Daily TV Mass Friday April 17, 2026

Fr. Michael Coutts, S.J.

Transcript

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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.

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In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. The grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of the Father, the friendship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

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And with your spiritual.

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Welcome to the celebration of the Daily TV Mass on the feast of St. Catherine Tecakwita. I am Father Michael Coots. The televising of this Mass is made possible by a contribution from a family who are parishioners of St. Clement's Parish in Etobicoke, Ontario. This Mass is being offered in celebration of their wedding anniversary in Thanksgiving for blessings received and for the world peace. On behalf of all the faithful across Canada and those around the world gathered for this celebration, we thank our donor for the family for the gift of this Mass. Katri Tekakwita was born in 1656 and died at the tender age of 24. At the age of 19, when her family was decimated by smallpox, she decided to accept the Catholic faith to follow Jesus, make a vow of virginity, and follow Christ totally. And she moved from New York City, not New York City, from New York State, where she was born, up to Montreal, just south of Montreal, to Kanawake. And there she spent the last five years dedicating herself to Christ and to the service of others. Saint Kathry Tekokwita, pray for us. As we begin this Eucharist, we ask this great saint to intercede before the throne of God. You were sent to heal the contrite, Lord, have mercy. Lord have mercy. You came to call sinners, Christ, have mercy. Christ have mercy. You are seated at the right hand of the Father to intercede for us. Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. May Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life.

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Amen.

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Let us pray. Almighty ever living God, who called blessed Katari Tekakwita to live as a consecrated virgin among our people, grant through her intercession that people of every tribe, nation, and language gathered into your church may praise your name forever. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever.

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Amen.

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A reading from the Acts of the Apostles. The Apostles were being questioned by the high priest before the council. But a Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law, respected by all the people, stood up and ordered the apostles to be put outside for a short time. Then he said to the members of the council, Fellow Israelites, consider carefully what you propose to do to these men. For some time ago, Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a number of men, about 400, joined him. But he was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and disappeared. After him, Judas the Galilean rose up at the time of the census and got people to follow him. He also perished, and all who followed him were scattered. So in the present case, I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone. Because if this plan or this undertaking is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. In that case, you may even be found fighting against God. They were convinced by him. And when they had called in the apostles, they had them flogged, then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus and let them go. As they left the council, the apostles rejoiced that they were considered worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name. And every day in the temple and at home they did not cease to teach and proclaim Jesus as the Messiah.

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The word of the Lord I seek to do something to my salvation.

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A reading from the Holy Gospel according to John. Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias. A large crowd kept following him because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. Now the Passover festival of the Jews was near. When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, Where are we going to buy bread for these people to eat? He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, Six months' wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little. One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people? Jesus said, Make the people sit down. There was a great deal of grass in that place, so they sat down, about five thousand in all. Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated, so also the fish, as much as they wanted. When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost. So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of five barley loaves left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, This indeed is the prophet who has come into the world. When Jesus realized that they were going about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself. Luke starts the third gospel with the words, the good news of Jesus Christ. And the second part of Luke's work, the Acts of the Apostles, he shows Jesus telling the apostles, go out to the whole world and proclaim the good news. And then Luke starts a paradigm or a structure by which he will show how the good news was spread. First of all, he always says they were led by the Spirit. The apostles would go either to the temple if they spoke in Jerusalem, or if they were in a Gentile area, to the agora or the marketplace. They would proclaim the good news that salvation were for all. They would be arrested and brought before the judge who would find them not guilty, who would find them free from any fault. They would then be flogged and they would be set free. This pattern appears several times in the Acts of the Apostles. The Apostles were only following what Jesus himself had done. Namely, he was brought before Pilate. Pilate says, I find this man not guilty, I will scourge him and set him free. Can you imagine this happening here in 2026 in our courts? The judge acquits a man and he says, I find you not guilty, but before you go, I'm going to hand you over to the policeman who will thrash you and then set you free. We would have a riot on our hands. But this was not today, it was in the time of Jesus, in the time of the apostles. And we have here Gamaliel, who was a real character, a real person, because he's reported even by a secular historian called Josephus. Josephus also tells us about the two events that Gamaliel will speak about: the event of Judas, of Theodus and his revolt, of Judas the Galilean and his revolt. And Paul would also say that Gamaliel was my teacher and rabbi under whom I studied. So Gamaliel was a very intelligent man and a man who could bring a calming atmosphere, something that we need so badly today in literally every country in the world. Do you know at this given moment there are 51 countries at war within themselves or with somebody else? Terrible indeed. We need people like Gamaliel. So Gamaliel was there who would bring a calming effect on the hot-headed and the hot-blooded young Pharisees who wanted some results immediately. And he said to them, wait a minute. If you're going to deal with these people who are illiterate, you will find that they've got, if they're not based on truth and justice, they will all disappear, just like Teodus and Judas the Galilean. But if these illiterate fishermen are speaking about something that they truly believe in, and it is based on God, you're fighting against God Himself. Our problem here is how did Luke, two centuries, not two centuries, two decades later, remember the speech of Gamaliel? There were no Globe and Mail, there was no Toronto Star to report it. But the point was because there was none of these papers, this speech made such an impact that it was carried on in oral tradition. More or less like Martin Luther King, I Have a Dream, or in 1963, Kennedy says in Germany, Ich bin Ein Berlin. Those speeches remain with us even though they are not written down. And so Gamaliel will bring peace and calm over the people. And then we come to Jesus Himself, Jesus who multiplies the loaves and the fish. Jesus who shows that he is caring. It's important to remember that miracle of loaves and fish, but more important to remember Jesus who is caring. In our world today, I have two friends of mine who have recently had strokes, one who's 86 and one who is not even 70. But their lives have changed. Their wives, their children, their grandchildren. The grandchildren are asking, What has happened to grandpa? Why do we need all this? What is God angry with us? Is God afraid with that we have committed sin? It's difficult to answer these questions. But when we hear of Jesus' caring for the people at that time, Jesus still walks with us. Jesus gives us the wisdom, the knowledge, and understanding. And some of these wives who are speaking to me say, Did we really do this? Is it God punishing us? Way back in Guyana in 1969, there was a song that was created, Do You Really Care? I can't remember who the author was, but those words struck in my mind because they were so important for the turmoil that was going on. How can you really care with fury everywhere? I cried, God, where are you, or where can you be? But I knew that after all was said and done, that my God has loved me from beyond all time, and I will see his face. These are the words that we can find in the book of Jobs. I know that my Redeemer lives, and on the last day I will see him again. It is this faith. It is not a cliche, it's not a pie in the sky, it's a reality of people who believe, just like Catarite C or Quita, whose feast we celebrate today. God bless you all. Join me now as we pray together. We thank you, Lord, for enlightening us through your Son. Fill us with light during this day. We pray to the Lord.

