ANNOUNCER: From the St. Ignatius Chapel at the Manresa Jesuit Spiritual Renewal Centre in Pickering, Ontario. The National Catholic Broadcasting Council presents The Daily TV Mass.
# ANNOUNCER: Please join us in this prayer of hope to our Blessed Mother for the First Week of Advent. # Welcome to the celebration of the Daily TV Mass. I'm Fr.
Tom Lynch, Director of the Cathedral of St. Peter-in-Chains in Peterborough, Ontario. The televising of this mass is made possible by the contribution from the estate of the late Mary Cleary.
This mass is offered in memory of Mary and for her living and deceased family members. May her soul and all the souls of the faithfully departed rest in peace. Amen.
Our thanks to the late Mary Cleary for making it possible for tens of thousands of the faithful from across Canada and around the world to share in this celebration. In the name of the Father, the Son, - and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
- CONGREGATION: Amen. May the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. CONGREGATION: And with your spirit.
My friends, as we advance in this Advent season, let us be able to bring ourselves truly into the presence of the Lord. 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 to you, my brothers and sister, to pray for me to the Lord, our God. May Almighty God have mercy on us.
Forgive us our sins and bring us to life everlasting. - CONGREGATION: Amen. - Lord, have mercy.
CONGREGATION: Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. CONGREGATION: Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy. CONGREGATION: Lord, have mercy. Let us pray.
Stir up Your power, O Lord, and come to our help with mighty strength so that what our sins impede the grace of Your mercy may hasten. This we ask through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit. One God, forever and ever.
CONGREGATION: Amen. A reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah. On that day, this song will be sung in the land of Judah.
We have a strong city. He sets up victory like walls and bulwarks. Open the gates so that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in.
Those of steadfast mind You keep in peace. In peace because they trust in you. Trust in the Lord forever.
For in the Lord God, you have an everlasting rock. For He has brought low the inhabitants of the height. The lofty city, He lays low.
He lays it low to the ground, casts it to the dust. The foot tramples it. The feet of the poor, the steps of the needy.
The Word of the Lord. CONGREGATION: Thanks be to God. # (Organ playing) # # O give thanks to the Lord # # For He is good # # His steadfast love endures # # Forever # # It is better to take refuge in the Lord # # Than to put confidence # # In mortals # # It is better to take refuge in the Lord # # Than to put confidence # # In princes # # Open to me the gates of righteousness # # That I may enter through them # # And give thanks to the Lord # # This is the gate of the Lord # # The righteous shall lend her # # Through it # # I thank You that You have answered me # # And have become # # My salvation # # (Organ playing) # # Hallelujah # # Hallelujah # # Hallelujah # # Hallelujah # # Seek the Lord # # While He may be found # # Call on Him while He is near # # Hallelujah # # Hallelujah # The Lord be with you.
CONGREGATION: And with your spirit. A reading from the holy gospel according to Matthew. CONGREGATION: Glory to You, O Lord.
When Jesus saw the crowds, He went up the mountain and sat down and His disciples came to Him and He taught them saying, "Not everyone who says to Me 'Lord, Lord' will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. But only the one who does the will of My Father in Heaven. Everyone then who hears these words of Mine and acts upon them will be like a wise man who built his house on a rock.
The rains fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall because it had been founded on rock and everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that whole house and it fell and great was its fall. " And this, my friends, is the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
CONGREGATION: Praise to You, Lord Jesus Christ. (Throat clearing) As I said in the introduction, I'm from the Diocese of Peterborough and when I say that, I don't just mean that I'm currently there as, you know, in a certain pastoral position. I mean I am from the Diocese of Peterborough and almost 200 years ago next summer that's when 2,500 Irish Catholic immigrants were brought over and dumped into what is now Peterborough, but was then just the wilderness.
So, trust me, everybody's related and descended from those 2,500 Catholics. But I had expected when I got ordained 40 years ago that I would be sent around the Diocese. That didn't happen.
I haven't been sent around the Diocese at all. I've been in a very tight little circle up around Peterborough. Currently, I'm Director of the Cathedral.
I was a deacon at the Cathedral 40 years ago. And since then, I've only been a few places here and there, but every single place I've been, I've had at least one, if not several close members of my family. Aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters.
I was even in my home parish for nine years with my mother, four brothers, three sisters, and five sets of aunts and uncles. Let me tell you, when that gospel says no prophet is respected in his own country, or his own house, I know it. And I also know what foundations mean because a great many of the people who came over 200 years ago still have descendants living on the same farms and in the same places.
And sometimes, believe it or not, even in the same houses. That was the case with my mother's family, which is still inhabited in a straight line by those people that established it in 1825. And I remember, I was sent to my mother's home parish, which was interesting in itself, and my first cousin's house burnt.
It just burnt. But it was built in a very precarious place on a hillside and they said, "Wow! Look at these foundations.
We're going to use the same foundations. " So, they rebuilt on the same foundations, but his son decided to go all the way into the city of Peterborough, seven whole miles, all the way in, and he built a new house with his wife and, of course, the foundations had to be built up, et cetera. So, I was preaching to that little parish of St.
