SPIRITUAL MASS FOR THOSE WHO CANNOT ATTEND MASS TODAY,
THE 18TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
✠In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German Pastor, who was executed by the Nazis
just a month before VE Day, prayed this:
“I cannot do this alone. In me there is darkness, but with you there is light; I am restless, but with you there is peace.
In me there is bitterness, but with you there is patience.
Restore me to liberty, and enable me to live.”
Let us acknowledge that we cannot live to our best
without Our Lord bringing us from darkness to light;
In that light let us prepare ourselves to worship.
I confess to almighty God
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,
and all the Angels and Saints,
to pray for me to the Lord our God.
May almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins,
and bring us to everlasting life. Amen.
THE COLLECT Draw near to your servants, O Lord, and answer their prayers with unceasing kindness, that, for those who glory in you as their Creator and guide, you may restore what you have created and keep safe what you have restored. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
EPHESIANS 4: I want to urge you in the name of the Lord, not to go on living the aimless kind of life that pagans live. Now that is hardly the way you have learnt from Christ, unless you failed to hear him properly when you were taught what the truth is in Jesus. You must give up your old way of life; you must put aside your old self, which gets corrupted by following illusory desires. Your mind must be renewed by a spiritual revolution so that you can put on the new self that has been created in God’s way, in the goodness and holiness of the truth.
PSALM 77 (78)
The Lord gave them bread from heaven.
The things we have heard and understood,
the things our fathers have told us,
these we will not hide from their children
but will tell them to the next generation:
The Lord gave them bread from heaven.
the glories of the Lord and his might
and the marvellous deeds he has done,
Yet he commanded the clouds above
and opened the gates of heaven.
He rained down manna for their food,
and gave them bread from heaven.
The Lord gave them bread from heaven.
Mere men ate the bread of angels.
He sent them abundance of food;
So he brought them to his holy land,
to the mountain which his right hand had won.
The Lord gave them bread from heaven.
GOSPEL FOR TODAY John 6:24-35
When the people saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into boats and crossed to Capernaum to look for Jesus. When they found him on the other side, they said to him, ‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’ Jesus answered: ‘I tell you most solemnly, you are not looking for me because you have seen the signs but because you had all the bread you wanted to eat. Do not work for food that cannot last, but work for food that endures to eternal life, the kind of food the Son of Man is offering you, for on him the Father, God himself, has set his seal.’
Then they said to him, ‘What must we do if we are to do the works that God wants?’ Jesus gave them this answer, ‘This is working for God: you must believe in the one he has sent.’ So they said, ‘What sign will you give to show us that we should believe in you? What work will you do? Our fathers had manna to eat in the desert; as scripture says: He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ Jesus answered: ‘I tell you most solemnly, it was not Moses who gave you bread from heaven, it is my Father who gives you the bread from heaven, the true bread; for the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’ ‘Sir,’ they said ‘give us that bread always.’ Jesus answered: ‘I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never be hungry; he who believes in me will never thirst.’
HOMILY What makes people not believe in God?
Many would say that doubts abound when trying to match belief in a Creator-God with all the suffering that we see around us.
Why believe in a God of so-called love that allows people,
nations and so-called religious groups behave so appallingly?
Bishop Leslie Lloyd-Rees, a great friend of Holy Trinity,
had this to say: “It was last Thursday night after I had watched the 10 o’clock news, and I was left with a deep depression and foreboding
as I saw the pictures of famine and bloodshed in the Congo,
suicide bombings in Saudi Arabia, and the breakdown of peace talks in the Holy Land. I heard the message of hate & violence sent out by terrorists
convinced that to murder and desecrate was the will of Allah:
And then I heard myself cry out ‘O God, when is it all going to stop?
Does it have to be like this? Is this how you meant it to be?’
And I heard the Voice of God: “Don’t despair.
Let me show you groups all over the world
who are trying to obey my command to love one another
as I have loved you, people who together have glimpsed something of my promise, purpose and vision and together are living out the values of my Kingdom. Let me show you the Correymeala Community in Northern Ireland;
and the Peace Movement, started by Mothers from both sides.
Together they are living out the absurdity of the Gospel.
And it’s working.
