First Sunday in Lent - 3/6/2022

[Music] [Music] so so [Music] so [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] maureen will take care of that if you want if you're comfortable taking the mask off for a moment photo good morning welcome to saint cecilia today the church gathers for the first sunday of lent for those worshipping with us virtually this morning music and prayers for today's liturgy can be found below the video on the parish's website or by clicking the flow code for those worshiping with us in person this morning prayers and music can be found in today's worship aid before we begin our liturgy i invite you to stand and greet your neighbor [Music] our opening song this morning is 40 days and 40 nights verses 1 2 4 and 5. [Music] [Music] is [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] me [Music] [Music] me [Music] morning everyone oh sorry strike one here we go i'm sorry good morning everyone and welcome to saint cecilia it's good for us to be together here in person and uh with our our friends uh worshiping virtually with us we're so glad that we're together this morning we welcome cardinal sean o'malley to be with us uh my boss and uh it is uh a and good friend so it's so good to have you here with us uh cardinal sean a special way we we celebrate the memory of dr paul farmer and cardinal shawn and dr paul we're very very close so thank you for being here with us this morning thank you very much father john in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen peace be with you and with your spirit my dear friends on wednesday throughout the world millions of catholics and other christians drew near to their churches to receive the ashes and many of us heard those words from the old testament remember thou art dust and unto dust thou shall return those ashes reminded us of our fragility but we receive the ashes and the sign of the cross the ashes are redeemed by the power of the cross recently dr paul was called back to god and his life was cut off so soon and so unexpectedly we feel great sorrow because of that but at the same time gratitude for his ministry and the witness of his faith so today i know there will be many wonderful celebrations of his life and ways to honor him but as a community of believers the eucharist is a very important way that we hold up our brother in prayer and pray for him and for his loved ones to prepare our hearts for this celebration let us place ourselves humbly in god's presence asking forgiveness for our sins and pledging ourselves to be loving and forgiving to one another i confess to almighty god and to 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 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 life everlasting lord have mercy christ have mercy christ have mercy lord have mercy let us pray grant almighty god through the yearly observances of holy lent that we may grow in understanding of the riches hidden in christ and by worthy conduct pursue their effects through our lord jesus christ your son who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the holy spirit god for ever and ever amen a reading from the book of deuteronomy moses spoke to the people saying the priest shall receive a basket from you and set it in front of the altar of the lord your god then you shall declare before the lord your god my father was a wandering aramian who went down to egypt with a small household and lived there as an alien but there he became a nation great strong and numerous when the egyptians maltreated and oppressed us imposing hard labor upon us we cried to the lord the god of our fathers and he heard our cry and saw our affliction our toil our oppression he brought us out of egypt with his strong hand and outstretched arm with terrifying power with signs and wonders and bringing us into this country he gave us this land flowing with milk and honey therefore i have now brought you the first fruits of the products of the soil which you o lord have given me and having set them before the lord your god you shall bow down in his presence the word of the lord thanks be to god [Music] he with [Music] [Music] he with me [Music] [Music] my and fortress [Music] we [Music] be with me [Music] [Applause] [Music] for the angels [Music] you always [Music] [Music] [Applause] me [Music] those who trust in god's name [Music] [Applause] when i am in trouble [Music] a reading from the letter of paul to the romans brothers and sisters what does scripture say the word is near you in your mouth and in your heart that is the word of faith that we preach for if you confess with your mouth that jesus is lord and believe in your heart that god raised him from the dead you will be saved for one believes with the heart and soul is justified and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved for there is no distinction between jew and greek the same lord is lord of all enriching all who call upon him for everyone who calls on the name of the lord will be saved the word of the lord thanks be to god so [Music] [Applause] [Music] glory to you lord jesus christ [Music] glory to you lord jesus christ son of the living god jesus christ [Applause] one does not live under [Music] glory to you lord jesus christ [Music] lord jesus christ the lord jesus christ son of the living god be with all of you and with your spirit a reading from the holy gospel according to luke glory to you o lord filled with the holy spirit jesus returned from the jordan and he was led by the spirit into the desert for 40 days to be tempted by the devil now he ate nothing during those days and when they were over he was hungry the devil said to him if you are the son of god then command this stone to become bread jesus answered him it is written one does not live on bread alone so then he took him up and he showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a single instance and the devil said to him i shall give to you all this power and glory for it has been handed over to me and i may give it to whomever i wish all this