Mass for the 18th Sunday of Ordinary Time - Year B 2021

00:09 - The Jesuit Institute, in partnership with Lawyers for Human Rights, Pro Bono. org, Jesuit Refugee Service and Terre des Hommes, are documenting the lives of inspiring young people who are stateless or at risk of statelessness in a campaign entitled This Is Home.

00:27 - Statelessness, in simple terms, refers to someone who is not legally recognized by any country.

00:35 - For many of these young people, South Africa is the only place they know.

00:41 - This is their home. Statelessness is preventable and this campaign provides practical solutions for the Department of Home Affairs to implement and ensure that these young people have prosperous futures.

00:57 - And these include the Department of Home Affairs to immediately resume services in the citizenship and permanent residence section of the department.

01:08 - The Department of Home Affairs to process submitted applications for citizenship and permanent residence and provide outcomes to prevent a further backlog.

01:20 - South Africa to ratify the 1954 UN Convention on the status of stateless persons and the 1961 UN Convention on the reduction of statelessness.

01:33 - South Africa needs to adopt a national action plan to eradicate statelessness.

01:39 - So follow THIS IS HOME which is on your screen now for updates on how you can support this campaign, or contact us using the email address that is on your screen now.

01:51 - Remember, this is a concrete way of putting your faith into action.

01:59 - Welcome to St. Ignatius Chapel. Today we celebrate the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

02:07 - Our celebrant today is Jesuit Fr. Peter Knox SJ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

02:36 - [Amen. ] The grace and peace of God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

02:40 - [And with your spirit. ] We celebrate today the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time, the beginning of the month of August.

02:47 - We hear the words that God wants to continually feed us, nourish us, sustain us.

02:55 - God wants us, like the Jews, to be happy, and to be healthy, to be well fed.

03:00 - At times though, we are not grateful for God’s gifts, we don’t realise how much God has been putting into our care and our sustenance all our lives.

03:11 - We ask God to pardon and forgive us as we say: You were sent to heal the contrite of heart.

03:17 - Lord, have mercy. [Lord, have mercy. ] You came to call sinners.

03:22 - Christ, have mercy. [Christ, have mercy. ] You are seated at the right hand of the Father to intercede for us.

03:28 - Lord, have mercy. [Lord, have mercy. ] May almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins and bring us to everlasting life.

03:37 - [Amen. ] Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to people of good will.

03:43 - We praise you, we bless you, we adore you, we glorify you, we give you thanks for your great glory, Lord God, heavenly King, O God, almighty Father.

03:55 - Lord Jesus Christ, Only Begotten Son, Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us; you take away the sins of the world, receive our prayer; you are seated at the right hand of the Father, have mercy on us.

04:14 - For you alone are the Holy One, you alone are the Lord, you alone are the Most High, Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, in the glory of God the Father.

04:26 - Amen. Let us pray: Lord, draw near to your servants and answer their prayers with unceasing kindness, for those who glory in you as their Creator and guide, may you restore what you have created and keep safe what you have restored.

04:48 - We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.

04:56 - [Amen. ] A reading from the Book of Exodus.

05:15 - At that time: The whole congregation of the sons of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, and said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate bread to the full; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill us, to kill this whole assembly with hunger. ” Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not.

05:58 - I have heard the murmurings of the sons of Israel; say to them, ‘At twilight you shall eat flesh, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread; then you shall know that I am the Lord your God. ’” In the evening quails came up and covered the camp; and in the morning dew lay round about the camp.

06:23 - And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as hoarfrost on the ground.

06:32 - When the sons of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was.

06:40 - And Moses said to them, “It is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat. “ The word of the Lord.

06:48 - [Thanks be to God. ] The Lord gave them bread from heaven.

06:54 - [The Lord gave them bread from heaven. ] The things we have heard and understood, the things our fathers have told us, we will tell them to the next generation: the glories of the Lord and his might.

07:10 - [The Lord gave them bread from heaven. ] Yet he commanded the clouds above, and opened the gates of heaven.

07:19 - He rained down manna to eat, and gave them bread from heaven.

07:24 - [The Lord gave them bread from heaven. ] Man ate the bread of angels.

07:31 - He sent them abundance of food. So he brought them to his holy land, to the mountain his right hand had won.

07:40 - [The Lord gave them bread from heaven. ] A reading from the letter of Saint Paul to the Ephesians.

07:50 - Brethren: This I affirm and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their minds; You did not so learn Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus.