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Lord, hear our prayer.

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Let your wisdom lead us today, Lord, that we may walk in the newness of life. We pray to the Lord.

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Lord, hear our prayer.

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For all those in our daily TV Mass Prayer Intention book, we pray to the Lord.

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Lord hear our prayer.

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Let us pray that nations move towards effective disarmament, particularly nuclear disarmament, that the world leaders choose a path of dialogue and diplomacy instead of violence. We pray to the Lord.

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Lord your prayer.

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During this month of April, we pray for those in our community who are burdened by grief and discouragement. May they be uplifted by the light of the risen Christ and renewed in their hope. We pray to the Lord.

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Lord your prayer.

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Gracious and loving God, listen to the prayers that we make in faith and through the intercession of blessed Katary Tech Oquita, Jesus who lives and reigns with the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever.

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Amen.

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Blessed are you, Lord, God of all creation, for through your goodness we have this bread we offer you. Fruit of the earth and work of human hands, it will become for us the bread of life. Through the mystery of this wine and water may we come to share in the divinity of Christ, to humble himself to share in our humanity. Blessed are you, Lord, God of all creation, for through your goodness we have this wine we offer you. Fruit of the vine and work of human hands, it will become for us our spiritual drink. Blessed be God forever. Worship in my iniquities and suffer for my sins. Thank you. Pray, my sisters, my brothers, that this our sacrifice be acceptable to God the Almighty Father.

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May the Lord accept the sacrifice of your hands for the praise and glory of his name, for our good and for all his holy church.

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Keep us faithful, O Lord, to the offering we dedicate to you, so that following the example of Blessed Kataritakwitha, we may be freed from earthly concerns and may pursue more intensely the life of the Spirit through Christ our Lord. Amen. The Lord be with you. Lift up your hearts. Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. It is right and just truly right and just our duty and our salvation, always and everywhere, to give you thanks. Lord, most Holy Father, Almighty and Eternal God, for it is in the saints who consecrated themselves to Christ for the sake of the kingdom of heaven, it is right to celebrate the wonders of your providence by which you call human nature back to its original holiness, and to bring it to the experience on this earth the gifts you promised in the new world to come. And so with the angels and saints, we praise you as without end we acclaim.

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Holy, holy, holy.

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At the time he was betrayed and entered willingly into his passion. He took bread, giving you 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, 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 many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in memory of me.

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The mystery of faith we proclaim your death and profess your action until you come.

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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, Francis our Bishop, all the clergy, and this entire people of God. 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, that with the blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, with the Blessed Joseph, her spouse, with the blessed apostles, with Saint Katarite, and all the saints who have pleased you throughout the ages, we may merit to be co-heirs to eternal life and praise and glorify you through your Son, Jesus Christ.

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Through him with him and in him, O God Almighty Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor is yours forever and every.

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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, from every evil. Graciously grant peace in our day, that by the help of your mercy we may be always free from sin, safe from all distress, as we await the blessed hope, the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ. For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours now and forever. 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 a peace and unity in accordance with your will, who live and reign forever and ever. Peace of the Lord be with you always. Wherever you are, let us share with one another a sign of this peace and friendship. Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sins of the world. Blessed are those who are called to the supper of the Lamb. Lord, I am not worthy that ye should enter under my roof, but only say the word, and my soul shall be healed. May the body and blood of Christ bring us all to everlasting life. Amen.

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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.

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Let us pray. Grant us, O Lord our God, through our communion in the body and blood of your Son, that the grace of detachment from all things pass, that like blessed Katarita Kakita, we may live on earth with a sincere love for you, and in heaven with the joy of beholding your face. We make this prayer 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.

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May Almighty God bless you, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. The Mass has been celebrated. Go in peace. Thanks be to God.

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Our thanks to our donors for the gift of this Mass.