 you may be seated please so we have a start once again good morning brothers and sisters welcome to our celebration this morning the 21st Sunday in ordinary time and we read from cycle A it is also our parish face Saint Rose of Lima what's your entrance in it stand for the entrance in His Excellency Mr. Earl Charles and Mrs. Charles and their grandson and to um to our Governor-General Emeritus to celebrate our feast day with us bivouas everybody it is not often that we get the head of state coming to join us for a feast day like this so I was saying to one of his helpers that you know he dressed according to the feast day but you know so your Excellency La Rose is the color that these men are wearing La Margaret is what you are wearing so don't allow La Wars to make a song on the Governor-General and his wife and their grandson for not using the right colors when we are celebrating the Feast of La Wars but you could spare him for this year okay good so welcome everybody I'm seeing some other people from other parish communities sacred up Marsha and the Cathedral I'm from Grand Revere and Rosalie from Good Shepherd Church Marsha so these are the people that I'm seeing who are here so welcome all of you to our celebration and so we pray in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all today's Mass is being offered for the parish community especially our community here at St. Monchie, St. Rose of Lima and then for all our intentions for those who have asked our prayers those we are promised to pray for we pray for all our La Rose groups from around the the island and they will gather with us on Wednesday in Rosalie so everything is happening in our parish this year for the national celebrations and but we also pray for some people for whom the Mass is being offered today in Thanksgiving for Margaret, Peter and Paul, Paulius. We thank God for the gift of life we thank God for the gift of celebration and to have a flower festival that exists only or two flower festivals that exists only in St. Lucia so although we have a parish in Trinidad with the with the patroness are St. Rose of Lima but they don't have a flower festival like we do on the Feast of St. Rose of Lima and we have St. Margaret Mary for the Feast of La Margaret so we thank God for for the gift of festivals for celebration and that these are moments that we are able to to really just enjoy the moment enjoy each other celebrate socialize but whenever we gather for the Holy Mass we are also being reminded that we are not worthy to be in God's house because of our shortcomings in our thoughts our wills our actions and and these cause us to be distant from God and one another. Let us take a few moments to recollect see where we have gone wrong and ask with a lot for pardon and for strength. I confess to Almighty God and to you my brothers and sisters 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 all the angels and saints and you my brothers and sisters 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 who set Saint Rosa Blemmer on fire with your love so that secluded from the world in the austerity of a life of penance she might give herself to you alone grant we pray that through her intercession we may tread the paths of life on earth and drink and drink at the stream of your delights in heaven through our Lord Jesus Christ your Son who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit God forever and ever. The first Sunday in ordinary time and we read from cycle E. Reading from the Prophet Isaiah thus says the Lord of hosts to Shevno the master of the palace I dismiss you from your office I remove you from your post and the same day I call on my servant Eliakim son of Hilkiah I invest him with your robe good him with your sash entrust him with your authority and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah I place the key of the house of David on his shoulder should he open no one shall close should he close no one shall open I drive him like a peg into a firm place he will become a throne of glory for his father's house this is the word of the Lord. The second reading a reading from the letter of St. Paul to the Romans how rich are the depth of God how deep his wisdom and knowledge and how impossible to penetrate his motives or understand his methods who could ever know the man who could ever be his counselor who could ever give him anything or lend him anything all that exists comes from him all is by him and for him to him be glory forever Amen. The word of the Lord St. Paul by St. Roman who could never know the man who could ever be his counselor who could never give him anything or lend him anything all that exists comes from him all that exists comes from him all that exists comes from him the word of the Lord Peter and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of the underworld can never hold out against it. This came to the region of Caesarea Philippi he put this question to his disciples who do people say the Son of Man is and they said some say he's John the Baptist some Elijah and others Jerry Meyer or one of the prophets but you he said who do you say then Simon Peter spoke up you are the Christ he said the Son of the Living God Jesus with Jonah you are a happy man because it was not flesh and blood that revealed this to you but my father in heaven so I now say to you you are Peter and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of the underworld can never I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven but shall be considered bound in heaven whatever you lose on earth shall be considered lost in heaven I wish to recognize the LaRose group from the Monchee RC combined school so welcome my friends let's say it for them that is that is a kind of a big week let's acknowledge the children thank you and thank you Mr Eugene the music teacher for organizing is the first time we are having them in church actually and and the reason why I want to fuss over it is because one of the concerns that I've always had regarding the LaRose flower society is that the celebration takes place outside of the school year because if we are presently on vacation so our children are really not involved in LaRose our school children that is but they are in LaMargaret because it occurs right the school reopens