Joseph's in Douro and I said, "You know, you all know Willy Townes, Willy and Janet, because they rebuilt their house on foundations that were there for 180 years at that point. They were incredible foundations. Imagine, imagine.
Hauling all those huge stones up that hillside. Not that there's not lots of stones in that area. Trust me, there are.
But imagine the work. And just to build a house. But it stood for all of that time and the foundations are still there and I said, "So, I guess Liam, his son, Liam must be stupid," and everybody looked at me across the church because Liam, why should Liam have to build a house with different foundations?
Isn't his parents' foundations enough? Surely, he can just be building a house close by and whatever. He shouldn't have to have his own foundations.
But that's obviously silly and wrong. And one person looked at me as if to say, "It's a good thing you're a priest and not a builder. " I said, "But isn't that the problem that so many people have?
" I don't need to develop my faith because my parents have a strong foundation of faith. I don't need to develop my own faith because I come from a faith-filled family and I will have enough to get by. A wise man puts in his own foundations for his own house and that is why a man leaves his father and mother and joins himself to his wife and the two become one flesh and they build their own family and their own house.
Each of us has to build our own foundation. Someone put it very well a few months ago that I heard it's time to stop renting your faith and it's time you start owning it and building upon it. And we're called to dig down deep to put in those foundations.
That's not easy work at all. I'm in charge of a Cathedral and like every Cathedral, it's old and in constant need of repair. And when I take tours around the Cathedral, I love taking them down into the crypt.
Yes, St. Peter's actually has a crypt with bodies. Not that you can see them.
But you come down and, of course, it's dark and it's gloomy and I said, "Now look at those walls. Look at the size of those stones and imagine what it took in 1837 to drag in those stones to make foundations and even more, imagine what it took to dig out those foundations so you can put those stone in there. " Then I take them back upstairs and I said, "Now, look at this wall.
There isn't a crack in this wall. They knew how to build foundations. " What are your foundations?
Have you ever wondered about that? Where the foundations of the people for whom you're responsible. Look around and realize that you have to dig deep and you have to dig steadily and you have to realize that it isn't an immediate question about us being able to just do it once.
We have to dig deep and make sure they're firm so we can build up and edifice that will last. That's what we're called to do. Remember this, too.
That you may be in a shaky house or the people you love. Your sons and daughters, your grandchildren, but it doesn't mean that they can't dig deep now. We can take that metaphor far too far.
But the reality is that we are called to seek those people that we love so that they can dig deep, so they can know the inexhaustible richness of the power of Jesus Christ and the power of the Church. The teachings and the wisdom and the traditions of the Church. This is how we are called to build.
And you know, you can really worry about that and say, "Oh, it's too late. " No, that's not what we're called to do at all. We're called in our time and in our place to build where we are.
And not to say, "Oh, we can't do this," we say, "What great building material we have in front of us. " We have these opportunities. We have the ability to reach via social media to be able to have the questions that we have in our hearts and our minds answered.
We too can dig deep and you can help the people around you, those you love and care for, dig deep. If they've fallen away from the faith, if they, perhaps, in the next generation, don't even know the faith, you are called to help dig. Here's an interesting thing about how that Cathedral was built up in Peterborough.
Men, women, children, and the elderly came together to dig and to build that Cathedral and they built it in the wintertime. Not a very auspicious time to build anything. But that's the only time they had.
The only time you have is now. This is the time. Now is the day, now is the hour and so don't be afraid to sort of put yourself into that task about helping to dig deeply to be able to build strongly so that the future is one that will be absolutely secure upon the foundation of Jesus Christ.
People will say, "How can I do it? " You don't know the family that I've got or they won't listen to me. I often say to people, "Well, you know, they have the conversation of the hand.
Mom, Grandma, don't talk to me about that. I've had enough. There's all kinds of ways to do it.
You were given that person because you know her or him in a definite and profound way. You need to pray to the Lord to say, "Lord, I need a way into their hearts and into their minds. " And He's given that way because they love you and because they love you and you love them, you will be able to be called to them consistently to be able to speak the truth and the truth in love and to be able to know them so well that they then can come to know The One who loves them so well Himself.
Let us bring forth our needs and our prayers to the Lord. Let us pray for all those in our Daily TV Mass Pray Intentions Book. We pray to the Lord.
CONGREGATION: Lord, hear our prayer. Our Lady of Guadalupe, fruitful mother of holiness, teach us your ways of gentleness and strength during this month of December, keep us in your prayers and intercede for us with your son as we strive to follow your example and to always seek the good of others. We pray to the Lord.
CONGREGATION: Lord, hear our prayer. Let us pray for the Holy Catholic Church. For Francis, our Pope, and for all bishops, priests, and deacons that they would seek holiness continually, we pray to the Lord.
CONGREGATION: Lord, hear our prayer. Let us pray for an end to the violence perpetrated by harsh words, deadly weapons or cold indifference throughout the world. We pray to the Lord.
CONGREGATION: Lord, hear our prayer. For all of our faith community that we may celebrate and welcome the diverse faces of Christ in our worship, our ministries and our leaders. Let us pray to the Lord.