will be yours [Music] if you worship me jesus said to him in reply it is written you shall worship the lord your god and him alone shall you serve so then he led him to jerusalem and he made him stand on the parapet of the temple and he said to him if you're the son of god then throw yourself down from here for it is written he will command his angels concerning you to guard you and with their hands they'll support you lest you dash your foot against a stone jesus said to him in reply yeah it also says you shall not put the lord your god to the test when the devil had finished every temptation he departed from him for a time the gospel of the lord praise to you lord jesus christ foreign so i don't know how the word gets out but my boss said a little thing to me a few days ago he said now john exercise some discipline i have to be back at the cathedral at 2pm for the right of election at least you didn't say by noontime this is great you know today's a big day in the archdiocese and in the church because all the folks who are in the right of christian initiation for adults all who are becoming uh catholic either being baptized or coming into full communion uh go from all the parishes throughout the archdiocese and they go to the cathedral today for the rite of election and then it begins the process throughout the rest of the lenten journey as we move toward holy week and holy saturday the great vigil that happens in the triduum so it's a big day and i will make sure that you are there in time barely okay filled with the holy spirit jesus returned from the jordan river and then it says and we miss this sometimes led by the spirit into the desert for 40 days to be tempted by the devil as a kid i used to think like why would the spirit lead jesus into the desert to be tempted by the devil remember that christmas song god and sinners reconciled i can remember the the the day i heard it i had the christmas music playing in the garage on like a i don't know what it was a boom box and i'm shoveling and driving i'm like god and sinners reconcile i thought god didn't want anything to do with sinners i had no idea what reconciled meant as you can tell huh why would the spirit the holy spirit lead jesus into the desert to be tempted by the devil it says he ate nothing and then when it was over he was what hungry who wouldn't be 40 days never mind 40 minutes 44 hours right 40 days what does fasting do when we give things up what does fasting do i think it reduces spiritual and physical clutter it helps us to reduce excess and i think it helps us to become more clear about who we are what was the voice that came from heaven in the form of a dove after jesus was baptized by john and the jordan it said this is what my beloved son listen to him the one with whom i am well pleased guess what we've got the same spirit if we've been baptized that has been passed on from that river jordan for over 2000 years so that means you and i are the beloved daughters and sons the beloved children of god fasting helps us to know more and more who we are and as we go through life all we have to do is get on a massive cast and see it just in so many ways how people's lives are ravaged and they lose a sense we all do at different times that we are the beloved daughters and sons the beloved children of god life has its way with us relationships rupture and the repair is harder it seems and we don't always see ourselves as beloved fasting helps us to know who we are the way god knows who we are it helps us to see where we're going in life when we don't have all this excess clutter when we give things up it helps us to see where we need to go and the decisions we need to make fasting can actually put us in touch with our deepest hungers he was hungry 40 days when we give things up especially food we get hungry and these hungers come up that's physically what about spiritually when we fast from stuff what comes up it puts us in touch with our deepest hungers our deepest needs ready and our deepest temptations when we fast from when we abstain from that stuff doesn't magically disappear it comes up and it comes on strong at least in my life and i don't think i'm any different any one of us is any different from each other it's the human thing it's sin in the world it's original it moves us off base missing the mark so when you and i fast and pray like we began the lenten journey it's not just the 40-day spiritual endurance test that i've talked about where if we give up chocolate we cannot wait till that easter sunday where we can just rip the bunny's head off and just chomp into that chocolate i'm salivating right now it's not supposed to be a spiritual endurance test it's supposed to allow us to make room when we let go of that stuff and allow space for stuff to come up a couple quick examples 15 years ago up in new hampshire one of these micro bursts not quite a tornado but a micro burst came off of lake winnipesaukee and it gained some momentum from the water and then it literally was like this and every place this thing went down it was probably a mini tornado trees were splintered like we see on the news like what happened outside of des moines last night in an instant and right out back of where this cabin was was woods that had been growing for over 100 years the old stone walls were in the back and i'm like why would somebody build a stonewall here why because it was a field 150 years ago right and so when all these trees came down and they got cleared out all of a sudden the sun came into this place a place where the sun hadn't come in for decades and i watched out back over the next months and year how all of these new specimens grew raspberry bushes lilacs all kinds of other stuff the seeds were there they were latent they were dormant and they just needed the light to come in fasting allows that kind of thing to happen in us on the spirit level number two seven years ago i did the spiritual exercises of saint ignatius 30 days of no talking i didn't pitch a perfect game all right i