so there are more children involved in LaMargaret than LaRose and and I'm so pleased that we have a group from the from the school and from our parish community which means to say that there is hope for a future where the young will be participating in the in the flower festival I wish also to acknowledge the presence of the See Lee brothers as you know their musicians and they promised me they were going to be here this morning and and here they are they kept to their word adding more to our repertoire of musical instruments yeah so Viva LaRose and that's the 21st Sunday in ordinary time takes us the crucial point in Jesus's ministry with his disciples and we see both in the first reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah and and the the gospel according to Matthew where people are chosen in the first reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah Shebna who is master of the palace is really dismissed from office yeah I dismiss you from your office I remove you from your post and the same day I call on myself an Elie Kim son of Hilkiah to be dismissed from one's post must be a very humiliating experience yeah but it may very well mean that there was some form of dishonesty or mismanagement on the part of Shebna for him to be to have been relieved of that of that important position as master of the palace because as master he would have authority but you see there is such a difference between having authority and being a person of authority because sometimes we can have authority we could have the power we could have the control but we may not be a person of authority who can call people to integrity and so on and it's because of that and maybe among other things he was dismissed but Elie Kim who was called to replace him was invested with his robe that is that that would symbolize the authority the office that he would hold gird him with his with his sash he was entrusted with his authority and even to bear the title of father to the nations the inhabitants of of of Jerusalem the symbol of the key which we will hear again in the gospel I placed the key of the house of Israel on his shoulder and then with that authority should he open no one shall close should he close no one shall open I drive him like a peg into a firm place he will become a throne of glory for his father's house while we have the peg in the in the in the first reading from the from the book of the prophet Isaiah we have the rock that Peter's name will be changed to rock solid and un unmovable the the gospel takes us in a in a region called Caesarea Philippi and biblical commentaries say that Caesarea Philippi was a place where emperor worship was being done so Jesus took that sort chose that strategic place to find out from his his disciples what they were saying about him who do people say I am who do people say um the son of man is and they told him well some are saying you are John the Baptist some others are saying you are Elijah and others Jerry Meyer were one of the prophets of old that's what they are saying what about you who do you say I am and it was it was Peter who said you are the Christ meaning the anointed one of God the son of the living God and um and Jesus said to Peter you did not say that on your own accord but it was the spirit of God it was that and this was revealed to you by my father in heaven and he says to him so I now say to you what Peter on on this rock I will build my church you see when we move from an original language like Greek or Latin and we go into a vernacular like English um we lose that sense because if we have to look at the the Latin language um just like um you have male and female objects take on a gender also so you are Petros Latin and on this Petra I will build my church because Petra Rock takes on a feminine gender so so it's identical only that the the genders are different and the Greek is the same thing Petros Petra and even in the other Le Romance languages um Italian is Pietro and rock is Pietra in French both of them are Pierre yeah that's why I would have people say Pierre Lombie it's rock it's rocky so English defeats it a little bit because see how removed Peter is from rock but I thought it was important to point it out because giving him the name rock Peter Peter mean is an identical word as rock and um and the gates of the underworld can never hold out against it I will give you the keys so the keys are mentioned again I will give you the keys of the kingdom the keys represent authority so that when a some when a dignitary comes into into a country and they visit the city they are often given the keys of the city that means to say you have the freedom to come in and and go out yeah when one has the keys one has authority to lead come go and live as a as as you want and that is why growing up growing up our parents will tell us you don't have keys to my house that means to say do you have any authority you don't so you are at my house I have not given you a key yet you know I never had a key to our I never had a key to my parents house well I left early to go after study and it's only after dead death and my sister who lived there after she died and they knew that I I was coming home every week that I was given a key for the first time yeah and it was it felt rather odd because the house was always open and the first time that I had to open that door it was like oh my goodness I have never known that door to be closed yeah so it has a very emotional moment for me as well because I never had a key but yes the key represents the authority that one has to come in and go out without having any inhibitions otherwise you have to knock at the door or you have to call so I give you the keys of the kingdom whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven whatever you loose on earth shall be considered loose in heaven as Shevna Elia Kim was told should he open no one shall close should he close no one shall open now we we too have authority parents have authority teachers have authority those who hold supervisory and managerial positions we have a certain amount of authority the priest has a certain authority to to to run the parish but every one of us is accountable to somebody else and so when we hear of an abuse of that authority that is where the disciplinary