EASTER FERIA : Mass 12.30pm Westminster Cathedral

Added: 2026-05-22

[00:09:58][bell] [sighs] With boldness, let us approach the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace as a timely help.

[00:10:43]Allelujah.

[00:10:45]In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

[00:11:02]Today's first reading, St. Paul defends the resurrection and life after death and our Lord Jesus approves of that. We here my intention in this holy mass the intentions of Marie McGiddi.

[00:11:21]Brethren, let us acknowledge our sins and so prepare ourselves to celebrate these sacred mysteries.

[00:11:30]Lord Jesus, you are mighty God and prince of peace. Lord have mercy.

[00:11:35]>> Lord have mercy.

[00:11:36]>> You are son of God and son of Mary.

[00:11:38]Christ have mercy.

[00:11:41]You bring those in darkness into light.

[00:11:44]Lord have mercy.

[00:11:46]>> May almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life.

[00:11:54]Let us pray.

[00:11:57]May your spirit, O Lord, we pray, imbue us powerfully with spiritual gifts that he may give us a mind pleasing to you and graciously conform us to your will.

[00:12:09]through our Lord Jesus Christ, your son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever. Amen.

[00:12:30]A reading from the Acts of the Apostles.

[00:12:35]In those days, the tribune, desiring to know the real reason why Paul was being accused by the Jews, unbound him and commanded the chief priests and all the council to meet. And he brought Paul down and set him before them.

[00:12:53]Now when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, "Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. It is with respect to the hope of the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial."

[00:13:13]And when he had said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided.

[00:13:22]For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit. But the Pharisees acknowledged them all.

[00:13:32]Then a great clamor arose, and some of the scribes of the Pharisees party stood up and contended sharply.

[00:13:40]We find nothing wrong in this man. What if a spirit or an angel spoke to him?

[00:13:46]And when the dissension became violent, the tribune, afraid that Paul would be torn to to pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him away from among them by force and bring him into the barracks.

[00:14:05]The following night the Lord stood by him and said, "Take courage, for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome."

[00:14:20]The word of the Lord.

[00:14:21]>> Thanks be to God.

[00:14:23]>> Preserve me, oh God, for in you I take refuge. Preserve me, oh God, for in you I take refuge. Preserve me, oh God, for in you I take refuge. I say to the Lord, you are my Lord. Oh Lord, it is you who are my portion and cup. You yourself who secure my lot.

[00:14:47]Preserve me, oh God, for in you I take refuge.

[00:14:52]I will bless the Lord who gives me counsel, who even at night directs my heart. I keep the Lord before me always.

[00:15:01]With him at my right hand, I shall not be moved.

[00:15:06]Preserve me, oh God, for in you I take refuge.

[00:15:10]And so my heart rejoices, my soul is glad. Even my flesh shall rest in hope.

[00:15:18]For you will not abandon my soul to sh, nor let your holy one see corruption.

[00:15:24]Preserve me, oh God, for in you I take refuge.

[00:15:28]You will show me the path of life, the fullness of joy in your presence. At your right hand, bliss forever.

[00:15:38]Preserve me, oh God, for it is you I take refuge.

[00:15:42]Allelujah. Allelujah.

[00:15:45]May they all be one, says the Lord, just as your father are in me and I in you, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. Allelujah.

[00:16:08]The Lord be with you.

[00:16:11]A reading from the Holy Gospel according to John. Glory to you.

[00:16:18]At that time Jesus lifted up his eyes to heaven and praying said, "I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

[00:16:44]The glory that you have given me, I have given to them that they may be one even as we are one. I in them and you in me.

[00:16:55]That they may become perfectly one so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.

[00:17:06]Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me may be with me where I am to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. Oh righteous father, even though the world does not know you, I know you and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name and I will continue to make it known that the love with which you have loved me may be in them and I in them.

[00:17:45]The gospel of the Lord. Praise to youord Jesus Christ.

[00:17:52][clears throat] Even my flesh shall rest in hope, says the psalmist, for you will not abandon my soul to shale.

[00:18:06]And th this uh this belief of the human beings having a body and soul is our rational and revealed belief about the human person. a physical, visible, touchable, unfree body, as modern science has shown us, and a free knowing and willing eternal spiritual soul.

[00:18:33]We're we're both free, aren't we, in our morality, but we're also, as it were, unfree or technically determined in our bodies. They react uh according to the basic patterns and laws of the physical world whilst we're created and free in our soul. And this belief seems to be quite an important one. It was just yesterday St. Paul was saying you know stay close to revelation. You know that there's going to be wolves from within you even from within the church who are going to deny the authority of the church being the teachings being handed on. And the very first teaching we get after that is this resurrection one that he calls up because he knows there are Sadducees there. Do do you may remember that Jesus himself had argued against the Sadducees when they said that there was no resurrection, no spirit, no angel, no distinction between matter and spirit, no body and soul, no life after death.