confess to almighty god and you my brothers and sisters huh but let me tell you when that stuff isn't always going on within us the cacophony the thoughts the noise the external stimuli something comes up those latent seeds come up when we fast and we're quiet it's amazing what emerges from the silence and the deprivation third and last i remember hiking for seven days one time in the beauty of nature no sugar no chocolate no alcohol no meat no fish nothing processed up early and go yeah i lost a few pounds that wasn't the purpose byproduct but i had a deepened awareness afterwards of what my cravings were what my desires and temptations were i wasn't even looking for a good piece of fish or steak or a glass of wine or some chocolate i could feel it in myself i was craving sugar i would never say that but i felt it you see when we fast and give up the cravings the desires and the temptations do arise like all of those examples that i just gave and that's why our lenten fast needs to be meaningful and not meaningless not just giving something out for the sake of giving it up lent gives us clarity it helps us to see the things that lie just beneath the surface or i'm guessing in the case of jesus in the desert the things that lie deeply beneath the surface and it puts us in touch with them as it did jesus the scriptures say he was very hungry who wouldn't be but i think they also allude to the fact that he was very clear there's an acuity that happens when we fast and abstain we see things more clearly and differently and on different levels he was very clear about who he was because he heard that voice from the jordan that said you are my beloved son and with whom i'm well pleased man if you heard that growing up or if you pass that on to your kids and grandkids or or to each other when we hear that that we are the beloved and that somebody else is well pleased in us man that does something to us it gives us clarity as to who we are and how we're loved because this is how god sees us so often in life we have to counter all the negative stuff that either never came or did come and we have to try to fill that tank with this hear it from the lord the one in whose spirit we've been initiated and baptized he knew who he was as the beloved son and from that self-knowledge he was led into the desert by the spirit to today's gospel so even though the last god time we heard him getting baptized in the jordan it was back in january this is the next thing all right now the devil knew that this guy this jesus knew who he was he knew that he had clarity so twice the devil says to him with the three temptations oh yeah if you're the son of god if you are who you say you are if you really know this then do this and i'll give you that it's so tempting i can feel it i'll give you this if you do that and then we sacrifice our own character and morals our own values it's so tempting to turn stones into bread self-preservation to have all the kingdoms of the world power just throw yourself down and no problem the angels will take care of daddy's little boy lest you dash your foot against the stone presumption preservation power presumption all so tempting for me and i'm guessing for all of us as human beings but jesus faced all of these he was honest with himself and in fasting we can become more honest with ourselves during lent it's the next three years when he emerges from the desert that we have matthew mark luke and john talking about jesus's public life his ministry where we have all that we know about him and we try to model our lives in the same way he knew that he was beloved he knew what he was about in this life i've come to testify to the truth he was strengthened along the way with his temptations even up until the garden of gethsemane don't you think it went through his head in his heart if he's fully human and fully divine when he said father let this cup pass me by don't you think he could have said stop the ride i want to get off what do you think it took to get to that cross and then to be on that cross and say father forgive them they have no clue what they're doing forgive them is that in you i should say is that in me he knew who he was he knew what he was about the temptation in all of us as human beings i think is not to trust as jesus did and he wrestled not to believe that we are the beloved we've got his spirit that god is with us you know dr paul farmer was very clear about his purpose in life he made sacrifices and he saw more and more clearly what he was supposed to do i think like that first reading he was interested in the wandering aramaians whose paths crossed his the aliens those who are maltreated and oppressed as we heard from that first reading upon whom hard life and labor was imposed injustice and oppression paul sauron felt the toil and the affliction and the oppression but he brought people out of egypt out of a bad place into a better place a land flowing with milk and honey a place of liberation you know he believed deeply as a catholic he believed in trying to live a radical christian life radical roots that would have a impact on the poor that gave him a new interest and respect for the catholic faith of his childhood and a home for his own spiritual yearnings and a desire to serve fasting can help us to be clear about who we are and where we're going look at president zielinski in ukraine vasily our sound tech technician ukrainian here with us sunday after sunday zielinski's clear about who he is right now he's not the comedian he's not dancing with the stars ukrainian style he's not any of that he's the president he's clear about who he is and what his role is and what he has to do role task and authority a young ukrainian volunteer right now said we know why we are here we know why we defend our country we know what we are doing we hold them not only in our hearts and prayer but as i said last week we are them they are us this could be happening to any one of us where's the empathy jesus clearly knew the purpose of his life with