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
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
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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
