MASS GUIDE - FIFTH SUNDAY IN LENT (March 29, 2020)
GUIDE TO MASS
FIFTH SUNDAY IN LENT
SUNDAY, MARCH 29, 2020
10:00AM
Brothers & Sisters in Christ,
As we remain unable to be together at the Altar of God, I continue to think about you all and pray for you daily. This time apart has been difficult for me. It's certainly not been a vacation, as I've been working hard to find creative ways for us to stay connected, both in the school and in the parish. And, I miss you.
I wanted to offer some suggestions for this coming Sunday. While the lay faithful are not obligated to attend Mass at this time, I would still suggest you make a concerted effort to watch the Mass on our streaming YouTube channel, and participate as best you can from the comfort of your home. Here are some thoughts on how you could do that:
Continue to observe the 1 hour fast before Mass, even though you are unable to receive our LORD physically present in the Sacrament of the Eucharist, you can still make this meritorious and valiant sacrifice for Jesus.
Get dressed up as you would normally on a Sunday to go to Church. My grandpa used to get up every Sunday morning and put on a suit and tie for Church - and he was a mechanic and janitor his entire life!
If you are a family watching, sit together for the Mass.
Stand when we stand. Sit when we sit. Kneel when we kneel. Sing when we sing. Respond as you would normally if you were in the pew.
Receive our Lord in a Spiritual way during communion.
Continue to give to the Church as you normally have. We are trying to find creative ways to cover the over 50% drop in collections, but things are going to be getting bad very soon. You can drop off your envelop at the parish office in the new mail slot. You can give on our website. You can text GIVE to 952-222-9195 for an easy way to give.
Pray the prayer after communion with us. It can be found on the website under Mass Prayers, and in the bottom of this email.
Stay connected with us and with the parish at large. Like our Facebook page and comment on the posts.
This Sunday marks the first day of Passiontide - the last two weeks of Lent. We've again covered the statues in the Church this year to mark this change in time. It's an intensification of our focus on the coming days of Holy Week, Triduum, and Easter. It is very important for us to live these days out. They mark our souls, change our minds, and conform us evermore to our LORD. More information will be coming on how we will be marking these most important days of the year for the Church. I'm excited that you will be able to participate LIVE with us on our YouTube channel!
While you cannot be here at the Altar of the LORD, continue to offer spiritual sacrifices on the altar of your heart. There is much to sacrifice this year. I saw a post on Facebook that said, "this is the lentist lent I've ever lented." :-)
If you need anything, I ask you to please reach out. Again, my cell phone number is 651-964-8834.
May God continue to bless you in this time of healing.
Father Neil
Pastor
MASS GUIDE FOR FIFTH SUNDAY IN LENT
A PRAYER BEFORE MASS
by Saint Thomas Aquinas
Almighty and everlasting God, behold I come to the Sacrament of Thine only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ: I come as one infirm to the physician of life, as one unclean to the fountain of mercy, as one blind to the light of everlasting brightness, as one poor and needy to the Lord of heaven and earth.
Therefore I implore the abundance of Thy measureless bounty that Thou wouldst vouchsafe to heal my infirmity, wash my uncleanness, enlighten my blindness, enrich my poverty and clothe my nakedness, that I may receive the Bread of Angels, the King of kings, the Lord of lords, with such reverence and humility, with such sorrow and devotion, with such purity and faith, with such purpose and intention as may be profitable to my soul's salvation. Grant unto me, I pray, the grace of receiving not only the Sacrament of our Lord's Body and Blood, but also the grace and power of the Sacrament.
O most gracious God, grant me so to receive the Body of Thine only-begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, which He took from the Virgin Mary, as to merit to be incorporated into His mystical Body, and to be numbered amongst His members.
O most loving Father, give me grace to behold forever Thy beloved Son with His face at last unveiled, whom I now purpose to receive under the sacramental veil here below.
Amen.
MASS READINGS
FIRST READING
A reading from the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel 37:12-14
Thus says the Lord God:
O my people, I will open your graves and have you rise from them,
and bring you back to the land of Israel.
Then you shall know that I am the Lord,
when I open your graves and have you rise from them,
O my people! I will put my spirit in you that you may live,
and I will settle you upon your land;
thus you shall know that I am the Lord.
I have promised, and I will do it, says the Lord.
The word of the Lord.
R/ Thanks be to God.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM
Psalm 130
R/ With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption.
Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord;
Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
to my voice in supplication.
R/ With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption.
If you, O Lord, mark iniquities,
Lord, who can stand?
But with you is forgiveness,
that you may be revered.
R/ With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption.
I trust in the Lord;
my soul trusts in his word.
More than sentinels wait for the dawn,
let Israel wait for the Lord.
R/ With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption.
For with the Lord is kindness
and with him is plenteous redemption;
and he will redeem Israel
from all their iniquities.
R/ With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption.
