God delights to bless those who open themselves to Him - these women call us to enter into the joy of doing God's will - Wednesday in the 4th Week of Advent, December 22nd, 2021 - S + L Mass at MQW Cathedral downtown Montreal

 Gospel & Homily - MP3 version             Homily PDF version 

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 HOMILY

        By now, Mary and Joseph are more than half way between Nazareth and Bethlehem; a very difficult journey on foot, with the donkey for Mary, in those days. But we experience with them the joy of anticipation of the birth. 

        This morning our God seems proud of his two daughters Hannah and Myriam of Nazareth whom we know as Mary. Much later when Jesus engaged in his ministry, He also favoured the women who came to Him like the sinful women or the Samaritan woman who accepted to chat with Him at Jacob's well. With men God seems to have had a harder time throughout history; even with his own apostles.

Why do you think that is? When the religious leaders were scandalized at Jesus forgiving the sins of the woman they were accusing, Jesus explained that she had loved much. They may love wrongly, at times, but women are the first to give themselves in selfless love. Hannah and Mary are among countless women who open their mind, heart, and soul – even their bodies – to God and his will, ready to put all their trust in God for their past, their present, and their future.

When Spanish priests started the Cursillo movement, they insisted that men had to follow the retreat first. They knew that women would be far more willing to follow a retreat, to take the time and make the effort to open themselves to God and grow closer to Him. It is true that God our Creator has designed women for love and to love, with their whole being open to and motivated for loving attentiveness to others and wholehearted service to give and nurture life.

 God our Creator has designed us men with strength to lead, courage to fight, ability to organize, and the will to apply ourselves to hard labors; so that we might care for the Earth and the human family. We attend to things; while women attend to people. I am generalizing here, that is true. Men are capable of caring for people too, and women are capable of taking care of business. Still, it's true to say the world is a mess, and both women and men are in need of the Most Holy Trinity in order to get our act together and care better for our world. Please pray with me…

Prayer to St. Joseph from the Madonna House Apostolate for the Year of St. Joseph which just ended.

“Hail, Guardian of the Redeemer, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary. To you God entrusted his only Son; in you Mary placed her trust; with you Christ became man. Blessed Joseph, to us too, show yourself a father and guide us in the path of life. Obtain for us grace, mercy and courage, and defend us from every evil. Amen.” 

"Mary, our Mother, you made room for God within yourself, in your life, we ask your intercession, that by God's grace we also may make more room for Jesus in our lives." 

“Father in Heaven, like Mary and Joseph help us make more room for Jesus.”  “O my Jesus, I trust in You. Immaculate Mother Mary, pray for us. Saint Joseph, pray for us.

We give praise to You, O God, the Father, + the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.”

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Good Morning. Today's Holy Mass is being offered by an anonymous donor to the Glory of God and in loving memory of Royden Lamwatt: a faithful Christian, a highly respected educator and a dear friend.

Sign of the + Cross       

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ…. Brothers and Sisters, today Almighty God encourages us to trust in Him like the women and men of the Bible. We ask for the help of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of the World, and of her Spouse Saint Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church.

Penitential Rite         Brothers and sisters let us acknowledge our sins and so prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mysteries.  (Formula 1)  

Prayer after Communion                                    Announcement 

This Live Daily Mass is a bold and courageous initiative to care for all of you when you are unable to go out to church every day. We are especially grateful for today's sponsor. Please support us with your daily prayers, Mass intentions, and donations. Salt + Light Media is especially in need of generous sponsors. 

Mother Mary, pray for us. Saint Joseph, pray for us.    Blessing and Dismissal

 

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© 2006-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal QC
© 2006-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC

We too are called to constant communion in the Most Holy Trinity - Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Wednesday in the 2nd Week of Advent, December 8th, 2021 - S + L Mass at MQW Cathedral downtown Montreal

  Gospel & Homily - Creed & Preparation of the Gifts and our personal Offering - Silence after Communion and exhortation to prayer and communion in God - Support for this Live Daily Mass - MP3 version             Homily PDF version 

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 Good Morning. (Today there is no sponsor for this Holy Mass - I offer it for Maureen Marolly.)

Sign of the + Cross       Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the B.V. Mary.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ…. Brothers and Sisters, today with the universal Church we honor the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of the World, and also her Spouse Saint Joseph, whom Pope Pius IX declared Patron of the Universal Church in 1870.

Penitential Rite         Brothers and sisters let us acknowledge our sins and so prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mysteries.  (Formula 1)  

HOMILY

Once again, Brothers and Sisters, Happy Feast Day!

