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bjbj,(,( In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Peace be with
you. This Mass honors the gifts of persons with special needs, who by Baptism belong
to the body of Christ, like all of us. God our Father, your gift of water brings life
and freshness to the Earth, it washes away our sins and brings us Eternal Life. A reading
from the Book of Exodus, thus says the Lord, You shall not *** or oppress an alien for
you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt. And to await His Son from Heaven
whom He raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the coming wrath. The Word of the
Lord. Thanks be to God. The Lord be with you. And also with you. A reading from the Holy
Gospel according to Matthew. Glory to you O Lord. You shall love the Lord your God with
all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the
first commandment. The second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
When our Holy Father wanted to teach us in his first letter, what is being a follower
of Christ all about, he simply said, remember God is love and each of us is a manifestation
of that love and each of us is called to love one another. Love the Lord your God with all
your heart, all your strength, all your soul and love your neighbor as yourself. In doing
that we begin to realize the extraordinary gift that is ours and the extraordinary gift
that belongs to every person in this church. The ability not only to reflect the goodness
of God but to actually manifest it to others. And that s what this White Mass is all about,
a celebration of the goodness of God manifested in so many ways with the reminder in that
spirit, in our Baptism every one of us is invited to the table, every one of us is a
part of the family. This is the Second Annual White Mass and it s so wonderful to see people
with abilities and people with disabilities all together sharing in the liturgy and celebrating
and Cardinal Wuerl is just such a special person who just welcomes everybody with an
open arm and an open heart. The Archdiocese of Washington is truly creating communities
where all are welcome. Today I was very privileged to be a petitioner at the Second Annual White
Mass. What an inspiration it was today to hear the Cardinal first-hand make a commitment
to people with disabilities, to encourage people with disabilities, to be at the Catholic
table to encourage all to come through these doors to celebrate not only the Mass, but
their lives through Baptism everyday of the year. We bring our family along. It s very
important to represent the whole community, especially the special needs community with
our son, Raphy who has autism. And I thought it was beautiful and it was great to see so
many families here today. The White Mass, the color, white signifies our Baptism and
the baptismal garments that we wear for our Baptism for it is through our Baptism that
we are all equal in the sight of God. In today s homily, Cardinal Wuerl tied in the New Evangelization
and how it is part of our duty always to reach out to all persons and to ensure that all
persons receive the Gospel message. Just as persons with disabilities and those that are
deaf were gathered here to take part in today s liturgy, we also view persons with disabilities
and those who are deaf as agents of catechesis, those who are then going to go out, as the
New Evangelization calls us, to speak the Gospel to all the people of God. :pkrC [Content_Types].xml
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