SECOND READING
A reading from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Romans 8:8-11
Brothers and sisters:
Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
But you are not in the flesh; on the contrary, you are in the spirit, if only the Spirit of God dwells in you. Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is alive because of righteousness.
If the Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the One who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also, through his Spirit dwelling in you.
The word of the Lord.
R/ Thanks be to God.
GOSPEL ACCLAMATION
Praise to you LORD Jesus Christ,
King of endless Glory.
I am the resurrection and the life, says the Lord;
whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will never die.
Praise to you LORD Jesus Christ,
King of endless Glory.
GOSPEL
A reading from the holy Gospel according to John 11:1-45
Now a man was ill, Lazarus from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. Mary was the one who had anointed the Lord with perfumed oil and dried his feet with her hair; it was her brother Lazarus who was ill. So] the sisters (of Lazarus) sent word to Jesus saying, “Master, the one you love is ill.” When Jesus heard this he said, “This illness is not to end in death, but is for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that he was ill, he remained for two days in the place where he was. Then after this he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.” The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just trying to stone Magnificat you, and you want to go back there?” Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in a day? If one walks during the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if one walks at night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” He said this, and then told them, “Our friend Lazarus is asleep, but I am going to awaken him.” So the disciples said to him, “Master, if he is asleep, he will be saved.” But Jesus was talking about his death, while they thought that he meant ordinary sleep. So then Jesus said to them clearly, “Lazarus has died. And I am glad for you that I was not there, that you may believe. Let us go to him.”
So Thomas, called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go to die with him.” When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, only about two miles away. And many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother.
When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him; but Mary sat at home. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise.” Martha said to him, “I know he will rise, in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.”
When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary secretly, saying, “The teacher is here and is asking for you.” As soon as she heard this, she rose quickly and went to him. For Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still where Martha had met him.
So when the Jews who were with her in the house comforting her saw Mary get up quickly and go out, they followed her, presuming that she was going to the tomb to weep there. When Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come with her weeping, he became perturbed and deeply troubled, and said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Sir, come and see.” And Jesus wept. So the Jews said, “See how he loved him.” But some of them said, “Could not the one who opened the eyes of the blind man have done something so that this man would not have died?”
So Jesus, perturbed again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay across it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the dead man’s sister, said to him, “Lord, by now there will be a stench; he has been dead for four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?”
So they took away the stone. And Jesus raised his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you for hearing me. I know that you always hear me; but because of the crowd here I have said this, that they may believe that you sent me.”
And when he had said this, he cried out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, tied hand and foot with burial bands, and his face was wrapped in a cloth. So Jesus said to them, “Untie him and let him go.” Now many of the Jews who had come to Mary and seen what he had done began to believe in him.
The Gospel of the Lord.
NICENE CREED
I believe in one God,
the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.
I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the Only Begotten Son of God,
born of the Father before all ages.
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
At the words that follow, up to and including and became man, all bow.
and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary,
and became man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate,
he suffered death and was buried,
and rose again on the third day
in accordance with the Scriptures.
He ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead
and his kingdom will have no end.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son,
who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.
I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.
I confess one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins
and I look forward to the resurrection of the dead
and the life of the world to come.
Amen.
Text GIVE to 952-222-9195
ACT OF SPIRITUAL COMMUNION
My Jesus,
I believe that You
are present in the Most Holy Sacrament.
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.
Amen.
PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION
Take,O Lord, and receive
my entire liberty,
my memory, my understanding
and my whole will.
All that I am and all that I possess,
Thou hast given me:
I surrender it all to Thee
to be disposed of
according to Thy will.
Give me only Thy Love
and Thy Grace;
with these I will be rich enough
and will desire nothing more.
Amen.
A PRAYER AFTER MASS
by Saint Thomas Aquinas
I give thanks to Thee, O Lord, most holy, Father almighty, eternal God, that Thou hast vouchsafed, for no merit of mine own, but out of Thy pure mercy, to appease the hunger of my soul with the precious body and blood of Thy Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Humbly I implore Thee, let not this holy communion be to me an increase of guilt unto my punishment, but an availing plea unto pardon and salvation. Let it be to me the armour of faith and the shield of good will.
May it root out from my heart all vice; may it utterly subdue my evil passions and all my unruly desires. May it perfect me in charity and patience; in humility and obedience; and in all other virtues. May it be my sure defence against the snares laid for me by my enemies, visible and invisible. May it restrain and quiet all my evil impulses, and make me ever cleave to Thee Who art the one true God.
May I owe to it a happy ending of my life. And do Thou, O heavenly Father, vouchsafe one day to call me, a sinner, to that ineffable banquet, where Thou, together with Thy Son and the Holy Ghost, art to Thy saints true and unfailing light, fullness of content, joy for evermore, gladness without alloy, consummate and everlasting happiness.
Through the same Christ our Lord.
Amen.