just like he promised but god's people the israelites were still lost and broken separated from him they still did not have peace they didn't have peace when god rescued them from slavery in egypt when god led them through the red sea to escape their enemies okay great but what are we supposed to eat out here in the desert sand the nation of israel didn't have peace when god gave them a new law these commandments are hard we want a king like all the other nations they didn't even get peace when god gave them a king the king's laws are no fair we want a new god like all the other nations nope nothing gave god's people lasting peace they were still lost and broken and separated from god for thousands of years but god had not forgotten the promise he made to abraham all nations on earth will be blessed because of you god still had a plan to show the people just how much he cared for them he knew this broken world would never be able to rescue itself so god made a way god sent his son jesus to bring peace on earth once and for all jesus grew up and he taught people love and compassion forgiveness and grace he healed the sick and befriended the outcasts he saw what was wrong and made it right he loved the world and its people so deeply he gave his life on a cross to pay for the sins of the whole world father forgive them they don't know what they're doing in colossians the apostle paul tells us god made peace through christ's blood through his death on the cross when jesus chose to give up his life he paid the cost of every sin ever committed and every sin that had yet to be committed people no longer had to be separated from god but in the three dark days immediately following jesus's death his followers didn't understand all of that yet they huddled in the dark afraid that they too might be arrested or even killed who's there early on the morning of the third day mary magdalene arrived at the home where the disciples were staying they have taken the lord out of the tomb we don't know where they have put him the disciples stared at each other in shock then peter and john lunch for the door they raced each other all the way back to the tomb where jesus had been placed the tomb really is empty there are the linen claws they wrapped them in peter and john returned home still uncertain and confused and mary magdalene who had followed them stayed behind in the garden and as she wept she noticed a man standing nearby and at first she thought he was the gardener sir did you carry jesus away tell me where you put him mary the instant the man spoke mary magdalene knew immediately who he was it was jesus alive again teacher overjoyed mary returned to the disciples to share the incredible news i have seen the lord it was true jesus had come back from the dead he's more powerful than sin more powerful than death and through him we can have peace with god and work toward peace with others as god intended from the very beginning isn't that just the best jesus is truly the best ever and that's what we need to know today say this after me jesus jesus is the best ever it's the best ever let's say it again jesus jesus is the best ever is the best ever okay we have some questions for you to think about the first one is god didn't want anyone to have to suffer and die for their sins so who did god send to take away the sins of the world it was jesus god's plan was to send his son jesus who was perfect in every way to take the punishment for the wrong things we do once and for all oh man that makes jesus the best ever let's see if you can remember this jesus died on friday and was put in the tomb but what happened on sunday god brought jesus back to life and because jesus is alive we can live forever with him in heaven one day and heaven is the best place ever now let's see what our final question is who can be saved and forgiven of their sins anyone or just some people the bible tells us that whoever believes in jesus will be saved that's right jesus style on the cross to take the punishment for everyone's sin so that we can all be forgiven forever jesus really is the best ever it's amazing that he would die on a cross for us and come back to life so we can live forever with him one day but i've always wondered why it took three days for him to come back to life have you ever thought about that well actually my friend i have here check this out why was jesus dead for three days before he came back to life well there are actually three reasons number one if he had died and then come right back to life people could have argued that he never really died in the first place number two many people who helped write the bible and even jesus himself said that he was going to be dead for three days and if jesus says he's going to do something he always does it and number three jesus died on a friday which was the same day the passover lamb was sacrificed since jesus is the lamb of god that makes total sense and because he was dead for only three days that means he came back to life on the first day of the week that makes sense too because the first day of the week is a new beginning and jesus gave us a new beginning when he saved us from our sins and defeated death forever and that's why jesus was dead for three days before he came back to life that's so awesome yeah it is now what better way to celebrate all that jesus has done for us than to sing the best song ever i totally agree some of you may have heard this song before but if you have it you'll catch on fast this is a freestyle situation so you can worship god in your own way right where you are now remember worship is a way to say thank you to god for all he's done like sending jesus to save us so when you're dancing or singing along make sure your mind is thinking about god and all that he's done for you that's right now everyone get on your feet and worship together [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] now i'm saved [Music] no worries no worries no worries [Music] this is love this is life that you came and you died forever with you one day this is love this and you is [Music] no worries no worries [Music] that was so awesome that song talks about how jesus is alive and that's the best news ever i'm so thankful that every day can be the best day ever even after easter's over i'm also really thankful that god sent jesus to earth to save us knowing that jesus is alive and that we are forgiven makes every single day the best day ever no matter what is going on around us let's pray and thank god for all he's done for us for me for you for the whole world in the name of the father and the son and the holy spirit amen father god thank you for sending jesus to save us from our sin and thank you for bringing him back to life so that we can live forever please help us believe in jesus and to follow him so that every day can be the best day ever amen in the name of the father and the son and the holy spirit amen today has been the absolute best day ever and i hope it continues for the rest of your easter one way that you can keep this fun going all day at home is by checking out our email newsletter called the svp kids scoop we've got some really fun activities and games included in this week's activity pages that is in that email beyond even that chocolate easter game we played so check it out you can sign up for the sbp kids scoop by going to st benedict dot ca sbp kids and signing up there and for anyone who is older in your house like in grades 4 5 or 6 we're talking about how we can spread the incredible gift that we find at easter with the whole world at the encounter on wednesday night the encounter is an online youth group for kids in grades 4 5 and 6 and we meet every wednesday night you can sign up for the encounter by going to sync benedict dot ca slash youth i'm looking for the encounter sign up there we have so much fun and a little secret if you like playing among us stay after for a little bit and we're gonna play a few rounds all right also for anyone in your family who's in those grades around four or five or six or if you can read and want to join in check out the u version bible app and search for the plan called the secret power of grace this is a really cool way to read your bible and go deeper into what we're talking about at the encounter i think you're gonna love it all right that's all for me for today happy easter and i'm gonna see you back here next week for a brand new [Music] be the series [Music] so [Music] you

Channel: Saint Benedict Parish

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Id: AP6iY7d1Pbk

Length: 161min 25sec (9685 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 04 2021