The world has gone mad, but Jesus calls us anew to repent, turn away from evil and sin, and love even enemies. - Wednesday, 3rd Week of Lent, March 23rd, 2022 - S + L Mass at MQW Cathedral downtown Montreal

Sign of the + Cross                                     March 23^rd, St. Turibius of Mogrovejo

We continue to Pray & Fast for Peace in Ukraine and try to help

Good morning. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ….

This Mass is offered by Cecilia Lobo for the repose of the souls of Jovito and Molly Lobo an for the living and deceased members of the Lobo, Fernandes, Marin and DeSouza families.

(for peace in Eastern Europe, for the deliverance of the oppressed, healing of the sick and wounded, and peace for the souls of the dead.) We join Pope Francis in prayer and fasting in solidarity with those made to suffer by the current conflict. As Mary requested at Fatima in 1917, in two days with faith in God and our Lord Jesus Christ, Pope Francis will “entrust and consecrate ourselves, the Church and all humanity, especially Russia and Ukraine” to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

Penitential Rite         Brothers and sisters let us acknowledge our sins and so prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mysteries.  (Formula 3)

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     Gospel & Homily - MP3 version             Homily PDF version 

HOMILY

Jesus is the Son of God as well as the son of Mary. Saint Joseph was not his biological father; it was the Holy Spirit who caused Jesus to be conceived in Mary's womb. Dear brothers and sisters, we live in a world gone mad. Jesus walked our Earth for a mere 33 years and then was executed because when evil people looked at Jesus, they saw the evil in themselves reflected back as in a mirror; so, they shattered that mirror. When good people look at Jesus, they feel loved by God.

The reality of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, which we are preparing to celebrate at Easter, and 50 days later - 10 days after Jesus' Ascension into Heaven - the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost into the apostles and disciples gathered in prayer around Mary, transformed these frightened followers of Jesus into fearless proclaimers of the good news that God is love. We no longer need to be afraid of being condemned by the law, because if we believe in Jesus and receive the Holy Spirit, God’s love in us will enable us to focus no longer on avoiding sin but instead on practicing love: love of God and love of our neighbor as ourselves. In other words, Jesus is making it possible for us to rise above concerns about the law, in other words to do more than simply trying to follow the law. 

 At first, the Roman Empire and society embraced Jesus Christ and his Gospel. Over time, succeeding generations did not know God and embraced worldly ways. The Church tried to impose the good news with authority, but that does not work. People and nations have come to think that if you practice any kind of love at all, you can do whatever you want. Our behavior shows we don’t know what real love is as a human race: terrorism and war, destruction of the environment, rejecting the poor and others, using people sexually, aborting unborn babies; we need to repent and change.

In light of the world’s troubles, we feel helpless and, in the face of our own weakness, we might despair, but God is not idle. All is not lost. All Jesus asks of us is that each of us personally repent and turn away from evil and sin; at least to desire to do so, and turn to the Lord. We are to pray, fast, and give to the poor: to love others, even enemies, to forgive, and put others ahead of ourselves.  “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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Prayer after Communion                                    Announcement 

Let us all join Pope Francis Friday when he entrusts and consecrates “ourselves, the Church and all humanity, especially Russia and Ukraine” with faith in our God and Lord Jesus Christ to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. May the Lord accept our Live Daily Mass and sacrifices in support of his labors for the salvation of the world. Thank you for your prayers, Mass intentions, and donations to Salt + Light Media and Mary Queen of the World. We are most grateful. 

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

 

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© 2006-2022 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal QC
© 2006-2022 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC

God the Father continues to send truth tellers to humanity, but we reject and persecute them; even his own Son, Jesus. - Wednesday, 2nd Week of Lent, March 16th, 2022 - S + L Mass at MQW Cathedral downtown Montreal

Sign of the + Cross 

We continue to Pray & Fast for Peace in Ukraine

Good Morning. Today Mass is offered for peace in Eastern Europe and the world, for the deliverance of the oppressed, healing of the sick and wounded, and peace for the souls of the dead….  

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ…. The ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine shows how complicated human history and international relations really are. All we can do is humbly admit our ignorance and poverty, pray in solidarity with those who suffer, and help as we can.

Penitential Rite         Brothers and sisters let us acknowledge our sins and so prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mysteries.  (Formula 3)

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    Gospel & Homily - MP3 version             Homily PDF version 

HOMILY

The unexpected invasion of Ukraine by Russia has shocked the world. Ukraine claims it is being unjustly invaded by Russia; while Russia claims it is rescuing its brothers and sisters from extremists who have taken over the government. One thing cannot be denied: the loss of life and suffering by innocent civilians is scandalous. We feel helpless, but we can and must remain in solidarity with all those who suffer on both sides and pray for them, praying for both friends and enemies, for the suffering, and for the repose of the souls of those who have died.

In the face of such scandalous behaviour by nation states, and of the suffering of ordinary people, we can very well ask: “Lord, what are You doing?” Once again today in his inspired Word of Sacred Scripture, our God makes clear what are “the ways of the Lord”. His ways are not our ways. We want to experience abundance of life in undisturbed peace, but the mind of the Lord is perfectly adjusted to our human reality as it is; not as we would like it to be.

God continually sends good people, prophets, truth tellers like Jeremiah into society. The problem is that people generally don’t want to hear the truth, do not want to hear the truth; they say they don’t want God to tell them what to do, even though that is not what God does. God does not tell us what to do. God sends truth tellers so that humanity might hear the truth and be attracted to the truth.