Brothers and Sisters, Eve did not bring an apple to Adam, even though medieval churches were decorated with frescoes portraying Adam and Eve eating a similar fruit. The devil tempted them to stop trusting in God and instead to taste evil as well as good and get experience. As a result, Adam was ashamed of his nakedness, which had not been a problem before. Perhaps the evil knowledge they were tempted to experience was something sexual, we don’t know.

When we consider the mess that humanity has been in since then, sexuality may very well have been the original arena of human sinfulness. The Gospel celebrates human sexuality in the virginal conception Mary had by the Holy Spirit and the natural conception Elizabeth and her husband Zechariah had in their old age. For both couples, it was all about the transmission of life and the love of husband and wife. We have received that Joseph respected Mary’s virginity; though they loved one another as brother and sister, their love was deep and life giving. Jesus would grow up knowing that his parents loved one another with a perfectly devoted love.

Much human drama and suffering is the direct result of trying to separate sexual intimacy from this perfectly faithful and chaste love of husband and wife and from that couple’s capacity to lovingly generate and transmit life, thereby truly living and loving in God’s image.

Whether or not married couples like Mary and Joseph, like Elizabeth and Zechariah, are able to have their own children, or whether they have recourse to adopting children or caring for foster children, or whether they are fruitful and generate life by caring for children in their extended family or for poor children in need or other people in distress; there are so many ways in which we human beings can generate life and pour ourselves out selflessly in love of others.

Today, one of the truths we celebrate is that Mary, like the son she was about to have, Jesus, was always in communion with the Most Holy Trinity, always aware of God's love and Presence, pondering the mysteries of God's love for us in the world. We are capable of the same communion; that is what prayer is - to open our mind, heart, and soul to God at all times. During this Mass let us ask Our Blessed Mother, Immaculate Heart of Mary, to pray for us; that we may do just that.

Please pray with me now…

Prayer to St. Joseph from the Madonna House Apostolate for this Year of St. Joseph

“Hail, Guardian of the Redeemer, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary. To you God entrusted his only Son; in you Mary placed her trust; with you Christ became man. Blessed Joseph, to us too, show yourself a father and guide us in the path of life. Obtain for us grace, mercy and courage, and defend us from every evil. Amen.”

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Father in Heaven, your plan for our life on Earth then eternal life after death is the best possible plan. May the example and intercession of Mary Immaculate and Joseph help us to know and do your holy will in our lives as they did and help us follow in the steps of Our Lord Jesus Christ.”  “O my Jesus, I trust in You. Immaculate Mother Mary, pray for us. Saint Joseph, pray for us.

We give praise to You, O God, the Father, and + the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.”

Our Profession of Faith - The Apostles' Creed 

The Preparation of the Gifts and Our Offering

In lieu of the Prayers of the Faithful, which we would have on a Sunday, I invite you now to reflect during the Offertory Hymn, and as the bread and wine are prepared, to reflect on what intentions you bring to the Lord this morning for yourself, for your family, for the Church, and for the world. A big one is asking God to grant us vocations to the priesthood and to give the men He is calling the courage and the generosity to respond to the call; but also, we place on the Altar our efforts we have made since the last time we were in Church, our efforts to live as God's children, our desire, or perhaps the lack of our desire, to be in communion with God at all times. 

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Reflection after Holy Communion

This moment of silence after Communion, just as after the Homily, is part of the Liturgy because the Lord wants us to learn that the Most Holy Trinity does most of the work in our life and deep within us. We can at times be so anxious about how to pray, how long to pray, and what to pray, but really all we need to do is just to be there, with an open mind, heart, and soul, and allow God to do what God wants to do deep within us. As a woman is content to sit in the hairdresser's chair and allow her to do good things to her, and as a man doesn't mind sitting in the barber's chair and allow the barber to do those things; so we are to approach God with an even better attitude of allowing the Lord to do all He wants to do within us; as Mary did, and as Joseph did. 

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 Prayer after Communion                                    Announcement 

Let us offer a Hail Mary for the good of the Church, for the good of souls, and for the remedy of all those who may have been harmed in any way in their experience of the Church. "Hail Mary...."

Our Lady of Ville-Marie, pray for us. Saint Joseph, pray for us. 

Please support this Live Daily Mass through your daily prayers, Mass intentions, and donations to the Cathedral and to Salt + Light Media. We are especially in need of generous sponsors. 

 Solemn Blessing and Dismissal

https://frgilleshomilies.blogspot.com

 

© 2006-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal QC
© 2006-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC