talk to your dermatologist about skyrizi. learn how abbvie could help you save. (upbeat music) vibrant and vigorous moments in the recent history when a consecration of the archdiocese on our website videos and slideshows music, prayers and articles documenting and celebrating the day october 7th. the archbishop said if this

wonderful day becomes a cherished memory i don't know if it will make a difference i'm convinced it will if people heed the request to appropriate this in their daily lives in a concrete way. today we will discuss this with one of our priests, a deep student of mary, i have no doubt one of her favorite children and one of my favorite priests. we find ourselves in the middle of lent and the question is how do we combine lent and observance with a special focus on the gifts we can receive from and give to mother mary? after this pause, read join us for a discussion of living the consecration every day.

hello and welcome to mosaic, today my guest's father kevin kennedy the pastor of byzantine catholic church and priest of the archdiocese of san francisco. i mentioned the consecration of the virgin mary october 7th, you were there? >> yes i had celebrated mass of saint monica church next to our lady that morning so i was not able to be there at the cathedral on time for the mass celebrated. i came during the wonderful homily and stayed and was part of the procession which extended blocks around the cathedral

afterward. such a great representation from various parishes and communities of the archdiocese on that beautiful morning. >> it was quite a day. you are in the visiting catholic and you have an interest in byzantine art and will have those icons later later. wanted things, one of the consecration events was a student art contest so students could make artistic presentations of the virgin mary. i would like to run those as slides, we can look at the student art, this here is beautiful, the cathedral with mary about it. that is the bishop with his arms and this is by the seventh grader and we use this as a cover of a pdf, the next one. that is going to be the heart of the blessed mother with a sword piercing it symbolizing her sorrows. that is an icon or theme of which we will talk more today. this is by mary, from a sixth-

grader who did this. this rosary circling the world is nice and this is from a second grader at lady of visitation. the next one. this is the favored one that i have seen. this is by a third-grader from saint veronica school. a motherly mary and what about another one? there is a representation of mary with roses on a cloud by peter and he is a fourth grader at holy name of jesus school. this is children with representation of blessed mother, waterfall and moon and this is by teresa nathan from lady of mercy. very interesting student art. we have used these online and made use of them. let's get to the question i raised at the beginning.

had we live with consecration to live it out? the archbishop spelled out a request the program for living the consecration. let me show this. this is living the consecration by the archbishop, this is his program and this is a prayer card you can download. why don't you read for me the elements? >> prior is central, the daily rosary, the recommendation of the weekly family rosary. these are the same things out we are encouraged to do during the season of lent, they coincide living the consecration and then practices. >> in the last segment you will explain about the rosary, i look forward to that. >> fasting and prayer and penance, on friday we abstain from meat or skip a meal or do bodily fasting. works of charity. confession once a month. prayer before the blasted

sacrament. nderful place to go for prayer, before the blessed sacrament. at least once a week if someone is able to do that. and then the devotion of the five first saturdays which is specific to the devotion that our lady requested people to go to confession to celebrate mass, and to meditate on the rosary for 15 minutes. especially in union with her heart. the mystery of her heart which we will talk about. >> i am interested. fasting and penance is associated with land and then the question of confession. it seems the catholic practice has fallen off somewhat. what can you say about that? >> the invitation to come and see and overcome any

nervousness that a person may have that this is an opportunity to be free and to enter into a new and fresh start and a new beginning. what the lord forgives he forgets and takes away. sins will cast off as far as the east from the west. people often times will say they are nervous going into the conventional confession and they will leave, walking on a cloud because there is a great joy in being restored to the moment of baptism. that is a great joy. >> that should be better known. adoration is a t■erm e use without thinking twice, but it is deep. what am i adoring? >> the blessed sacrament is the presence of the lord. outside of the eucharist we reserve the eucharist for the sick especially, but that is the sacramental presence of the

lord. we offer the presence, our worship and loving adoration. this is the tradition of the western church of exposition and adoration of the blessed sacrament. so it is a wonderful time to have that intimate prayer with the lord, present in the reserved eucharist. >> in a tiny thing, a sacred thing, the universe, the world, god himself. i respond to that. we will come back after this break and talk more about lent, mary and devotion and making the consecration visible in our lives every day. please come back and join us.

welcome back. father kevin kennedy pastor from byzantine church, you are a priest of the archdiocese of san francisco, a roman catholic priest. many of us don't know much about the byzantine world. you got involved and interested right in this method of worship. >> i became interested in high school and even more so in college. visiting orthodox churches, i always thought what a beautiful form of worship. the icons, i thought i was to

be in full communion. wood in it is wonderful to have this tradition in the full communion? that is what byzantine catholicism is. there are groups of orthodox christians that throughout the century have sought to reenter into the unity that existed in the first millennium of the history of christianity, the union between east and west. these byzantine catholic communities have their own hierarchy separate from the roman catholic, but the latest of these to form in the early 20th century, the russian byzantine catholic church is so small it is not have its own hierarchy. so we are entrusted to the local latin ordinary, appointing me pastor of this parish and he was visiting us this last january 7th for christmas so we were delighted to have him and we rejoiced in his support.

