Daily TV Mass Wednesday May 27, 2026

Fr. Matthew Kucharski

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:03

From the St. Ignatius Chapel at the Manresa Jesuit Spiritual Renewal Center in Pickering, Ontario. The National Catholic Broadcasting Council presents the Daily TV Mass.

SPEAKER_06 0:24

Hi, and welcome to the celebration of the Daily TV Mass. I am Father Matthew Kacharsky. The televising of this Mass is made possible by the contributions from three donors. The first are Bevan Rick Kacharsky and Cheryl Bordo from Windsor, Ontario, in celebration of my parents' 60th wedding anniversary, which is tomorrow on May 28th, and in thanksgiving for my 30th anniversary as a priest. For the souls in purgatory, all who are sick and suffering, especially those in the family, and for peace within our hearts and the world. The second is an anonymous donor from Calgary, Alberta, for the intentions of her family. The third is Eleanor Serafin from Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, in loving memory of her husband, Jack Serafin, who died on January 22nd, 2026. Our thanks to our donors for the gift of this Mass. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

SPEAKER_03 1:25

Amen.

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The Lord be with you.

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And with your Spirit.

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As we come before the Lord, we pause for a moment to acknowledge our sins and so prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mysteries. You were sent to heal the contrite of heart. Lord, have mercy.

SPEAKER_03 1:47

Lord, have mercy.

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You came to call sinners. Christ, have mercy. You are seated at the right hand of the Father to intercede for us. Lord, have mercy.

SPEAKER_03 1:59

Lord, have mercy.

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May Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life. Let us pray. God of might, giver of every good gift, put into our hearts the love of your name, so that by deepening our sense of reverence, you may nurture in us what is good, and by your watchful care keep safe what you have nurtured. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever.

SPEAKER_00 2:40

A reading from the first letter of Peter. Brothers and sisters, you know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb, without defect or blemish. He was destined before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of the ages for your sake. Through him you have come to trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are set on God. Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth, so that you have a genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from a pure heart. You have been born anew, not of perishable, but of imperishable seed through the living and enduring word of God. For all flesh is like grass, and all its glory like flowers of grass. The grass withers and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord endures forever. That word is the good news that was announced to you, the word of the Lord.

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Jerusalem, praise the Lord, O Jerusalem, praise your God O He strengthens the bars of your gates, he blesses your children within you. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord. He grants peace within your borders, he fills you with the finest of weed. He sends out his command to the earth, his word runs swiftly. The son of man came to serve and to give his life as a ransom for Hallelujah.

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And with your spirit.

SPEAKER_06 7:44

He took the twelve aside again, and began to tell them what was to happen to him, saying, See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death. Then they will hand him over to the Gentiles, they will mock him and spit upon him, and flog him and kill him. And after three days he will rise again. James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him and said to him, Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you. And he said to them, What is it you want me to do for you? And they said to him, Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left in your glory. But Jesus said to them, You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They replied, We are able. Then Jesus said to them, The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized. But to sit at my right hand or at my left, it is not mine to grant. But it is for those for whom it has been prepared. When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John. So Jesus called them and said to them, You know that among the Gentiles, those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. But it is not so among you. But whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. The Gospel of the Lord. Reflecting on our scriptures today, I was thinking about the part where it says, when the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John. I wondered, were they angry with James and John because they had asked a question that they shouldn't have? Or were they angry because the other ten hadn't thought to ask such a question first, and now they thought they had missed out? Maybe they were upset with James and John, who had tried to gain some advantage over them. This reminds me of growing up. Perhaps you have had an experience that you can relate to this. Maybe can you recall when you were a child and your mom or dad announced that they were taking the family for ice cream? And then one of your siblings shouts out, shotgun, which means they get to sit in the front passenger seat. And then how you and perhaps the other siblings got upset with that one. Not so much because they were going to get that special seat, but because they shouted it first. Ironically, it didn't matter who sat where, because everyone was going to get to the ice cream parlor anyhow. However, we put a lot of emphasis on that special seat. And we failed to see the importance of the destination and of the journey there. Likewise with Jesus, he emphasizes where we sit isn't important. It is being with him in glory that matters. And further, it is the way to that seat that is even more key. We don't get there by lording it over others or believing that we are superior to others. Jesus says, Whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant. Serving one another is the path we are called to follow. As Jesus reminds us, the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve. Jesus' life shows us a model of service and of self-giving. We just concluded the season of Easter with the celebration of Pentecost. During the Trudium, as we may recall, we saw Jesus serve by washing the feet of his disciples and ultimately sacrificing and serving by dying on the cross for us. Jesus doesn't just speak a truth, he lives it and expects us to do the same. Those who follow the way of Jesus and seek to imitate the Master's example of servant leadership must be willing even to suffer for others. Service always involves suffering because we can't help another without some sacrifice on our part. The criterion of greatness among the disciples? Self-sacrifice, humility, and unconditional love. So perhaps that leaves us with the question then: so how are you and I living a life of service? We can turn to some of the great saints in our history, like Saint Teresa of Calcutta, for example, for inspiration. But I'm guessing most of us are not called quite to her level of service. But perhaps we can turn to another Teresa, Saint Therese of Lisieux, and her little way. The little way is about being both small and doing the smallest actions with great love. Instead of focusing on large actions, we should bring God into our smallest ones. Saint Therese even wrote about how much care she put into folding napkins at the dinner table. She completed the task with as much love and attention as if Jesus himself was coming to dine with her. So each day, opportunities arise of how we can serve our spouse, our children, our parents, our brothers and sisters, our neighbors or co-workers, or even the stranger on the street. An act of service could be to let the person with only a few grocery items to go ahead of us when our cart is filled with many items. We are serving when we offer an understanding smile to the waitress overwhelmed with the lunch crowd. She may even appreciate an extra tip, but I'll leave that for you to discern. Even though I know myself I might be tempted sometimes to quickly push the door close button when I enter an elevator, maybe waiting an extra second and just checking to see if anybody is coming, and I should hold the door open button instead. Maybe that can be an act of service. We can serve by sincerely listening to our how our spouse, our children, or our grandchildren's day went, and really pay attention, not just, you know, token attention. Maybe we can be one who serves by sharing one of our freshly baked muffins with a neighbor. And sometimes we can serve without even going outside of our home, by offering a prayer for somebody we know who might be struggling in some way. So let us not worry about shouting shotgun, but instead watch for ways to, as St. Peter reminds us in our first reading, love one another from a pure heart. Which means loving with a servant heart, like Jesus. Greatness consists not in what we have, nor in what we can get from others, but in how we serve others. For all those in our Daily TV Mass Prayer Intentions book, we pray to the Lord.

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Lord, we are our prayer.

SPEAKER_06 16:05

Throughout this month of May, our community prays to follow the example of Mary by offering joy, compassion, and mercy, especially to mothers, grandmothers, and all who lovingly serve those in need. We pray to the Lord.

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Lord, we are our prayer.

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For an increase in vocations to the priesthood, that more men will hear the call of the Lord and respond with courage and conviction to serve God and his people. We pray to the Lord.

unknown 16:34

Lord, hear our prayer.

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For legislators to pass laws that will protect and honor the sanctity of every person from conception to natural death. We pray to the Lord.

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Lord, hear our prayer.

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O God, who gave the Holy Spirit to your apostles and willed that through them and their successors the same Spirit be handed on to the rest of the faithful. Listen favorably to our prayers, and grant that your divine grace may now spread through the hearts of those who believe in you through Christ our Lord. Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation, for through your goodness we have received the bread we offer you. Fruit of the earth and work of human hands, it will become for us the bread of life. Blessed are you, Lord God of all creation, for through your goodness we have received the wine we offer you. Fruit of the vine and work of human hands, it will become our spiritual drink. Pray, brothers and sisters, that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to God, the Almighty Father. May this sacred offering, O Lord, confer on us always the blessing of salvation, that what it celebrates in mystery, it may accomplish in power through Christ our Lord.

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Amen.

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The Lord be with you.

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And with your spirit.

SPEAKER_06 18:57

Lift up your hearts. Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. 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. For in goodness you created man, and when he was justly condemned, in mercy you redeemed him through Christ our Lord. Through him the angels praise your majesty. Dominions adore and powers tremble before you. Heaven and the virtues of heaven and the blessed seraphim worship together with exaltation. May our voices we pray join with theirs in humble praise as we acclaim.

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Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of hosts, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

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You are indeed holy, O Lord, the fount of all holiness. Make holy, therefore, these gifts we pray, by sending down your spirit upon them like the dewfall, so that they may become for us the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. At the time he was betrayed, and entered willingly into his passion, he took bread, and giving thanks broke it, 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. In a similar way, when supper was ended, he took the chalice. And once more, giving thanks, he gave it 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.

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We proclaim your death all, and profess your resurrection until you come again.

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Therefore, as we celebrate the memorial of his death and resurrection, we offer you, Lord, the bread of life and the chalice of salvation, giving thanks that you have held us worthy to be in your presence and minister to you. Humbly we pray that partaking of the body and blood of Christ, we may be gathered into one by the Holy Spirit. Remember, Lord, your church spread throughout the world, and bring her to the fullness of charity, together with Leo, our Pope, and Francis, our bishop, and all the clergy. Remember also our brothers and sisters who have fallen asleep in the hope of the resurrection, and all who have died in your mercy, welcome them into the light of your face. Have mercy on us all, we pray, that with the blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, the Blessed Joseph, her spouse, with the blessed apostles, and all the saints who have pleased you throughout the ages, we may merit to be co-heirs to eternal life, and may praise and glorify you through your Son, Jesus Christ. Through him and with him and in him. O God Almighty Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor is yours forever and ever.

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Amen.

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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.

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For the kingdom, power and glory are yours now and forever.

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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.

unknown 25:10

Amen.

SPEAKER_06 25:10

The peace of the Lord be with you always.

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And with your spirit.

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Let us offer each other a sign of peace. Behold the Lamb of God. Behold him who takes away the sins of the world. Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb. But only say the word in my soul shall be healed!

SPEAKER_01 26:57

Please join me now in this act of spiritual communion. My Jesus, I believe that you are present in this holy sacrament of the altar. I love you above all things, and I passionately desire to receive you into my soul. Since I cannot now receive you sacramentally, come spiritually into my soul, so that I may unite myself wholly to you now and forever. Amen.

SPEAKER_06 27:48

Renewed by this bread from the heavenly table, we beseech you, Lord, that being the food of charity, it may confirm our hearts and stir us to serve you in our neighbor through Christ our Lord.

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Amen.

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The Lord be with you.

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And with your Spirit.