with yours welcome to morning mass my brothers and sisters in our beautiful st patrick's cathedral and love this prepare ourselves to celebrate this great mystery by calling to mind are saying and asking for the mercy of oh god who in your wonderful providence have strengthened your church through the confession of the martyrs granted your people faithful to the mission entrusted to it may enjoy ever greater freedom and witness to the truth before all the world through our lord jesus christ your son who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the holy spirit one god forever and ever amen a reading from the book of genesis in the course of the night jacob arose took his two wives with the two made servants and his eleven children and crossed the ford of the jabot after he had taken them across the stream and brought over all his possessions jacob was left there alone then some man wrestled with him until the break of dawn when the man saw that he could not prevail over him he struck jacob's hip at its socket so that the hip socket was wrenched as they wrestled the man then said let me go but jacob said i will not let you go until you bless me the man asked what is your name he answered then the man said you shall no longer be spoken of as jacob but as israel because you have contended with divine and human beings and have prevailed jacob then asked him do tell me your name please he answered why should you want to know my name with that he bade him farewell jacob named the place  have seen god face to face he said yet my life has been spared at sunrise as he left the newel jacob limped along because of his h that is why to this day the children of israel do not eat the siad of muscle that is on the hip socket in as much as jacob's hip socket was struck at the outcry hearken to my prayer from lips without deceit or a warning from you let my judgement come your eyes behold what is right  you test my heart searching it in the night so you try me with fire you still find no malice in  face l or i call upon you for you will answer me o god incline your ear to me hear my words show your wondrous mercies oh savior of those who flee from their  hide me in the shadow of your wings i and just as shall behold your face on waking i shall be content in your presence in justice  who could not speak was brought to jesus and when the demon was driven out the youth the mute man spoke the crowds were amazed and said nothing like this has ever been seen in israel but the pharisees said he drives out demons by the prince of demons jesus went around to all of the towns and villages teaching in their synagogues proclaiming the kingdom of god and curing every disease and illness at the side of the crowds his heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned like sheep without a shepherd and then he said to his disciples the harvest is abundant but the laborers are few so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest the gospel of the lord this morning we're treated to another a pretty powerful and beautiful healing story in the gospels where jesus drives a demon out of a person so linked pretty much to the story that we heard yesterday in the gospel where we saw two healings one little girl the official shorter and then the woman who was living for all those years in torment and these stories that we have in scripture  the in the gospel yesterday and today and really when you look through all of the healing stories in the gospel it points out for us as the hearer as the listener that it sure that people suffer in many many different ways and isn't that so with us as we gather for mass today so many of us bring little infirmities with us to church whatever it might be most of the time physical sometimes emotional or spiritual we are ill or sick in many many different ways and we need to come into the presence of jesus to be able to to be healed and to touch in a remarkable way what i find interesting is that in each of the healings in the gospel story both yesterday and and today and really throughout all of scripture those healings seem to happen so quickly that there's no lead time between the prayer of the individual and the healing that jesus springs and again you might agree that the situation with us with you and me is quite different but sometimes from the time  prayer to the time of some kind of a healing or a cure or from the time of our prayer to the granting of it into session it takes a long time we need a whole lot of patience to be able to deal with the lord why does it take so long for us to come to the lord in our need and get a response it's almost like what we heard in the st reading today with jacob in a sense wrestling with god we do that sometimes when we have a need that we would like to have answered we wrestle with god and that the end of the whole process that divine struggle will really change us forever my brothers and sisters with humility and trust we offer the father our prayers of petition for the needs of all for the church that her guidance will strengthen us when we are lost let us pray to the lord for government leaders that they will protect the religious freedom of all people let us pray to the lord for the sick the dying the forgotten and those in danger that this faith community will never let them lose hope let us pray to the lord for all of us as we gather together in the presence of the lord that we will use prayer as a source of strength and consolation let us pray to the lord and for our brother in christ joseph and for all who have died that they will rejoice with all the angels and saints in heaven let us pray to the lord father most holy through your beloved son jesus christ your word through whom you made all things home you sent as our savior and redeemer incarnate by the holy spirit and born of the virgin fulfilling your will and gaining for you a holy people he stretched out his hands as he endured his passion so as to break the bonds of death and manifest the resurrection and so with the angels and all the saints we declare your glory as with one voice we a claim our lord jesus christ at the time he was betrayed and entered willingly into his passion he took bread and giving thanks procreating 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 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 died in your mercy welcomed them into the light of your face have mercy on us all we pray that with the blessid virgin mary mother of god with bless 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 said hope and 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 labor in the church for the salvation of all through christ our lord amen the lord be with you and with your spirit and may almighty god bless you the father the son and the holy spirit amen go forth the