all of its temptations to distract the big question i have today is do i do we and so i leave us with three things as we begin the lenten journey number one what did you give up don't say it but what did you and i give up is it a notch in the belt of the 40-day spiritual endurance test or is it something that may uncover latent seeds in the garden of our souls number two what are the temptations in your life and in mind that numb us and distract us let's begin during our fasting and during this lent to look at them not judge them just observe them and honestly name them and bring them to jesus the one who knows what temptation is prayer and fasting have to go together it's not just fasting and then third and last where do you and i consciously or unconsciously rely on the three p's and not so much on god self-preservation power might is right and presumption i don't have to do anything he and the angels have me where do we rely on those three p's over worshiping the lord our god alone may the angels minister to us on our lenten journey to jerusalem and to the fullness of life the eternal jerusalem so we have listened to god's word and reflected upon it let us now make our response by praying together our profession of faith i believe in one god the father almighty maker of heaven and earth of all things visible and invisible i believe in one lord jesus christ the only begotten son of god born of the father before all ages god from god light from light true god from true god begotten not made consubstantial with the father through him all things were made for us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven and by the holy spirit was incarnate of the virgin mary and became man for our sake he was crucified under pontius pilate he suffered death and was buried and rose again on the third day in accordance with the scriptures he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the father he will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end i believe in the holy spirit the lord the giver of life who proceeds from the father and the son who with the father and the son is adored and glorified who has spoken through the prophets i believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church i confess one baptism for the forgiveness of sins and i look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come amen the lord be with you my dear friends let us confidently make known our needs to our heavenly father who always hears our prayer with tenderness and love for pope francis cardinal sean all who minister in the church and the entire people of god that we may be open to the word of god allow our hearts to be stretched and transformed and be enlightened by the wisdom of the gospel we pray lord hear our prayer in this lenten season let us pray for the grace to be aware of our temptations that we may slow down detach ourselves from the busyness of daily life and find a quiet place to listen we pray lord hear our prayer for all who are celebrating the right of election today that they may grow in their knowledge of god's love and into greater unity with the church we pray lord hear our prayer for all who are estranged from the church that the spirit will heal wounds give new understanding and help all to find a welcoming community to support the faith journey we pray lord hear our prayer there is a criterion for knowing whether god is close to us or far away all those who worry about the hungry the naked the poor the disappeared the tortured the imprisoned about any suffering human being are close to god [Music] from archbishop romero and so we pray for the people of ukraine for those suffering and defending their homeland those seeking refuge across borders and those trapped with nowhere to go for a massive and effective humanitarian response and for a concerted effort by world leaders to bring about an end to the insanity that is happening and a lasting peace we pray lord hear our prayer for healing of racial ethnic and religious divisions that god who is the lord of the whole human family will break down the barriers of prejudice and misunderstanding so that we may work together for god's glory we pray lord hear our prayer for the sick and suffering among us millie lytle thomas prado paulino diaz ferreira abby brown coley rybicki kate dewitt pat haskins rachel ross joanne demar rick gillardy mark rand jared lynn olga chermak mary kessler john powers debbie true bob desantis and bob haas we pray [Music] for all who have died particularly dr paul farmer casey bonus cindy brophy ward henry welch charlie howland jennifer cabral monica mccone jewett preston settles and state trooper tamar brucie for their eternal peace we pray lord hear our prayer for the special intentions of rose tacillo mate and for all the intentions we hold in the silence of our hearts we pray lord hear our prayer and we offer all of our intentions confidently through the intercession of mary the mother of the divine shepherd as together we say hail mary full of grace the lord is with thee blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb jesus holy mary mother of god pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death amen please be seated and i want to thank you in advance for your generosity toward the parish over these past two years you can take your phone and just click on the flow code on your worship aid or at home on your laptop or tv screen but thank you for keeping us going and propelling us as we begin to come back to the church mask free and new new life i want to invite all the kids to bring up our gifts of bread and wine and all the food that you guys bring from home as you raid your own kitchen cabinets to help the good work and ministry of catholic charities all right kids that's your that was your cue [Music] [Music] we are saved by [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] is jesus [Music] become [Music] this [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] it is jesus [Music] pray brothers and sisters