God patiently waits for us to open our minds, hearts, and spirits to Him and to our neighbour. - Wednesday in the 6th Week of Easter, May 25th, 2022 - S + L Mass at MQW Cathedral downtown Montreal

6th Week of Easter

VOCATION: Jesus calls us - He calls you to follow Him, to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and become a missionary disciple....

Sign of the + Cross

“Christ is risen, alleluia!” The ancient response is “He is truly risen, alleluia!”

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

This Mass is offered (by)                                                           (for)

We stand in solidarity with all who suffer for countless reasons all over the world.

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

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  Gospel & Homily - MP3 version             Homily PDF version 

HOMILY

Saint Paul’s short sermon to the Athenians is a wonderfully clear and concise teaching about the history of God’s work of creation and salvation and perhaps the best summary that we can find. God created all that exists in the universe and He gives life and breath to all living things, including us. The world is the place God has given us to live out our lives, and He has given us the freedom with which to search for Him. God offers us his love and friendship.

Human beings in all human cultures and nations are inclined to make images and statues to try to make visible our Creator, but these are mostly fictitious images made according to our own imaginations. God did not leave humanity in ignorance but made men and women prophets to perceive his will and to give their testimony to the rest of society. In the fullness of time, God’s own divine Son took human flesh in the womb of Mary, his Mother, and He made visible in Himself the goodness, love, and mercy of his Eternal Father. Because Jesus was so good, we could not endure Him; so, we killed Him, but the Father raised him up from the dead.

We will all meet our Creator God, our Lord and Saviour, face to face at the end of our lives. In that moment, we will see our whole lives replayed before our eyes, and we will finally know the whole truth about ourselves, about others, and about God. If, during this life on Earth, we have treated God with doubt, suspicion, or contempt; then, that moment of truth will feel like a harsh judgement, but it will be our own fault. On the other hand, if we approach God humbly and with docility and trust; then, that encounter will be a moment of great joy and consolation.

The ways of the Lord are made wonderfully manifest in this episode with Saint Paul. We see how some people scoffed – ridiculing the apostle – while others wanted to hear more. They were docile to the Holy Spirit who began to enlighten their minds, hearts, and spirits.

 “O my Jesus, I trust in You. Immaculate Mother Mary, pray for us. St. 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                                    Closing

“Lord, may all that we suffer break open our hard hearts; then, fill us with your Holy Spirit, so that we may learn to obey and love like Jesus your Son, Mary and Joseph, and all the saints.

Mother Mary, pray for us. Saint Joseph, pray for us.   

“Christ is risen, alleluia!” “He is truly risen, alleluia!”           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

There is only one God. We worship Him in Jesus and use all our faculties to discern the TRUTH - Wednesday in the 6th Week of Easter, May 12th, 2021 - S + L Mass at MQW Cathedral downtown Montreal

  Gospel & Homily MP3 version                     Homily PDF version        

Sign of the + Cross - Christ is risen! Alleluia! (traditional response is) He is truly risen! Alleluia!            Hello. I’m Fr. Gilles Surprenant, priest of Montreal and Madonna House Associate. In this 6^th week of Easter, God gives us a summary of the history of salvation. Only the Holy Spirit reminds us of Jesus’ words and guides us into all the truth. Without the Spirit of God, we are lost. During this Live Daily Mass, the Lord calls us to receive his words and to keep them; so that we may live. (Intention) Thank you.

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

 Announcement - N.B. There was an incident at Holy Communion today... one of the sacristans had warned me before Mass that lately a strange woman had been coming into the church a few minutes before Holy Communion and coming forward to receive but was clearly not a Roman Catholic, not even a Christian. In our tradition, the Holy Eucharist is a sacrament of initiation; so no one should receive who is not yet baptized or has no intention of becoming a Roman Catholic Christian. So, when she presented herself, I politely asked her "Who is Jesus Christ." She then indicated she was not Christian but liked to come and receive. I briefly (we must finish this televised Mass under 30 minutes) explained she cannot receive without being initiated and suggested she speak to a priest later. After Mass the security officer at the doors, who also acts as an usher, told me she had gone, but that he also explained this to her, and told her she was always welcome to enter and pray.

There was no offering today to support this televised Mass and therefore no intention to be publicized for this Mass. 

We thank you for supporting this Live Daily Mass through your daily prayers, Mass intentions, and donations to the Cathedral and to Salt + Light Media. 

Saint Joseph, pray for us.  Blessing and Dismissal

 

HOMILY

There is only one who is truly God, the Creator of the Universe and of all that is in it. God is complete in Himself – Jesus has revealed God to be a Holy Trinity of Divine Persons joined in perfect unity and communion: his Eternal Father, Himself, the Eternal Word, only-begotten Son of the Father, who took to Himself a human life in Jesus of Nazareth, and the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth. God, the Three who live and act as One, is complete and needs nothing from us; “since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things.”

God “allotted the times... and places” for human beings to live “so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him”. All over the Earth in many religions, human beings for millennia have groped for God and perhaps found him. Catholic Christians worship only the Blessed Sacrament as God Himself, the Body and Blood of Jesus Risen from the dead. We venerate images, icons, frescoes, statues – artistic representations of the three Divine Persons – but we do not worship them. These religious artifacts help us picture or represent to ourselves the Divine Persons, but we direct our worship, adoration, and prayer to God alone.

We make use of artistic representations of saints to bring the actual saints to mind; as we call on them to join us in our prayer and worship of the Lord. This is how we honor Mary, the Mother of Jesus – and the Mother of God since Jesus is the Son of God – we honor her and join her in prayer to God because we know that Jesus Himself honors his Blessed Mother.

In every generation there are many discordant voices clamoring for our attention, and they all claim to speak the truth, but there is only one truth. Jesus declared: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6. God our Creator gave us brains, a heart, a body, and a soul. As we try to discern what is the truth in any situation, we need to pay attention to all these gifts from our Father.

Sometimes our body will give us a “gut feeling” to warn us to avoid lies and evil. Our brain helps us to read and understand the inspired Word of God in the Bible as well as authoritative teaching from our Church. Our heart is capable of perceiving the love and Divine Mercy of God given to us in Jesus. Our spirit, our soul, can be attuned to the Holy Spirit and recognize how different the Holy Spirit is from the spirit of the prince of this world, the father of lies.

Every time we turn to God, open the Bible and read, listen to holy teachers and preachers, love our neighbor and forgive our enemy, do good to those who do harm, feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, give shelter to the homeless, care for or visit the sick or prisoners, or worship the Lord in Church or at home, we renew our faith in God and give Him our trust to bring his rule and his kingdom into our lives, marriages, families, homes, and work.

O God, help us to really trust in You: the Father, + the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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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