08:12 - Put off the old man which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new nature, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

08:32 - The word of the Lord. [Thanks be to God. ] [Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!] Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

09:00 - [Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!] The Lord be with you.

09:22 - [And with your spirit] A reading from the holy Gospel according to Saint John.

09:26 - [Glory to you, O Lord. ] At that time: When the people saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus.

09:41 - When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.

10:02 - Do not labour for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of man will give to you; for on him has God the Father set his seal. ” Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent. ” So they said to him, “What sign do you do, that we may see, and believe you? What work do you perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.

’” Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.

11:01 - For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world. ” They said to him, “Lord, give us this bread always. ” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst. “ The Gospel of the Lord.

11:28 - [Praise to you, Lord, Jesus Christ. ] Panis angelicus (May the Bread of Angels) Fit panis hominum (Become bread for mankind) Dat panis coelicus (The Bread of Heaven puts) Figuris terminum (All foreshadowings to an end;) O res mirabilis (Oh, thing miraculous!) Manducat dominum (The body of the Lord will nourish) Pauper, pauper (the poor, the poor,) Servus et humilis (the servile, and the humble. ) Pauper, pauper (the poor, the poor,) Servus et humilis (the servile, and the humble.

) Panis angelicus (May the Bread of Angels) Fit panis hominum (Become bread for mankind) Dat panis coelicus (The Bread of Heaven puts) Figuris terminum (All foreshadowings to an end;) O res mirabilis (Oh, thing miraculous!) Manducat dominum (The body of the Lord will nourish) Pauper, pauper (the poor, the poor,) Servus et humilis (the servile, and the humble. ) Pauper, pauper (the poor, the poor,) Servus et humilis (the servile, and the humble.

) We have just heard a musical version of the song which is known, by Catholics at least, as “Panis Angelicus”, the Bread of Angels.

14:11 - St. Thomas wrote this. It’s just one strophe of a larger work which is called “Sacris Solemnis”, which he wrote for the Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, formally known as Corpus Christi.

14:24 - And the music, the setting that we heard, was written by Cesar Franck in the 19th century.

14:33 - The words are these: “Bread of angels made bread of men.

14:39 - The bread of heaven puts an end to all symbols: A wonderful thing! The Lord becomes food for the poor, the servant, the humble. ” And Thomas Aquinas was inspired by the psalm that we heard today.

14:55 - The psalm that we recited, psalm 78.

14:58 - He got this idea. We heard the words, or we prayed the words in the psalm, referring to manna in the wilderness when the psalmist wrote: “Man ate the bread of angels.

15:12 - He sent them abundance of food. Man ate the bread of angels.

15:17 - God sent them abundance of food. ” And I think it’s important to begin with St Thomas Aquinas, because this notion of Panis Angelicus is what is at the heart of our Eucharistic celebration.

15:30 - Every time we are fortunate enough to come to mass, every time we can come to mass and actually receive the blessed Eucharist, that’s what we are receiving, the bread of angels, the bread come down from heaven, as Jesus told us in today’s Gospel.

15:43 - “I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst. ” And another reason to remember it is that on the 8th of August, that is next Sunday, the Church celebrates the Feast of St Dominic and St Thomas Aquinas was a Dominican some 800 years ago.

16:08 - One of the worst things that people have to face, one of the worst miseries that people have to face, is food insecurity, not knowing whether they will have food on their plate today or tomorrow or the next day.

16:23 - Our first reading picks up on that insecurity, that story in the book of Exodus.

16:31 - People are wandering through an arid place, being led by Moses, who doesn’t know where they are going to be from one day to the next.

16:38 - Somewhat clueless. The people are desperate.

16:41 - The people are hungry. The people are beginning to murmur or grumble against Moses and Aaron, their leaders.

16:48 - We see that they are regretting that they ever left the fleshpots of Egypt, where they had been enslaved, where they had been sort of held captive and they were building the pyramids and building the ziggurats and building everything that the Egyptians wanted the Jewish people to build.

17:06 - But this story isn’t just something that happened three thousand years ago.

17:11 - It happens in our day still. People wander, people migrate, people have to move for whatever reason, for whatever insecurity they are moving from, very often they move into another insecurity.

17:23 - Food insecurity. Facing insecurity on so many fronts.

17:29 - We think of the pictures we see nowadays of Syria, of Madagascar, of Eritrea: people who are hungry, starving because of war or because of drought.

17:42 - Food insecurity isn’t something which happened in history.

17:46 - Food insecurity is something that happens now.

17:49 - In the Gospel today and in the Gospel last week, we hear from John chapter 6, Jesus addresses the question of food insecurity.

17:59 - He fed the people who had come to listen to him. They were hungry, and Jesus met their physical need for physical food.

18:07 - In today’s Gospel, he takes it another level, further, higher perhaps.

18:13 - He offers them spiritual food. He starts talking to them about spiritual food.

18:18 - But note that he’s addressed their need for physical food before he addresses their need for spiritual food.

18:26 - He’d taken care of their physical hunger before addressing their spiritual hunger.

18:32 - Thomas Aquinas’ words pick up on the words Jesus told his disciples 2000 years ago.

18:38 - “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger.

18:42 - Whoever believes in me shall never thirst. ” And Jesus carries on further, and we’ll hear these words in the next weeks as we continue to hear from John chapter 6: “I am going to give you my body to eat…

18:55 - If you eat this bread, you will have life within you. ” Jesus offers us his body, in the form of this bread of God which has come down from heaven every time we manage to attend mass.

19:10 - How many of us have longed during this time of pandemic to receive the bread of life, to be in communion with Jesus, and our brothers and sisters in the church, but we have been denied the chance because of the pandemic? And yet we read in verse 66 of this 6th chapter of John’s Gospel that many disciples left Jesus, because they couldn’t believe it, or because they found they found the idea of eating the flesh of the Son of man revolting, or they simply couldn’t accept this teaching.

19:45 - Other disciples stayed with Jesus because they really believed that God loves us so much, so much that God gives us everything.

19:55 - As God gave his beloved Hebrews in the wilderness bread and quails to eat, so God wants to give us signs of his love, his care, his providence.

20:07 - “Providence” means that God provides and will continue to provide everything we ever need.

20:15 - God does not want anybody to go hungry or thirsty or lonely.

20:20 - God wants us all to have what we need. But we have to co-operate with God.

20:27 - Economists tell us that there is more than enough food to feed the entire world’s population of 7. 7 billion people.

20:37 - And yet it’s estimated that about ¹⁄₃ of all the food that farmers produce gets wasted - either before it reaches the market, because it isn’t harvested, or stored, or transported properly.

20:53 - This is very common in Africa, where we don’t have the infrastructure to actually use properly all the food which is produced in the fields.

21:01 - Or, because people cook too much food, people take too much food and they can’t eat what they’ve already taken.

21:11 - My father often used to say to us, we were six children in the family: “your eyes are bigger than your belly” when we put too much food on our plates and we can’t finish it.

21:22 - Well, we live in a global “eyes are bigger than our belly” world.

21:28 - A small section take to themselves a disproportionate amount of the world’s food, leaving others malnourished or dying of starvation.

21:40 - This gluttony is one of the seven deadly sins.

21:45 - In “Laudato Si’ ” Pope Francis condemns this kind of consumerism because we aren’t taking God’s providence as a gift - as pure gift.

21:56 - Everything, like the manna in the desert, is what GOD HAS GIVEN US to eat, to drink.

22:03 - Let’s not take it for granted. It’s meant for all of God’s people, not just for a select few.

22:11 - And God was very clear in the desert, in this story from Exodus, that the people shouldn’t take more than their need for that day.

22:20 - If the manna was kept overnight, we remember, it was full of weevils the next morning - except on the Sabbath.

22:29 - Miraculously, weevils didn’t breed overnight on Saturday night.

22:32 - It didn’t come, the manna didn’t come with preservatives, the manna didn’t come with instructions for freezing or anything like that.

22:41 - Take as much as you need for the day and God would make sure we get what we need for tomorrow.

22:47 - Our spiritual ancestors, the Hebrew people wandering through the desert, had to learn to accept to take what was needed for each day and to be grateful.

23:00 - Have we received that same spirit? Let’s not take for granted what God has given us each day.

23:08 - We thank God for our daily bread and our daily food.

23:13 - I recently saw a documentary and then read about it subsequently, that African farmers who grow fields and fields of maize and beans and rice and fruits.

23:27 - And then they have to destroy it ALL.

23:29 - Everything. Whatever they’ve produced has to be destroyed.

23:34 - Yet it is perfectly good, nutritious, healthy food.

23:38 - Why do they have to destroy it? Because the markets in Europe say: it can’t be sold here, it curves in the wrong direction, or it’s the wrong colour, or it’s too crooked, or it doesn’t meet European aesthetic standards to be sold in the European Union.