measures come in place such as Shevna had to had to suffer because there was somebody else whom he was responsible to who who judged him as not performing his duties as master of the palace well and would remove him from office so it means that you and I who have who have been given authority we should understand it more as service to the people we are serving we are not in control of them but we are there to serve that is why Jesus would take that role of servant leadership now the the expression in itself sounds contradictory you could either be a leader or you could be a servant yeah you can't be both but Jesus employs that term or it was coined later on when he said you know I did not come to serve but I did not come to be served but to serve and to give my life as a ransom for many or in another text the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many so in the ordination rites for deacons for priests and for bishops we are reminded on the day of our ordination that the same way Jesus came not to be served but to serve we too are called to service we say yes to that but sometime after some sometime after that we think we are boss we're in charge and we and sometimes we do a bad job of it yeah I mean even even in the in the public service at first people used to be called civil servants they didn't like that because they're nobody's servants but they we have not come to understand that there is a difference between servitude and and service so a public servant is one who is other service of the public so they change it to be to be public servants and they still didn't like it so what what what do they use that they are employed or they work in the public service so who are you but unless we establish that there is a difference between servitude and service and we are called to serve and and there are low low key jobs and there are high positions but someone's got to do them yeah all we have to do is to make sure we do what we are called to do well serve well and if we are in a position of authority make sure that those who are in our care those whom we are responsible for we are in charge of we look after them well we serve them well so that we may not have to suffer the humiliation that Shebna had to had to had to experience because Jesus said I give you the keys and on this rock I will build my church you are responsible and and and Peter understood it well although he had to struggle through it but in the end Peter served with his own life Peter served with his own life and that's and that's what service is about service is about making sure that I I lead by the example of my life there are many places we go to and we don't even realize who the manager is we don't know who the manager is we may have to ask who is a manager we may have to ask who is in charge here because there is no there is no fuss no show and you would see them doing ordinary things and they do them well but there are some people by but by the time they introduce themselves to you you get their names their positions and all all the letters behind their names so the call is is to humility because when one is called to be a leader one is called to service and one becomes accountable to the one who appointed them so let us make sure we do we do the task well Saint Rose of Lima one of the the first to be canonized a saint in our part of the world in the Americas and then he was followed by by Saint Martin de Porres and she was a young girl who who decided to give her life to the Lord fully at age 20 but by age 31 she was already dead could imagine so she served the Lord for 11 years was a little austere really hard on herself as far as the penances that she used to do so much so that it it it caused concern among her own family her friends and even the church authorities but then she had a tremendous love of God and a love of the poor yeah and and there isn't there isn't a church community you would go to a diocese that you will go to in the Catholic world if there is not some institution that looks after the poor the needs of the poor in fact the the the Latin American church would help us understand it better and now that we have a pope who comes from Latin America and took on the title the name Francis and Francis of Assisi who was a poor man he understood it well because he was part of that movement where we came to the church came to in Latin America that is and the the church universal eventually took it up not right away eventually because it was even looked upon with with a sypno motor suspicion in the beginning as it was too radical a thought where we where with liberation theology where they as Latin Americans because of the abject poverty that existed and still exists in Latin America where there is a such a large gap between rich and poor the church adopted the expression to make the poor a preference and so the theology was to have a preferential option for the poor today that has become part of our part of the church's the universal church's vocabulary so Rose of Lima was one of those who set that example of giving making the poor a preference in her life and she was able to give 10 years of her service and and called to her eternal reward in heaven and it is to her that this society is attached both of the societies contributed immensely to church life in Saint Lucia they worked hard at raising funds to build up a lot of our parish churches they they they worked hard and there are times when they got into confusion and they were even banned from the church yeah so they were they were banned and and it was years later that they were re-integrated in the life of the church so this is our feast this is a Catholic festival and so we embrace it we love it because everywhere you go in the Catholic world there are elements of the culture which they have brought into church life which is called inculturation and so we embrace we embrace that that society and that is why I get so much hope by seeing those children those students from the Moshi Command School yeah because it tells us that there is there there is hope for the future of the of the society and um but something that must extend beyond this community which is dedicated to Saint Roosevelt to the rest of of of the island and the same holds true for the La Marguerite