CONGREGATION: Lord, hear our prayer. And let us remember the particular needs and intentions we hold in our hearts. We pray to the Lord.
CONGREGATION: Lord, hear our prayer. God of Light, to live in Your house is the desire of all Your children. Hear our prayers and help us in all our needs, for we bring them to You in Christ, our Lord.
- Amen. - CONGREGATION: Amen. Blessed are You, Lord God of all creation.
For through Your goodness we have this bread to offer. Fruit of the earth and work of human hands, it will become for us the bread of life. CONGREGATION: Blessed be God forever.
By the mystery of this water and wine, may we come to share in the divinity of Christ, who humbled Himself to share in our humanity. Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation. For through Your goodness, we have this wine to offer, fruit of the vine and work of human hands.
It will become for us our spiritual drink. CONGREGATION: Blessed be God forever. Lord, wash away my iniquities and cleanse me from my sins.
My friends, these gifts have been prepared, our gifts of bread and wine and the gifts of our very hearts. Pray that they may be acceptable to God, the Almighty Father. CONGREGATION: May the Lord accept the sacrifice at your hands for the praise and glory of God's name, for our good and the good of all His Holy Church.
Accept, we pray, O Lord, from these offerings we make gathered from them among Your gifts to us that what You may grant us to celebrate devoutly here below may gain for us the prize of eternal redemption. This we ask through Christ, our Lord. CONGREGATION: Amen.
The Lord be with you. CONGREGATION: And with your spirit. Lift up your hearts.
CONGREGATION: We lift them up to the Lord. Let us give thanks to the Lord, our God. CONGREGATION: It is right and just.
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. For He assumed at His first coming, the lowliness of human flesh and so fulfilled the design You formed long ago and open for us the way to eternal salvation so that when He comes again in glory and majesty and all is at last made manifest, we who watch for that day may inherit the great promise in which we now dare to hope. And so, with archangels and archangels, thrones and dominions and all the hosts and powers of Heaven, we sing the hymn of Your glory as without end, we acclaim.
# (Organ playing) # # Holy, Holy, # # Holy Lord # # God of Hosts # # Heaven and Earth are full # # Of Your glory # # Hosanna in the highest # # Blessed is he who comes # # In the name of the Lord # # Hosanna in the highest # You are indeed Holy, O Lord. The fount of all holiness. Make holy, therefore, - (Chimes ringing) - these gifts we pray.
By sending down Your spirit upon them like the dewfall so that they may become for us the Body and the Blood of Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. At the time He was betrayed and entered willingly into His passion. He took bread and giving thanks, He broke it, 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.
" (Chimes ringing) In a similar way, when supper was ended, He took the chalice and once more giving You thanks, He 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. " (Chimes ringing) Let us proclaim the mystery of faith. # (Organ playing) # # Save us, Saviour of the World # # For by Your cross # # And resurrection # # You have set us free # Therefore, as we celebrate the memorial of His death and Resurrection, we offer You, Lord, the Bread of Life and the Chalice of Salvation.
Giving thanks that You have held us worthy to be in Your presence and minister to You. Humbly, we pray that partaking of the Body and Blood of Christ, we may be gathered into one by the Holy Spirit. Remember Lord, Your Church spread throughout the world and bring her to the fullness of charity.
Together with Francis, our Pope, and Francis, our Bishop, and all the clergy. Remember, also, our brothers and sisters and all those who have fallen asleep in the hope of the Resurrection. Welcome them into the light of Your face.
Have mercy on us all that with the blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, and with blessed Joseph, her spouse, with the blessed Apostles and all the Saints who having pleased You throughout the ages. We may merit to be co-heirs to eternal life and may praise and glorify You through Your Son, Jesus Christ. Through Him, with Him, and in Him.
O God, Almighty Father. In the unity of the Holy Spirit. All glory and honour is Yours forever and ever.
CONGREGATION: Amen. And so, my friends, we pray as the Lord Himself has taught us. Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy 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 coming of our Saviour Jesus Christ.
For the kingdom and the power and the glory are Yours, now and forever. 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. " CONGREGATION: Amen. The peace of the Lord be with you always.
CONGREGATION: And with your spirit. And let us offer that peace to one another. # (Organ playing) # # Lamb of God # # You take away the sins of the world # # Have mercy on us # # Lamb of God # # You take away the sins of the world # # Have mercy on us # # Lamb of God # # You take away the sins of the world # # Grant us peace # My friends, behold the Lamb of God.
Behold Him who takes away the sins of the world. Blessed are those who are 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. (Chimes ringing) ANNOUNCER: Please join me now in this act of spiritual communion. # Let us pray.
May these mysteries, O Lord, in which we have participated, profit us, we pray, for even now as we walk amid passing things, You teach us by them to love the things of Heaven and to hold fast to that which endures. This we ask through Christ, our Lord. CONGREGATION: Amen.
The Lord be with you. CONGREGATION: And with your spirit. And may Almighty God bless you.
The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. CONGREGATION: Amen. The mass has ended.
Let us go in peace to love and serve the Lord. CONGREGATION: Thanks be to God. # (Organ playing) # ANNOUNCER: Our thanks to our donors for the gift of this Mass.