‘And last of all’ said the still small voice,
‘all around you this morning, all around the world,
people are meeting together,
people who in baptism have been brought into my Kingdom, people who in Confirmation have signed up for my Kingdom, people who meet to keep before them the vision of my Kingdom and to commit themselves to it.
In churches, chapels, Cathedrals, hospitals and prisons they celebrate Mass together to proclaim that they too share a dream of a world free of violence, oppression, discrimination and injustice, a world in which service comes before self-interest and the values of loyalty, commitment and self giving
are shared – for the good of all. It isn’t an impossible dream – it really does work. Now go out and try it’.
And I said ‘Good Lord, I promise, I’ll try’.
“Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy…….”
THE APOSTLES' CREED
I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
Creator of heaven and earth;
and in Jesus Christ, His only Son,
our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died and was buried;
He descended into hell;
On the third day
He rose again from the dead;
He ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
from there He will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Holy Catholic Church,
the communion of Saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and life everlasting.
INTERCESSION
Almighty and all-merciful God,
lover of the human race,
healer of all our wounds,
in whom there is no shadow of death,
save us in this time of crisis;
Grant wisdom and courage to our leaders;
watch over all medical people
as they tend the sick and work for a cure;
stir in us a sense of solidarity beyond all isolation;
if our doors are closed, let our hearts be open.
By the power of your love destroy the virus of fear,
that hope may never die and the light of the Risen Christ
may shine upon us and the whole world.
(Most Rev. Mark Coleridge, Archbishop of Brisbane)
St Joseph, guardian of us all, pray for us.
Holy Mary, health of the sick, pray for us….
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou amongst women
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now,
and at the hour of our death.
Lord God, you feed us with the living bread from heaven;
renew our faith, increase our hope, and strengthen our love.
Teach us to hunger for Christ who is the true and living bread,
and to live by every word that comes from your mouth.
Merciful Father,
accept these prayers for the sake of your Son,
our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.
At the Saviour’s command
and formed by divine teaching, we dare to say:
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 the coming of our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
For the kingdom,
the power and the glory are yours
now and for ever.
Time to sit quietly to receive the Lord’s Presence spiritually.
“My Jesus, I believe that You are present
in the Most Holy Sacrament of the altar.
I love You above all things,
and I desire to receive You into my soul.
Since I cannot at this moment receive You sacramentally,
come at least spiritually into my heart …
I embrace You as if You were already there
and unite myself wholly to You.
Never permit me to be separated from You,”
Grant, we pray, almighty God,
that we, who glory in the Heart of your beloved Son
and recall the wonders of his love for us,
may be made worthy to receive
an overflowing measure of compassionate grace
from that fount of heavenly gifts.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Silent Prayer
Open my eyes, Lord Help me to see your face Open my eyes, Lord Help me to see. Open my ears, Lord Help me to hear your voice Open my ears, Lord Help me to hear. Open my heart, Lord Help me to love like you Open my heart, Lord Help me to love. And the first shall be last And our eyes are opened And we'll hear like never before And we'll speak in new ways And we'll see God's face in places we've never known. I live within you Deep in your Heart, O Love I live within you Rest now in me. Jesse Manibusan
May God who clothes the lilies and feeds the birds of the sky,
who leads the lambs to pasture and the deer to water,
who multiplied loaves and fishes and changed water into wine,
lead us, feed us, multiply us,
and change us to reflect the glory of our Creator
now and through all eternity;
and may the blessing of almighty God,
the Father, and the Son, ✠ and the Holy Spirit,
come down upon us and remain with us for ever. Amen.
THE ANGELUS
The angel of the Lord brought tidings unto Mary. And she conceived by the Holy Ghost.
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now,
and at the hour of our death. Amen.
Behold the handmaid of the Lord. Be it unto me according to thy word.
Hail Mary. Holy Mary.
And the Word was made flesh. And dwelt amongst us.
Hail Mary. Holy Mary.
Pray for us, O holy Mother of God. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
We beseech thee, O Lord, pour thy grace into our hearts,
that as we have known the Incarnation of thy Son Jesus Christ by the message of an angel, so by his Cross and Passion
we may be brought unto the glory of his Resurrection;
through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.
Let us go forth in peace;
thanks be to God.
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