festival so we thank god that we have a patroness who is guarding and guard and guiding us and we seek her intercession that emits all the things that we enjoy that we will always remember to make provisions for the poor and the less fortunate among us amen please stand as we profess our faith we use the nice and creed I believe in god 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 each god from god light from light true god from true god begotten not made consubstantial with the father threw him all things for me 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 for our sake he was crucified on the Pontus Pilate he suffered death and was buried and rose again on the third day in accordance with the scriptures he ascended into heaven and he 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 end I believe in the Holy Spirit the Lord the giver of life who proceeds of 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 God is ever present with us guiding and sustaining our lives with the hearts full of gratitude we offer our petitions to him our response Lord hear our prayer for the church that with the guidance of our Holy Father Pope Francis Archbishop Gabriel the clergy and religious we may strive to know the Lord and welcome his presence with hearts open to an intimate relationship with him for the leaders of nations that they may not seek their own gain but use the power given them by God in service of their people especially the poor unmarginalized we pray to the Lord Lord hear our prayer for the grace to be rooted in Christ that we may all put God first in our lives and seek to love each other as Christ loves us for those who are facing difficult choices dealing with addictions living abusive situations or repenting of sin that the spirit may guide them as they strive towards freedom and wholeness we pray to the Lord Lord hear our prayer we pray for courage to respond to God's call for the use of our time our talent and treasure that we may accept God's invitation and fulfill the responsibilities that he entrusts to us for those who are suffering from floods fires and other disasters that God will comfort them heal their spirits and guide them to the resources to rebuild their lives we pray to the Lord Lord hear our prayer we pray for the sick especially those undergoing surgery or who are terminally ill that the spirit of Christ may renew the gift of life within them and bring healing of mind body and spirit for peace that God will touch the hearts of all those who are in conflict lead them to new ways to resolve disputes and help them to build a culture of peace we pray to the Lord Lord hear our prayer we pray for those who have died that they may live in the light and peace of God's presence forever may those who grieve the loss of loved ones experience God's healing and comfort we pray to the Lord Lord hear in the silence of our hearts let us offer our personal intentions to God we pray to the Lord Lord hear our prayer we're coming to the end of another month where we've been spared any serious storm or hurricane we ask us continued protection as we pray the prayer during the hurricane season O Lord our God and Father who gives rain and sunshine to your children we ask you in this rainy season to uphold us and provide for our needs you try our patience and test our faith and reliance on you forgive our sin of ingratitude so often have we forgotten to thank you for your goodness and acts of mercy teach us to look up to you each day appreciative of rain and sunshine as you in your wisdom through any kind of weather do feel us all in your mercy protect us against hurricane but your blessings upon our nation and our people and make us grateful for the weather we receive from your bountiful hand we make this prayer through Christ the Lord amen be seated please we have the collection as we present our gifts brothers and sisters that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to God the almighty Father we receive O Lord we pray the effects of this offering dedicated to you so that we may be cleansed from old earthly ways and through the example of blessed roles of lima be renewed by growth in heavenly life through Christ our Lord unjust our duty and our salvation always and everywhere to give you thanks Lord the Holy Father almighty and eternal God for in the saints who consecrated themselves to Christ for the sake of the kingdom of heaven it is a right to celebrate the wonders of your providence by which you call human nature back to its original holiness and bring it to experience on this earth the gifts you promise in a new world to come and so with all the angels and saints we praise you as without end he 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 keep yourself so that from the rising of the sun to its setting your sacrifice may be offered 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 for on the night he was betrayed he himself took bread and giving you thanks he said the blessing broke the bread and give it to his disciples saying take this all of you and eat of it for this is my body which will be given up 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 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 the mystery of faith as we celebrate the memorial of the saving passion of your son he's a wondrous resurrection and to his second coming we offer you in thanksgiving this holy and living sacrifice 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 blessed joseph a spouse with your blessed apostles and glorious martyrs with st lucy st john viani st rose of lima and with all the saints on whose constant intercession in your presence we rely for unfailing help may the 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 francis our pope and gibrella 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 or 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 are 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 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 at our saviour's command and formed by divine teaching we dare to pray from every evil graciously grand 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 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 we'll live and reign forever and ever the peace of the lord be with you always let