[00:19:35]and and they they tried to catch him out by saying, "Well, if there was life after death, who would who will a husband be married to if he's been married seven times?" And you may remember Jesus said, "No, no marriages for this life, for family, for the fostering of new life to get to heaven."

[00:19:52]Uh, and there's no marriage in heaven.

[00:19:55]And then he said, "I, you know, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are alive. I'm even though they haven't had their bodies back yet, I am the God of the living, not of the dead." So, and then he said to the Sadducees, "You are very wrong being materialists.

[00:20:10]You're very wrong." So, and again, so Paul probably remembering that actually uses that to defend himself when he's in court here to get the Pharisees on his side because the Pharisees did believe in the spiritual side of the human person that survives death. That's why Jesus said, "They don't practice what they preach, but make sure you believe what they teach." After all, they were in the chair of Moses fulfilled by the chair of Peter. They taught with authority that teaching that that is so crucial uh to Christianity. Now, uh they taught that we're body and soul and the soul survives death and we get the body back. So Jesus approved of them and again he approves of it here because we hear after Paul made this teaching. It was a massive argument between the materialists and those who hold the now Christian anthropology of body and soul.

[00:21:06]And then Jesus uh right at the end appears beside Paul and says well done.

[00:21:12]You've testified to key facts about me and you must now also testify in Rome through reason as well as through the Bible and church teaching that we are body and soul. The soul survives death.

[00:21:32]We get the body back on the last day.

[00:23:33]Pray brethren that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to God the Almighty Father.

[00:23:48]Graciously sanctify these gifts, O Lord, we pray, and accepting the oblation of this spiritual sacrifice, make of us an eternal offering to you through Christ our Lord. Amen.

[00:24:02]The Lord be with you.

[00:24:05]Lift up your hearts.

[00:24:08]Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

[00:24:11]It is right and 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 after his resurrection, he plainly appeared to all his disciples and was taken up to heaven in their sight that he might make us sharers in his divinity. Therefore, overcome with pascal joy, every land, every people exalts in your praise. And even the heavenly powers with the angelic hosts sing together the unending hym of your glory as they acclaim, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts.

[00:24:54]Heaven and earth are full of your glory.

[00:24:57]Hosana in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosana in the highest.

[00:25:16]You are indeed holy, O Lord, and all you have created rightly gives you praise.

[00:25:23]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.

[00:25:45]Therefore, 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.

[00:26:04]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. [bell] >> [bell] >> In a similar way, when supper was ended, he took the chalice and giving you thanks, he said the blessing and gave the chalice to his disciples, saying, "Take this all of you and drink from it.

[00:26:54]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.

[00:27:10][bell] The mystery of faith. We proclaim your death, O Lord, and profess your resurrection until you come again.

[00:27:32]Therefore, 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.

[00:27:47]Look, we pray upon the oblation of your church and recognizing the sacrificial victim by whose death you will 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. 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 your blessed apostles and glorious marts with St. John and with all the saints on whose constant intercession in your presence we rely for unfailing help. May this sacrifice of our reconciliation we pray oh Lord advance the peace and salvation of all the world. Be pleased to confirm in faith and charity your pilgrim church on earth with your servant Leo our pope and Richard our bishop the order of bishops all the clergy and the entire people you have gained for your own. Listen graciously to the prayers of this family whom you have summoned before you. In your compassion and merciful father, gather to yourself all your children scattered throughout the world. 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. There we hope to enjoy forever the fullness of your glory. Through Christ our Lord, through whom you bestow on the world all that is good.

[00:29:18]Through him and with him and in him, oh God, almighty father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor is yours forever and ever.

[00:29:37]Amen.

[00:29:48]At the Savior'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 savior Jesus Christ.

[00:30:38]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. Amen. The peace of the Lord be with you always.

[00:30:59]>> Let us offer each other the sign of peace.

[00:31:29]Behold the Lamb of God. Behold him who takes away the sins of the world.

[00:31:34]Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb.

[00:31:38]Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof. Only say the word and my soul shall be healed.

[00:32:22]I tell you the truth. It is for your good that I go. If I do not go away, the paraclete will not come to you, says the Lord. Allelujah.

[00:33:30]The act of spiritual communion.

[00:33:33]My Jesus, I believe that you are present in the most blessed sacrament.

[00:33:40]I love you above all things and I desire to receive you into my soul.

[00:33:46]Since I cannot now receive you sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart.

[00:33:53]I embrace you as if you were already there and unite myself holy to you.

[00:33:59]Never permit me to be separated from you. Amen.

[00:37:46]Let us pray.

[00:37:55]May the mysteries we have received, O Lord, we pray, enlighten us by the instruction they bring and restore us through our participation in them that we may merit the gifts of the spirit through Christ our Lord.

[00:38:09]>> Amen.

[00:38:10]>> The Lord be with you.

[00:38:12]>> May almighty God bless you, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

[00:38:18]Go forth. The mass is ended.