24:00 - And our farmers have exclusive contracts with EU purchasers, people who will take their food, and they want all of the food that they produce.

24:09 - And so, because it does not meet the aesthetic requirements, it has to be destroyed.

24:16 - It gets chopped up and turned into compost or animal feed.

24:22 - And this happens, again and again, all over the world, it’s not only in Africa: Food is produced and it never gets to the tables, because it is not beautiful enough.

24:33 - Imagine if we had a committee here saying, this communion isn’t round enough, or it’s not white enough.

24:41 - Sorry, God, we don’t want it. Or: Send another Son, this Son of yours is too Jewish.

24:49 - Or: This manna in the desert hasn’t been screened.

24:54 - We don’t think it’s safe to feed thousands of people.

24:58 - That’s pure ingratitude, total ingratitude.

25:02 - We’d be shocked by this kind of attitude. And yet we do the same every time we throw away food, every time we say this is not good enough for my table.

25:16 - The point is that God has a plan for all of us to flourish.

25:20 - God wants all of us to share in that plan.

25:23 - So, in this new month of August, let us try not to take too much, let’s try not to take more than we need.

25:32 - And if we do have excess, if we do have extra, let’s give it to the poor, to people who really need what we have in excess.

25:42 - That way, Panis Angelicus, the food of angels, the bread of angels will continue to be shared around the world.

25:59 - Let’s stand now, if you have the space to stand, and make our profession of faith.

26:04 - I believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible.

26:15 - I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages.

26:23 - God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father; through him all things were made.

26:34 - For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man.

26:45 - 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.

26:53 - He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

26:59 - He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end.

27:05 - 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.

27:18 - I believe in one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.

27:22 - 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.

27:30 - Amen. We bring our needs, and the needs of the church, the needs of the entire world before our Lord.

27:54 - For Christians: that they may hunger for the bread only God can give.

28:02 - Lord hear us… [Lord, graciously hear us. ] We pray for the human family, that all of God’s children may be nourished with the bread of faith, hope and love.

28:17 - Lord hear us… [Lord, graciously hear us. ] We pray for those who are going through a desert of hardship or pain, that God may give them the bread of endurance.

28:30 - Lord hear us… [Lord, graciously hear us. ] We pray for those whose lives are aimless and empty, that through faith in Christ, they may find meaning and purpose in life.

28:45 - Lord hear us… [Lord, graciously hear us. ] We pray for all watching this broadcast, that we may be able to live in the glorious freedom of the children of God.

29:00 - Lord hear us… [Lord, graciously hear us. ] We pray for all affected by the Covid pandemic, that the Lord may be with them.

29:14 - Lord hear us… [Lord, graciously hear us. ] We pray for our own special needs.

29:27 - Lord hear us… [Lord, graciously hear us. ] God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we ask you to hear us, and all the prayers we bring to you, in humility and in confidence, through Christ your Son, our Lord.

29:43 - [Amen. ] Blessed are you, Lord, God of all creation, for through your goodness we’ve received the bread we offer you: fruit of the earth, and work of human hands, it will become for us the bread of life.

30:17 - [Blessed be God for ever. ] Blessed are you, Lord, God of all creation, for through your goodness we’ve received the wine we offer you: fruit of the vine, and work of human hands, it will become for us our spiritual drink.

30:43 - [Blessed be God for ever] Pray my sisters and brothers, that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to God, the Almighty Father.

31:08 - [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 God’s holy Church. ] Lord, graciously sanctify these gifts, we pray, and, accepting the oblation of this spiritual sacrifice, make of us an eternal offering to you.

31:29 - Through Christ our Lord. [Amen] The Lord be with you.

31:36 - [And with your spirit. ] Lift up your hearts.

31:38 - [We lift them up to the Lord. ] Let’s give thanks to the Lord our God.

31:42 - [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.

31:56 - For, when your children were scatted afar by sin, through the Blood of your Son and the power of the Spirit, you gathered them again to yourself, so that a people, formed as one by the unity of the Trinity, made the body of Christ and the temple of the Holy Spirit, might, to the praise of your manifold wisdom, be manifest as the Church, And so, in company with the choirs of Angels, we praise you, and with joy we proclaim: Holy, Holy, Holy [Lord God of hosts.

32:30 - Heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest.