us offer each other a sign of peace the sins of the world blessed are those called to the supper of the lamb that you should enter under my roof but only say the word my soul for those who are following with us virtually we pray the prayer of the 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 your amen communion is now being given via intinction with the host in the precious blood and which you have to receive on your tongue if you prefer to receive communion on your hand it will be with the host only please place your hand your left your your right hand below your left hand if you're right under we will see you in time the holy reception of the body and blood of your only begotten son or lord turn us away from the cares of the splitting world so that following the example of blessed roles of lima we may grow in sincere love for you on earth and we rejoice to behold you for eternity in heaven through christal for one of the children to come and sing and anil he came forward and he he told me i'm nervous i said no man you can do it and there was he like father said we have a budding chant so let's say thank you to anil august 27th to september 3rd the parish projects collection will be taken up at all masses next weekend please collect and envelope from the oceans there will be no midday mass at the grozily church this wednesday august 30th due to the national la rose festival taking place here please be guided accordingly concept the mass you can go fat flowers the catholic charismatic renewal and the youth and vocations committee are excited to announce that youth 2000 is coming to st lusia all young people from across the island are invited to gather from september 29th to october 1st 2023 for this international and vibrant experience of the catholic faith the event will give you an opportunity to meet other young people who have questions about the faith and to develop a new and lasting relationship with jesus come see for yourself also we are looking for accommodations for some of the pilgrims if you are willing to host a young person during the festival please contact the team at 384 8708 each children's home will be holding the annual fundraising dinner on october 14th at sandal sandals grand resort tickets cost 200 per person tickets will be available from ushers registration for year one first communion and confirmation classes continues please note that candidates must be six years old as at december 20th when first communion and 11th december 20th 20th 20th for person 60 is the first parish office here ends our notices um it's not often that we have three people in our midst who um we just want to thank all of you all those who came from far and wide to celebrate with us we want to say thank you to you and those of you celebrating for the first time we ask you to stand so that we could formally welcome anyone and who is visiting for the first time please stand anniversaries anyone celebrating or celebrated their birthday last week or is celebrating today stand please with birthday season so do everything you can to save life and property and please don't go home now because we've prepared a little refreshment and a little eat for you so you could avail yourself with something aftermath i wish to thank mr nesta the principal of the monshae rc combined school for forming a group in his school under the leadership of our music teacher mr aliyujin and and others we're so glad that they're not only in existence but they are here today for the for the fee so thank you very much and to all of you who are visiting for the first time especially our esteemed governor general and the mrs trials and yeah i didn't realize that we had so many you know people as a head of state or acting head of state right here in our midst so we are very very privileged congratulations to our king and queen on this special day let's say it for them yeah um here is a takeaway for today these two flower festivals i do not know of any incidents where there was physical fights i do not know if they have been tell me no tell me no and if it was if that was ever the case that was way way way in the past that we cannot remember the point i want to make though is that here are two rival groups and their combat their rivalry is a are the create is the creative songs that they they compose and they they jive at one another what a beautiful way of learning how to coexist even though we are different today when we don't agree we put the other person down and you know what i mean by putting them down we end their lives we have to engage in physical and even violent means of of of expressing our differences i think there is a lesson one of life's lessons we could learn from these two these two flower festivals um the the songs some of the songs are a piercing some of them you know they make you laugh but you know uh what we call the mepui the mepui where's minel minel went out okay because come minel come and sing that little song for me because she's a wild low she lives alone but just to give you the sense of the rivalry that takes place in words minel could you sing the correct minel just no no i want to set an i want to give an example me you get it you see you see there you see the rivalry that is that is so beautiful that we have to use our creativity to get at each other if we could learn this lesson of using creative ways what today we call conflict resolution to be able to to to put our differences aside and to learn to coexist respectfully i think the two flower festivals teaches that beautiful beautiful lesson so let's take this with us let's take this with us yeah and let us teach our children our young people even our adults let us teach them to find those creative ways of of of resolving conflicts rather than engaging into destructive ways of of dealing with them that could lead to somebody's death please stand for the blessing i know you all have it for me you know once again we had a whole band side the two silly brothers and our usual musicians saxophonists and Arthur and Mitchell and all our drummers in the front there of a full side and we thank god and and to our technical team for bringing this live to the diaspora and the solutions and others overseas thank you very much bless you the father and the son and the holy spirit