that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to god the almighty father lord accept the sacrifice at your hands the praise and glory of his name for our good and the good of all his church give us the righteous positions o lord we pray to make these offerings for with them we celebrate the beginning of this venerable and sacred time through christ our lord the lord be with you [Music] lift up your hearts let us give thanks to the lord our god it is truly right and just our duty and our salvation always and everywhere to give you thanks lord holy father almighty and eternal god for you will that our self-denial should give you thanks humble our prayer sinful pride contribute to the feeding of the poor and so help us imitate you in your kindness and so we glorify you with countless angels as with one voice of praise we acclaim [Music] oh [Music] is you are indeed holy o 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 o lord we humbly implore you by the same spirit graciously make holy these gifts we have brought to you for consecration that they may become the body and blood of your son our lord jesus christ at whose command we celebrate these mysteries for on the night he was betrayed he himself took bread and giving you thanks he said the blessing broke the bread and gave it to his disciples saying take this all of you and eat of it for this is my body which will be given up for you in a similar way when supper was ended he took the chalice and 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 [Music] [Music] 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 lord 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 the mother of god joseph her spouse with your blessed apostles glorious martyrs saint cecilia and all the saints on whose constant intercession in your presence we rely for unfailing help may this sacrifice of our reconciliation we pray oh lord advance the peace the healing and salvation of the whole world be pleased to confirm in faith and in charity your pilgrim church here on earth your servant francis our pope sean our bishop the order of bishops all the clergy the entire people that you've gained for your own listen graciously to the prayers of this family whom you've summoned before you in your compassion father of mercies gather to yourself all your children scattered throughout the world and to our departed sisters and brothers all who are pleasing to you at their passing from this life give kind admittance into your kingdom we especially remember casey bonus and cindy brophy ward henry welch jolly howland and jennifer cabral monika mccon jewett preston settles state trooper tamar bucci for there we hope to enjoy forever the fullness of your glory remember your servant paul whom you've called from this world to yourself grant that he who was united with your son in a death like his may also be one with him in his resurrection when from the earth he will raise up in the flesh those who have died and transform our lowly body after the pattern of his own glorious body to our departed brothers and sisters too 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 when you will wipe away every tear from our eyes for seeing you our god as you are we shall be like you for all the ages and praise you without end through christ our lord through whom you bestow on the world all that is good through him and with him and in him o god almighty father in the unity of the holy spirit all glory and honor is yours forever [Music] [Music] at the savior's command and formed 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 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 lord jesus christ who said to your apostles peace i leave you my peace i give you look not on our sins but on the faith of your church and graciously grant her peace and unity in accordance with your will who live and reign for ever and ever the peace of the lord be with you always let us offer each other the sign of peace [Music] [Music] the sins of the world [Music] is [Music] is [Music] [Music] is foreign behold the lamb of god behold him who takes away the sins of the world blessed are those called to the supper of the lamb lord i am not worthy that you should enter under my roof but only say the word and my soul shall be healed body of christ the body of christ the body of christ [Music] is [Music] touched embraced and grace on us with love make us goodness [Music] [Music] the mystery of the grace [Music] [Applause] and our lord [Music] [Applause] [Music] live [Music] [Applause] history and grace [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Applause] call us to be with us [Music] and [Music] embraced [Applause] we have the right [Music] good grace [Music] is [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] and he will raise you [Music] make up to shine like a sun [Music] [Music] his faithfulness [Music] and he will raise you up on eagle's wings [Music] you to shine like the sun [Music] [Applause] nor the arrow that flies [Music] and he will raise you up [Music] you to shine like the sun [Applause] [Music] [Music] against a storm and he will raise you [Applause] [Music] of up [Music] of his hands [Music] of his hands [Music] let us pray may bountiful blessing o lord we pray come down upon your people renewed with heavenly bread by which faith is nourished hope increased and charity strengthened we pray o lord that we may learn to hunger for christ the true and living bread and strive to live by every word that proceeds from your mouth through christ our lord please be seated it's a great joy to be able to celebrate the eucharist with you here today i often share with people once i was greeting the folks after mass at the door and this little girl came up and she said bishop what do you do for a living and i looked her in the eye and i said i run the complaint department in my first diocese the complaints always came in on monday morning it was in the west indies and people would call and say your lordship we think you need to know our pastor is not