The truth is that God, the Most Holy Trinity, is at the center of Creation; so, we need to pay close attention to the presence, the promptings within us, and the action of our Creator God and Saviour. In Jesus, God has come into our world not to dominate humanity, but to serve, to help us carry the burden of our humanity, and in the end, to accept to suffer with us and for us; that by the power of the Holy Spirit, we might learn to love perfectly.  “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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Prayer after Communion                                    Announcement

Human history has been pressured by empires and kingdoms, with an abundance of conflicts. May our God be pleased to accept our Live Daily Mass as our sacrifice to support God’s labors for the salvation of the world. Thank you for your prayers, Mass intentions, and donations. Salt + Light Media and Mary Queen of the World are especially grateful for generous sponsors. 

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

 

https://frgilleshomilies.blogspot.com

 

© 2006-2022 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal QC
© 2006-2022 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC

In Lent God offers to let our hearts be broken; so that his Love may enter into us, and then also go out from us to others. - Ash Wednesday, March 2nd, 2022 - S + L Mass at MQW Cathedral downtown Montreal

 Sign of the + Cross                 Ash Wednesday

Day of Prayer & Fasting for Peace in Ukraine

Good Morning. Today's Mass is offered by Mary and Des Cunningham for the deliverance of Ukraine and the conversion of the heart of Vladimir Putin and his associates.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ…. As we look out into our world, we see a lot of angry people, much yelling and running around. It’s a wonderful experience to be passionate about loving God and others, but it’s a terrible thing to be a slave of any of the human passions.

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    Gospel & Homily - MP3 version             Homily PDF version 

HOMILY

We are part of this world. We cannot help but be sad these days, as we witness the Bear harassing the Lamb in Eastern Europe, but we know that when Jesus visits; the bear will lie down with the lamb. Jesus loves us and enables us, when there are enemies, for them to become friends.

Brothers and sisters, have you ever suffered from heartbreak? I hope so; our lives are not truly full until we have experienced something like that. Today, as we enter into Lent, the Lord is offering us precisely the grace of a broken heart. We’re not talking about a little selfish heart that is pained because it isn’t getting what it wants. No. We’re talking about a heart courageous enough to love others and to go out and care for others, and in this process of going out is rejected and wounded by the rejection. Jesus wept over ancient Jerusalem because He who is Love in Person offered Himself to his people, but they rejected Him, they rejected God’s Love. The suffering of Jesus is Love unable to give itself to those who are unwilling to receive.

You’ve heard the expression “It is better to have loved and lost; than not to have loved at all.” To enable us to love more fully, God is offering to break all the self-absorption and self-preoccupation which are part of the human condition unfortunately, but which form a hard crust over our hearts, preventing us from feeling sympathy with the sufferings of others, causing us to turn away and not look, not see, not hear; preventing us from reaching out with words, gestures, and actions of love, of compassion and caring. Lent is a great gift from God every year to his people and the Christian spiritual practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving have great value and effect, not only in those who practice them, but also for all those around them; to the degree that these practices come from our deepest heart, out of a genuine desire to leave selfishness behind, to love God by going out to love our neighbour and even our enemy; to be willing to be disturbed, to receive others with a hospitable heart.

How many of us truly listen to others? When we are seated at table, if there’s never a moment of silence, however joyful the meal and the company may seem to be, if there’s never a moment of silence, is there really listening or is it just an avalanche and a tumble of words falling over one another? It’s not just hearing them, but letting their words and all that is hidden behind those words to enter into us, to move us, to disturb us profoundly, and to let all those meanings become part of us and have a real effect on how we carry ourselves in the company of those people, how we look at others and how we behave towards others. A heart deeply listening to others will necessarily be broken so that love can come in and go out.

The mystery of our human existence, brothers and sisters, is that our heart, the human heart, has a set of gates, you know, big gates, one set of gates. Now, when we shut the gates against the possibility of being hurt, the gates are closed; no love can come in, no love can go out; no forgiveness can go out, no forgiveness can come in. There’s nothing more tragic than a human heart with the gates closed and shuttered. 

So, Lent is an occasion for us to put our trust elsewhere than in ourselves, to put our trust in God. Have you noticed in the Scriptures today that there’s a lot about God listening to us; there’s a lot about God taking powerful action in the world, but whenever we ask the question “What is God doing? Why isn’t God doing something about it?” It’s often because we’re pushing God out of the way. We’re throwing ourselves into the heart of the action, trying to take over, trying to fix it, trying to resolve it, trying to impose our will on others, and God waits for us to be finished with all of this busyness because God cannot really bring about his reign, cannot really give life, cannot really bring peace until we are willing to stop and become willing to receive what it is that God wants to give. 

“Father, may your Holy Spirit break open our hardened hearts so we can love like Jesus by accepting first to receive his love.”  “O my Jesus, I trust in You. Mother Mary, pray for us. Saint Joseph, pray for us. Lord have mercy on your children in Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia. We give praise to You, O God, the Father, + the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.”

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Prayer after Communion                                    Announcement 

Our God uses this Live Daily Mass to welcome all who seek Him, in this Cathedral and via TV or the Internet. Please support us with your prayer, Mass intentions, and donations.

Salt + Light Media and Mary Queen of the World are especially in need of generous sponsors. 

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

 

https://frgilleshomilies.blogspot.com

 

© 2006-2022 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal QC
© 2006-2022 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC