Sunday Mass - March 6, 2022

okay good morning everyone and welcome this weekend we're celebrating the first sunday of lent let us all please stand as we begin our liturgy [Music] ah [Music] i will grant him peace [Music] protection [Music] i will deliver him and give him glory i will grant him letting god [Applause] in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit [Music] the grace of our lord jesus christ and the love of god and the communion of the holy spirit be with you all brothers and sisters let us acknowledge our sins and so prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mysteries i confess to almighty god and to you my brothers and sisters that i have greatly sinned in my thoughts and in my words in what i have done and in 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 everlasting life [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] let us pray grant almighty god through the yearly observances of holy land 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 [Music] a reading from the book of deuteronomy moses spoke to the people saying the priest shall receive the basket from you and shall 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 wonder when 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 egyptian small treated 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 and our oppression he brought us out of egypt with a strong hand an 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 [Music] [Music] i am [Music] [Music] you who dwell in the shelter of the most life who abide in the shadow of the almighty say to the lord my refuge and fortress my god in whom i draw [Music] when i am no evil shall be full you nor shall affliction come near your tent for to his angels he has given comment about you that they guard you in all your ways be with me lord when i am in trouble upon their hands they shall bear you up lest you dash your foot against the stone you shall tread upon the ass and the viper you shall trample down the lion and the dragon [Music] [Music] because he clings to me i will deliver him i will set him on high because he acknowledges my name he shall call upon me and i will answer him i will be with him in this dress i will deliver him and glorify [Music] me lord when i am [Applause] [Music] a reading from the letter of saint paul to the romans brothers and sisters what the scriptures 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 is so and so is justified and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved for the scripture says no one who believes in him will be put to shame for there is no distinction between jew and greek the same lord is lord of all and reaching 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 [Music] jesus christ [Music] glory praise jesus christ [Music] one does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of god praised jesus christ the lord be with you [Music] a reading from the holy gospel according to luke filled with the holy spirit jesus returned from the jordan and was led by the holy spirit into the desert for 40 days and be tempted by the devil he ate nothing during these days and when they were over he was hungry the devil said to him if you are the son of god command the stone become to become bread jesus answered him it is written one does not live on bread alone then he took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a single instant the devil said to him i shall give 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 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 then he led him to jerusalem made him stand on the parapet of the temple and said to him if you are the son of god throw yourself down from here for it is written he will command his angels concerning you to guard you and with their hands they will support you lest you dash your foot against the stone jesus said to him in reply 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 i had a great fortune well i should say a great blessing and privilege back in 2010 of going to monastery of temptation which is believed to be where jesus prayed unceasingly for 40 days and 40 nights and was subsequently tempted by the devil this monastery was located at the edge of the ancient city of jericho not too far away from jerusalem within this monastery there is also a side altar below which there is a big rock big rounded rock and it's supposedly the rock that the devil used to tempt jesus and ask jesus to turn that rock into a big loaf of bread there's a side altar built on top of that rock and this monastery was built on a cliff face in between a plateau and the plane where the city of jericho was located so it was in this very inaccessible place on the cliff face and in a very very barren and deserty landscape you can imagine jesus sitting there in a cave 40 days and 49 with hot day cold nights with wild beasts and no food at all you can imagine how his physical body must have been weakened after that period of time and maybe less susceptible to the assault of the temperature however quite upon the contrary today's gospel tells us that jesus imagined triumphantly from this trial overcoming the three temptations that actually assault all of us and also these temptations were the ones that were really distract from his messianic mission so very very dangerous indeed so let's take a look at them before the devil actually starts tempting jesus with particular things he said if you are the son of god if you are the son of god i think this is an attempt to provoke some sort of insecurity within jesus to make jesus prove himself to be the son of god of course we know jesus knows himself perfectly well he he knows that he is the son of god and he doesn't need to prove anything to anybody so now the first temptation the temptation the first temptation was about material or creaturely comfort jesus showed that he would not take advantage of his identity as the messiah for his own selfish pleasure the second temptation was that of holding power and being hungry for control and then therefore seeking vainglory however jesus showed that his mission as the messiah wasn't about any of that he didn't come to see his own glory to manifest his own glory no he doesn't seek any of these and plus jesus as the son of god knows perfectly well that his glory comes from the glory of the father the glory that he shared he has been sharing with god the father before the foundation of the heaven and earth so he didn't need to to to get it from anybody that he didn't already have he knew that the devil couldn't possibly give him any glory the third temptation was that of using god's power for one's own purpose for one's own silly or selfish purpose rather than letting god be god and let god to have the absolute authority of over everything of course we know that there are myriads of angels sent by god the father to ministers to the son of god jesus christ but that being said there is really no purpose no point of using this power of god this authority for some frivolous purpose of silly things like jumping down from the pyramid of the temple and jesus knows that so in short jesus successfully repels all these temptations that normally will be said all of us and he shows that he has the full knowledge of what is right and what is wrong so he shows us that he is truly trustworthy he is a trustworthy guide for our moral conduct and he is invincible we can trust him to give us the strength that we need when we encounter temptations but jesus was by no means the only one who went into the desert after jesus there were countless men and women who left behind the busyness and illuminance of the world and went into the desert to fast and pray to seek god and there indeed they found god they wanted to leave behind the busyness of this world in exchange to face a harsh and buried environment and therefore they had to rely on god for their daily sustenance they forced themselves to rely on god for basic things like food and water and not only do they have to face hunger and also hungry wild beasts but they had to face something somebody that were but was more menacing and of course that would that would be the devil who would assault them with temptations and they they came face to face and combated with the devils but in the solitude of the desert by fasting and prayer they persisted and came into a loving union with god and one famous example was sing anthony of egypt who lived between the 3rd and 4th centuries and he was one of the first hermit who went into the desert to pray he heard god's call one day to leave behind all his possessions he came from a wealthy family but he was called to leave everything behind and to follow the lord in the singleness of heart he initially lived a hermit at the edge of his village but then that wasn't enough because too many people came to seek him to seek his wisdom then he moved further out into a cemetery outside the village then that wasn't enough either so he had to move further out into the uninhabited desert of egypt and there he faced his spiritual enemies face to face first the devil scared him with scary sounds and then the devil tried to beat him up physically kind of like the famous story of padre pio in the 20th century but then unsurprisingly the devil played 30 by trying to seduce him with pleasures in all these saint anthony remained undefeated by his constant prayer and fasting and regarding temptation saint anthony once said this is the great work of man always to take blame for his own sins before god and to expect temptations to this last breath and regarding the importance of prayer somebody asked saint anthony to pray for him but this person was too lazy to pray on his own so out of frustration saint anthony said i will have no mercy on you nor will god have mercy on you if you yourself don't make an effort and if you don't pray to god in a similar situation somebody again was asking saint anthony for advice saying anthony said well you should pray you shall fast you should read the bible the person wouldn't have anything of that and saying anthony again out of frustration said if you cannot do this or that what can i do for you all you need to do is pray to start praying saying anything of egypt um wasn't the only person to do that even as recent as the 20th century they are still men and women who went into the desert to seek god and bless the children foucault was another interesting example after a pilgrimage to the holy land he felt called to enter into a spiritual desert so he became a trappist monk in france in his home country but then he felt a further call to go into a physical desert so he first went to nazareth where jesus grew up but that wasn't enough he wanted to go to an even more remote area so he went into the desert of algeria to be with the poorest of the poor in the area near the algerian moroccan border to serve those uh tuareg people this no these uh this group of nomads who were oppressed discriminated against and exploited there he loved them and served them he said he wants to see the brother of everybody to show everybody the love of jesus christ he said my apostolate must be the apostle of goodness if someone were to ask why i am gentle and good i must say because i am the servant of someone who is far better than me so by following god's call into the desert to be the friend of the poorest of the poor to their be their brother bless the charter foucault really found god in the desert and pope francis recently announced that he will canonize charles foucault on may 15 this year so after may 15 he will be known as saint charles fuco you can see these two examples are very different people yet they all into the solitude of heart and solitude of body to encounter god although none all of not all of us are called in to enter into this physical desert we are all called to enter into a spiritual desert especially during lent to spend some quiet and a long time quality time with god in fasting from distractions and allurements of the world we come into the quietude of heart in which we can read the word of god we can talk to god heart to heart and pour our heart to him we can ask our lord to strengthen us against all the temptations that are assaulting us this way in the solitude we come into an intimate union and communion with the lord who loves us so much and in this way we can say to the lord as in the first reading i have now brought to you the fruits of my heart which you o lord have given me 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 with complete trust let us bring our prayers before god for the church that the spirit will lead us closer to god and help us remain faithful children of god pray to the lord lord hear our prayer for peace that god will bring an end to violence in ukraine protect the innocent and help us care for the refugees of the war we pray to the lord lord hear our prayer for healing of racial ethnic and religious that god who is the lord of all human family will break down the barriers of prejudice and misunderstanding so that we may work together for god's glory we pray to the lord lord hear our prayer for all who are celebrating the right of election or call to continuing conversion that they may grow in their knowledge of god's love for them and into greater unity with the church we pray to the lord lord hear our prayer for all who are estranged from the church that the spirit will heal their wounds give them a new understanding and help them find a welcoming community to support them on their faith journey we pray to the lord lord hear our prayer for this community of faith that through our lenten journey we may prepare to renew our profession of faith and become more faithful to the gospel in word and deed we pray to the lord lord hear our prayer for all who have given generously to the annual catholic appeal for those who are still prayerfully considering what they can give and for all those in need who will benefit from our generosity we pray to the lord lord hear our prayer for the reposts of the souls of the faithful departed the prayers in our book of intentions for the intentions that we hold in the silence of our hearts and for the priestly intention of this mass for the people of the parish we pray to the lord lord hear our prayer loving god you open our hearts to conversion and grace listen to our prayers and grant what we ask through christ our lord [Music] is [Music] [Music] his faithfulness is [Music] a shield [Music] he who dwells in the shelter of [Applause] [Music] under the protection of the god of heaven [Music] is refuge his faithfulness is [Music] you are my protector and my refuge my god in him i will trust with his [Music] you and under his wings you shall attack refuge his faithfulness [Music] pray brothers and sisters that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to god the almighty father give us the right disposition oh lord we pray to make these sufferings for within we celebrate the beginning of this venerable and sacred time through christ our lord [Music] the lord be with you r [Music] [Music] 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 through christ our lord by abstaining for forty long days of earthly food he consecrated through his past the pattern of our lenten observance and by our turning all the snares of the ancient serpent taught us to cast out the leven of malice so that celebrating worthily of the paschal mystery we might pass over at last to the eternal paschal feast and so with the company of angels and sayings we sing the hymn of your praise as without end we acclaim [Music] foreign [Music] is [Music] [Music] so you therefore most merciful father we make humble prayer and petition through jesus christ your son our lord that you accept and bless these gifts these offerings these holy and blemished sacrifices which we offer you firstly for your holy catholic church be pleased to grant her peace to god unite and govern her throughout the whole world together with your servants francis our pope and jaime our bishop and all those who holding to the truth hand on the catholic and apostolic faith remember lord your servants and all gathered here whose faith and devotion are known to you for them we offer you the sacrifice of praise or they offer it for themselves and all who are dear to them for the redemption of their souls in hope of health and well-being and paying their homage to you the eternal god living and true in communion with those whose memory we venerate especially the glorious ever virgin mary mother of our god and lord jesus christ and blessed joseph her spouse your blessed apostles and martyrs peter and paul andrew james john thomas james philip bartholomew matthew simon and jude linus cletus clements sixes cornelius cyprian lawrence personas john and paul cosmas and damian and all your saints we ask that through their marriage and prayers in all things we may be defended by your protecting help through christ our lord amen therefore lord we pray graciously accept this oblation of our service that of your whole family order our days in your peace and command that we be delivered from eternal damnation and counted among the flock of those you have chosen through christ our lord amen be please oh god we pray to bless acknowledge and approve this offering in every respect make it spiritual and acceptable so that you may become for us the body and blood of your most beloved son our lord jesus christ on the day before he was to suffer he took bread in his holy and venerable hands and with eyes raised to heaven to you o god his almighty father giving you thanks he said the blessing broke the bread and gave it to his disciples saying take this all of you and eat of it for this is my body which will be given up for you in a similar way when supper was ended he took this precious chalice in his holy and venerable hands and once more giving you thanks he said a 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 story of faith [Music] therefore o lord as we celebrate the memorial of the blessed passion the resurrection from the dead and the glorious ascension into heaven of christ your son our lord we your servants and your holy people offer to your glorious majesty from the gifts that you have given us this pure victim this holy victim the spotless victim the holy bread of eternal life and chalice of everlasting salvation be pleased to look upon these offerings with a serene and kindly countenance and to accept them as once you were pleased to accept the gifts of your servant abel the just the sacrifice of abraham our father in faith and the offering of your high priest melchizedek a holy sacrifice a spotless victim in humble prayer we ask you almighty god command that these gifts be borne by the hand of your holy angel to your altar on high in the sight of your divine majesty so that all of us who through this participation at the altar receive the most holy body and blood of your son may be filled with every grace and heavenly blessing through christ our lord amen remember also lord your servants who have gone before us with a sign of faith and rest in the sleep of peace grant them o lord we pray and all who sleep in christ a place of refreshment light and peace through christ our lord amen to us also your servants who those sinners hope in your abundant mercies graciously grant some sharing and fellowship with your holy apostles and martyrs with john the baptist stephen matthias barnabas ignatius alexander marcelinus peter felicity perpetua agatha lucy acne sicilia anastasia and all your saints and made us we beseech you into their company not weighing our merits but granting us your pardon through christ our lord through whom you continue to make all these good things o lord you sanctify them fill them with life bless them and bestow them upon us through him and with him and in him oh god almighty father in the unity of the holy spirit all glory and honor is yours forever [Music] [Music] at the savior's command and formed by divine teaching we dare to say our father who art in heaven hallowed be this 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 [Music] 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 forever and ever the peace of the lord be with you always let us offer each other the sign of peace [Music] [Music] the [Music] honors [Music] three heart loss [Music] you take away is [Music] [Applause] [Music] behold the lamb of god behold him who takes away the sins of the world blessed are those called to the supper of the lamb lord i am not worthy that you should enter under my roof but only say the word and my soul shall be healed so [Music] [Music] on [Music] a hybrid [Music] that comes [Music] he shall say to the lord you are my protector and my refuge my god in him will i trust [Music] every foreign [Music] i [Music] from [Music] [Applause] you shall not be afraid of [Music] [Music] oh [Music] from [Music] oh from [Music] refuge [Music] my hybrid [Music] [Applause] from [Music] oh [Music] from [Music] uh so so um for the brothers and sisters who are unable to be a church to receive communion please join me now for the act of spiritual communion my jesus i believe that you are present in the most holy sacrament i love you about all things and i desire to receive you into my soul since i cannot at this moment receive you sacramentally come spiritually into my heart i embrace you if you as if you were already there and unite myself holy to you never permit me to be separated from you amen let us pray renew now with heavenly bread by which faith is nourished hope increase and charity strengthen we pray o lord that we may learn to hunger for bread for christ the true and living bread and strive to live by every word which proceeds from your mouth through christ our lord please join me now for prayer for the sick during the pandemic oh god our refuge in trials our strength in sickness our comfort and sorrow spare your people we pray and hear our prayers for all who are sick grant them we implore you your merciful help so that with their health restored they may give you thanks in the midst of the church your only begotten son took on our human nature and bore our infirmities protect and strengthen also we pray nurses doctors first responders and all others on the front line of this pandemic who put themselves in harm's way to serve the needs of others through our lord jesus christ your son who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the holy spirit god forever and ever amen our lady of guadalupe saint joseph saint patrick holy father saint dominic just two quick announcements uh first uh thank you for all the brothers and sisters who have made the contribution to the annual catholic appeal you have really made a difference in the lives of all the brothers and sisters in the diocese who are suffering physically materially and spiritually and your gift really matters because 25 of all the contribution coming from syndomics will come back to sing dominic's and this 25 will be used for saying visit the whole society and also will go to our dominic school so please be generous as generous as you can if you have not made a contribution it's not too late we still have the envelopes available at the back of the church and also if you prefer to donate online you can do that too you can go to the diocesan website and find the link over there also now that lent is upon us we will have an expanded confession schedule we'll have confessions available uh at nine o'clock in the morning on mondays wednesdays and fridays and uh in the evening we still have our usual uh tuesdays and thursdays confessions at 6 40 6 30 p.m so uh we still have our regular saturday 3 30 confession hour so we will have confessions available uh six days a week and so please take advantage of that so that we can welcome easter with a clean and renewed heart the lord be with you r [Music] bow down and pray for god's blessing may bountiful blessing o lord we pray come down upon your people that hope may grow in tribulation virtue strengthened in temptation and eternal redemption be assured through christ our lord may almighty god bless you the father and the son and the holy spirit go in peace [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: St. Dominic's Catholic Church, Benicia

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Keywords: #stdombenicia

Id: TUBFx2nen7c

Length: 64min 4sec (3844 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 06 2022