preaching long enough only 15 or 20 minutes he's not feeding us you need to talk to him i must say since coming to new england i've never received that complaint and certainly not from the good parishioners of saint cecilia's [Applause] a few years ago a wonderful book came out by jesuit cardinal scripture scholar cardinal martini who talks about how jesus organized his time time management is a problem for everybody and so he did a study and how jesus managed his time and he came up with jesus's highest six priorities i must say i was very surprised when i saw what the cardinal had distilled from the four gospels because if someone had asked me what was jesus first priority i would have said well preaching the gospel announcing the kingdom the good news but actually when you look at the time that jesus gave to things his number one priority was taking care of the sick and it makes perfect sense because the gospel is announced in the context of mercy [Music] and we see jesus taking care of the sick and when of course he talks about the last judgment he has that wonderful phrase come blessed of my father i was hungry you gave me to eat i was sick and you visited me for believers the sick person is a sacrament of christ present in our midst it's so much a part of who we are as catholics i'm very proud of the fact that in today's world about a fourth of the hospitals and clinics are run by the catholic church and in the developing countries it's over 60 percent how many of our saints and religious orders were founded to care for the sick saint francis our own founder of my order his first ministry was working with the lepers in a season dr paul farmer was a disciple of the lord who found his inspiration in jesus in the gospel and in this wonderful call to serve god's little ones and serve the sick the poor and the suffering you know we live in a world where there's so many celebrities and their they're famous for being famous and sometimes don't give us the best example of a life of sacrifice and service and mercy but in paul farmer we have that and so today we mourn his passing but we are so thankful that in our world with so many divisions and so much hatred and prejudice and selfishness and materialism that there are still good people like paul farmer striving to live the gospel to live that gospel of mercy and to be a sign of hope to all of us so today we join our prayers with those of his family and friends and the countless people that he served asking for god's mercy on his soul and asking that the lord reward him for the wonderful life and witness that he gave to all of us as we say thank you to the lord for the gift of paul farmer and we pray that his life will be an inspiration to others to use their talents and their energy to serve the poor the sick and the suffering and to make ours a better world just have a couple of quick announcements um on tuesday evening rainbow ministry is hosting here in the church um author michael o'loughlin his book hidden mercies talks about the compassion of the church of the catholic church during the global aids crisis so it's very apropos that's at 7 pm here in the church and also online there are rice book rice bowls in the northex it's that time of the year again and also just a couple of quick financial things today is the kickoff of the catholic appeal next weekend is commitment weekend you may have already received a letter from his eminence but if you haven't there are envelopes in the in the narthex as well we have a goal of a hundred uh donors this year um and if we reach that goal um we get some rebate back and last year we got uh an enormous rebate which was a huge help we raised over two hundred thousand dollars for the catholic abu also catholic charities uh we collect a collection for that on ash wednesday if you didn't get a chance for that there still is a fund available you can click on your flow code for that we do invite you downstairs for a coffee uh our first coffee since um masks have been lifted so we invite you down for that and also there's an online coffee hour for our our virtual community at four o'clock this afternoon there were details in the bulletin and just a quick uh last minute um acknowledgement uh cardinal sean the first uh second graders our first communion class and families you guys get the front row seats here so it's just uh so good of you guys to be with us today and it's kind of a special day for us to be together in this way i also want to highlight john gregory who watches every week and his daughter maria who is a parishioner was one of the chaperones at our confirmation retreat last night for the kids is celebrating his 90th birthday so john we want to wish you a happy birthday and maria said he watches this mass from start until the last person is out of the church so you're a wonderful faithful prisoner and happy birthday and deacon charlie sullivan uh he and his wife barbara live in in scituate they're the first ones that brought me down to haiti 30 alright 40 years ago a long time ago huh and began to change my life charlie turns 83 today so happy birthday to you too charlie all right may bountiful blessing o lord we pray come down upon your people that hope may grow in tribulation virtue be strengthened in temptation and eternal redemption be assured through christ our lord amen the lord be with you and with your spirit blessed be the name of the lord now and forever our help is in the name of the lord who made heaven and earth may almighty god bless you the father the son and the holy spirit amen go forth the mass has ended thanks be to god [Music] [Music] is [Applause] [Music] [Music] victory [Music] [Music] as you did [Music] i oh [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] so [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] so [Music] [Applause] foreign

Channel: Saint Cecilia Parish

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Id: r7Bc4OIMTSM

Length: 101min 15sec (6075 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 06 2022