32:34 - Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

32:38 - Hosanna in the highest. ] Lord, you are holy indeed, and all you have created rightly gives you praise, for through your Son our Lord Jesus Christ, by the power and working of the Holy Spirit, you give life to all things and make them holy, and you never cease to gather a people to yourself, so that from the rising of the sun to its setting a pure sacrifice may be offered to your name.

33:03 - Therefore, O Lord, we humbly implore you: by the same Spirit graciously make holy these gifts we have brought to you for consecration, that they may become the Body and Blood of your Son our Lord Jesus Christ, at whose command we celebrate these mysteries.

33:19 - For on the night he was betrayed he himself took bread, and, giving you thanks, he said the blessing, broke the bread 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.

33:44 - In a similar way, when supper was ended, he took the chalice, and, once more giving 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 ALL FOR THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS.

34:06 - DO THIS IN MEMORY OF ME. And let us proclaim the mystery of faith.

34:21 - Save us, Saviour of the world, for by your Cross and Resurrection you have set us free.

34:29 - Therefore, O Lord, as we celebrate the memorial of the saving Passion of your Son, his wondrous Resurrection and Ascension into heaven, and as we look forward to his second coming, we offer you in thanksgiving this holy and living sacrifice.

34:44 - Look, we pray, upon the oblation of your Church and, recognizing the sacrificial Victim by whose death you willed to reconcile us to yourself, grant that we, who are nourished by the Body and Blood of your Son and filled with his Holy Spirit, may become one body, one spirit in Christ.

35:04 - May he make of us an eternal offering to you, so that we may obtain an inheritance with your elect, especially with the most Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, with blessed Joseph, her Spouse, with your blessed Apostles and glorious Martyrs and with all the Saints, on whose constant intercession in your presence we rely for unfailing help.

35:26 - Lord, may this Sacrifice of our reconciliation, advance the peace and salvation of all the world.

35:33 - Be pleased to confirm in faith and charity your pilgrim Church on earth, with your servant Francis our Pope, with Buti our Bishop, the Order of Bishops, all the clergy, and the entire people you have gained for your own.

35:49 - Listen graciously to the prayers of this family, whom you have gathered here before you: In your compassion, O merciful Father, gather to yourself all your children scattered throughout the world.

36:01 - To our departed brothers and sisters and to all who were pleasing to you at their passing from this life, give kind admittance to your kingdom.

36:10 - There we hope to enjoy for ever the fullness of your glory through Christ our Lord, through whom you bestow on the world all that is good.

36:24 - Through him, and with him, and in him, O God, almighty Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honour is yours, for ever and ever.

36:35 - [Amen. ] Jesus taught us to call God our Father, and so we have the courage to pray: Our Father, [who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

36:52 - 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, and graciously grant peace in our days.

37:11 - 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.

37:21 - [For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours now and for ever. ] Lord Jesus Christ, you 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 for ever and ever.

37:42 - [Amen. ] The peace of the Lord be with you always.

37:45 - [And with your spirit. ] Let’s offer each other a sign of peace.

37:56 - Lamb of God, [you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.

38:01 - Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.

38:06 - Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, grant us peace. ] Behold the Lamb of God, behold the bread which comes down from heaven, blessed are we who are called to share in the supper of the Lamb.

38:33 - [Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed. ] May the Body and Blood of Christ keep us safe for eternal life.

38:45 - [Amen. ] Although you cannot receive physical communion with us now, we invite you into a moment of spiritual communion.

39:01 - The great medieval theologian, St. Thomas Aquinas, defined spiritual communion as: “an ardent desire to receive Jesus in the Holy Sacrament”, and “a loving embrace as though we had already received him. ” His words are echoed by the great mystic, and fellow doctor of the church, St. Teresa of Avila, who wrote: “When you do not receive Communion, and do not attend Mass, you can make a spiritual communion which is a most beneficial practice.

39:33 - By it, the love of God will be greatly impressed on you. ” At this moment we invite you to focus on Christ, and your longing for union with him.

39:47 - Express your desire to feel his grace coursing through you, giving you strength and courage, particularly in these difficult times.

39:57 - In your desiring union you are united with us, and to Christ.

40:03 - In this moment we experience the reality that is already here.

41:39 - Let us pray. Lord, accompany with constant protection those you renew with these heavenly gifts and, in your never failing care for them, make them worthy of eternal redemption.

41:57 - Through Christ our Lord. [Amen. ] The Lord be with you.

42:00 - [And with your spirit] May almighty God bless you, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

42:06 - [Amen. ] We go in peace to praise and to glorify the Lord.

42:10 - [Thanks be to God. ].