>> to me it is exotic, but can you reassure that services are in english? >> everything in english in the byzantine form and you fulfill the sunday application by joining us. we have a lunch afterward to which everyone is invited and we are getting more and more people coming. >> i think i will be there. in my view, last year was the anniversary of 100 years, i think of it as a western event. 30s in portugal. your church is russian catholic byzantine catholic church of our lady. you combine the eastern and western. you are a great student of mary and i want you to fill us in on what it means we are consecrating to her heart. i know you have byzantine icons to share. >> the heart in the biblical sense refers to the person himself or herself and in this case our lady, her unique self.

no one else, mary, what is unique about her? the center and the core of her life and her love for god and wholehearted dedication to the mystery of her son. her love for us, members of the body of christ so that love and obedience with faith, her memory and intellect, her will or heart. all of that is the treasure that we are invited to focus upon as a way to lead us ever closer to god. >> let me ask you about these icons. these seem to have to do with her sorrows and her pain and explained that. >> in the second chapter in verse 19 and again verse 51 our lady is described as holding, pondering, treasuring, all of these things in her heart. as i just described in the

biblical sense. her son, the mystery of christ and its entirety held in her heart as a treasure. with a mother's love she reflects, she treasures all of this to bestow this memory, living memory, this reality to us. >> let's bring up the icons you have chosen. here is a lady with swords piercing her heart. >> this is a reflection of the prophecy of simeon as the lord presented. simeon says to her, you yourself a sword shall pierce her soul, her heart, her innermost being is pierced with the reality. we were talking earlier about greek, the lord, the humility that he enters into the human condition on our behalf. that is self emptying love is a model for us and redeems us. so, mary enters into that in a

very unique and intimate way. she shares in his pain, sorrow and suffering in such a way that the church has seen in her heart a model of that. >> let's look at the next slide. this is his and team. >> the title of this is very interesting. it is called the softener of evil or cruel hearts. she is the softener of cruel or hardened hearts. she softens even the most hardened, the cruel with the most evil heart. looking upon her participation in the sorrow of her son. her unique partaking in that suffering for us. it would soften even the most hardened of hearts. >> let's look at the next slide. the western-style slides? >> this is a variation of that. seven swords pattern after the seven traditional sorrows, this

is from ecuador. again it shows this depiction, it depicts a prophecy of simeon. a sword shall enter your soul and there are a variety of sorrows depicted, symbolize through the seven swords. the flight to egypt the loss of the child in the temple. the meeting of our lady on the way of the cross. the crucifixion itself. piercing of his heart. taking down from the cross as he is late in her arms. famously depicting that reality. all of these express her sharing in the passion of her son in a way that is unique to herself, her heart. >> when i see the innocent woman , i feel like if my heart were evil and cruel it would be soften. why inflict that on her? >> yet, she because she enters into the passion is able to know the fullness of the joy,

the joy of the reservation or correction. she shares in the resurrection. she is also known as the joy of all who sorrow. the comforter of the afflicted. the searcher for those who are lost. quick to hear and listen to and respond to the needs of her children. so, all of this is not modeling so much as it is the reality that out of this pain and sorrow is born a new life, the joy of life and the resurrection is self. >> the model of a mother. after this break we will talk about the way that we meet mary through the rosary. please join us.

welcba we are going to talk about the rosary. everyone knows the rosary consists of saying the hail mary and telling your beads, but there is a deeper thing going on. we have these lled mysteries. what we contemplate? can you explain? >> getting back toe first one in the gospel of luke who holds, ponders and treasures all of these things in her heart. christ, the mystery of christ. the treasury of those mysteries and so she is the best one to lead us, through her heart into the life, death and resurrection of her son. the whole mystery of christ through joy and sorrow, through glory. she leads us through each of those mysteries. >> these mysteries, events in

the life of jesus christ is what they are. so as you say the rosary and are reciting your meditating on the distinct episode mystery event in the life of jesus. why do we call them mysteries? >> it is not so much something that conceals, but reveals a profound depth and meaning taking us beyond the mundane but to the reality of the love of god and his presence in the world. mystery takes us into the richness and the depth of love hidden within the heart of the lord. >> i cannot recite all 15, but i think they take this arc through life. there is a set of five. sorrowful, joyful and then glorious. coming to christ in his glory. i must have taken of the rosary more frequently during lent.

it is soothing and interesting. >> a social event to the joyful mystery is the birth of the lord. to the sorrowful is his passion and death on the cross. burial in the tomb and the central event of the glorious is the resurrection. from the resurrection comes pentecost, a gift to the holy spirit and lady as a spirit of error. the gift of the spirit after the resurrection and ascension of the lord is the ability for us to have god's own but within us. not just reflecting on past historical events but in the mystery of the eucharist's and of the rosary we venture into christ, we relive and actualize the life, death and resurrection. we become he whom receives. we are not just remembering past events. we enter into the life of christ, his death to share fully in the goal which is the

resurrection the risen life, transformed life, the life in god. >> lent is a pathway toward crucifixion, but that is the gate to the resurrection and that is the gate to the beginning of the church and participation in a new life. >> yes. >> interesting article in the newspaper, students from our lady of visitation have started a daily rosary. 8:15 everyday there is a rosary, the school quite sound they say the rosary and the principal says it has become a soothing and uplifting experience every day. >> calm and centering in a world that is in great need of peace. the angelic salutation, when we recite the hail mary we repeat the words of the archangel gabriel. she says yes to the great plan

of reconstituting the human race and bring it to the goal ofenwith god. >> i want to show a slide where people can see resources for the observance of lent. they can go to our website and to the conference of catholic bishops. very rich resources. father, you're a pastor, what would you want someone to take away from watching the show? can you sum it up? >> i would say the images of the children because any child understands the love of a mother, a mother's heart, compassion, caring. those images of the rosary around the globe. images of our lady bringing in children, hovering over the cathedral. it shows he is with us and she is present. she cares about us. she is what the icons say, searching for the lost. the comforter. >> thank you very much and

thank you for watching us on mosaic. have a wonderful lent and easter.