00:00In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, peace be with you.
00:19We acknowledge our sins, but more importantly, we acknowledge the great love of our God.
00:24Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
00:31May Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and lead us into healing and life everlasting.
00:39Let us pray.
00:40Almighty ever-living God, who in the abundance of your kindness surpassed the merits and the desires of those who entreat you,
00:48pour out your mercy upon us, to pardon what conscience dreads, and to give what prayer does not dare to ask,
00:56through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever. Amen.
01:05A reading from the prophet Jonah.
01:07The word of the Lord was addressed to Jonah, son of Amittai.
01:13Up he said, go to the river, the great city, and inform them that the wickedness has become known to me.
01:21Jonah decided to run away from the Lord and go to Tarshish.
01:25He went down to Joppa, found a ship bound for Tarshish.
01:31He paid his fare, went abroad, and to go with them to Tarshish, to get away from the Lord.
01:37But the Lord unleashed a violent wind on the sea, and there was such a great storm at sea, that the ship threatened to break up.
01:46The sailors took fright, and each of them called on his own God, and to lighten the ship then threw the cargo overboard.
01:53Jonah, however, had gone below, and lain down in the hold, and fallen fast asleep.
01:59The boat's swain came up to him and said,
02:02What do you mean by sleeping? Get up! Call on your God. Perhaps he will spare us a thought, and not leave us to die.
02:10Then they said to each other, Come on, let us draw lots to find out who is responsible for bringing this evil upon us.
02:18So they cast lots, and the Lord fell on to Jonah, and they said to him, Tell us, What is your business? Where do you come from? What is your country? What is your nationality?
02:30He replied, I'm a Hebrew, and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land.
02:37The sailors were seized with terror at this, and said, What have you done?
02:41They knew that he was trying to escape from the Lord, because he had told them so.
02:47They then said, What are we to do with you, to make the sea grow calm for us?
02:53For the sea was growing rougher and rougher.
02:55He replied, Take me, and throw me into the sea, and let the Lord grow calm for you.
03:02For I can see it is my fault that this violent storm has happened to you.
03:06The sailors rowed hard in an effort to reach the crore, but in vain, since the sea grew still rougher for them.
03:15They then called on the Lord and said, Lord, do not let us perish for taking this man's life.
03:22Do not hold us guilty of innocent blood for you, Lord.
03:26Have acted as you thought right.
03:29And taking hold of Jonah, they threw him into the sea, and the sea grew calm.
03:33And at this, the men were seized with dread of the Lord.
03:40They offered the sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.
03:43The Lord had arranged that a great fish should be there to swallow Jonah.
03:48And Jonah remained in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights.
03:53The Lord spoke to the fish, which then vomited Jonah onto the shore.
03:58The word of the Lord.
04:00Thanks be to God.
04:01You will rescue my life from the pit, O Lord.
04:04You will rescue my life from the pit, O Lord.
04:08Out of my distress, I cried to the Lord, and he answered me.
04:12From the belly of Sheol, I cried, and you heard my voice.
04:16You will rescue my life from the pit, O Lord.
04:20You cast me into the abyss, into the heart of the sea, and the flood surrounded me.
04:25All your waves, your billows washed over me.
04:28You will rescue my life from the pit, O Lord.
04:31And I said, I am cast out from your side.
04:36How shall I ever look again on your holy temple?
04:39You will rescue my life from the pit, O Lord.
04:42While my soul was fainting within me, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came before you into your holy temple.
04:52You will rescue my life from the pit, O Lord.
04:55Alleluia, alleluia.
04:57I give you a new commandment.
04:59Love one another as I have loved you.
05:02Alleluia.
05:02The Lord be with you.
05:12A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke.
05:15Glory to you, O Lord.
05:18There was a lawyer who, to this concert, Jesus, stood up and said to him,
05:23Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?
05:27He said to him, what is written in the law?
05:30What do you read there?
05:31He replied, you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul,
05:36with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.
05:41You have answered right, said Jesus.
05:44Do this, and life is yours.
05:46But the man was anxious to justify himself and said to Jesus,
05:51And who is my neighbor?
05:53Jesus replied,
05:54A man was once on his way down from Jerusalem to Jericho
05:58and fell into the hands of brigands.
06:01They took all he had, beat him, and then made off, leaving him half dead.
06:07Now a priest happened to be traveling down the same road,
06:10but when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.
06:14In the same way, a Levite, who came to the place,
06:17saw him and passed by on the other side.
06:20But the Samaritan traveler, who came upon him, was moved with compassion.
06:25And when he saw him, he went up, bandaged his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them.
06:31He then lifted him on his own mount, carried him to the inn, and looked after him.
06:37Next day, he took up to the Nari and handed them to the innkeeper.
06:41Look after him, he said, and on my way back I will make good any extra expense you have.
06:48Which of these three do you think proved himself a neighbor
06:52to the man who fell into the brigand's hands?
06:56The one who took pity on him, he replied.
06:58Jesus said to him, Go and do the same.
07:04The Gospel of the Lord
07:05Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
07:08Jonah is the reluctant prophet.
07:11God said, Go this way and you in the other way.
07:14And then he fell asleep in the midst of it all.
07:18He keeps falling asleep.
07:20And further in the story, he falls asleep again.
07:23Anyway, in the end, he did go,
07:26because God made sure he went in the direction that God wanted him to go.
07:31God wanted him to give a message to those people of Nineveh to convert.
07:36It's God's love that was sending him.
07:39And he was blocking God's love.
07:42The priest and the Levite,
07:44because they were too scared to get contaminated,
07:47did not help a man in real need.
07:50Sometimes we can get all caught up in ourselves
07:52and our stuff
07:54and forget what it's really all about.
07:57And Jesus made it very clear in the Gospel today
08:00that love of neighbor is paramount.
08:02We cannot say we love God
08:04if we don't love our neighbor.
08:06It's all interconnected.
08:13Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation,
08:16for to your goodness we have this bread to offer,
08:18which earth has given you and hence have made.
08:21It will become for us the bread of life.
08:24Blessed be God forever.
08:25Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation,
08:45for to your goodness we have this wine to offer,
08:47fruit of divine work of human hands.
08:49It will become a spiritual drink.
08:51Blessed be God forever.
08:52Let us pray, brothers and sisters,
09:00that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable
09:02to God, our Almighty Father.
09:05May the Lord accept the sacrifice at our hands.
09:08We praise the glory of God's name
09:10for our good and the good of God's holy church.
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