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| Presiders from Left to right- wearing stoles- Bridget Mary Meehan ARCWP and Mary Kay Staudohar |
Welcome and Greeting
Presider 1:
Welcome to Mary Mother of Jesus, an inclusive Catholic
Community where everyone is welcome to participate in our Eucharistic
Celebrations. We use inclusive language in all our scripture
readings and prayers. We also invite your respectful and related comments when
we share the homily and, a little later in the liturgy, you will have an
opportunity to share your own personal intentions in the Prayers of the
Community. Everyone will be invited to gather around the altar table to take
part in praying the Consecration and sharing Communion. Lastly, all will be
invited to join us for supper at a local restaurant after the liturgy.
Presider 2: Today
we are challenged to let go of excess, and not to make an idol of our
possessions. Christ has dissolved all barriers between people, race, religion,
and ethnicity. We are called to build communities of care and justice where
everyone has enough and where Christ is everything in all.
Opening Song: #415 All Are Welcome, vs. 1,3,4
Opening Prayer:
ALL: We dream of a world without
consumerism, unbridled consumption and greed. We commit ourselves to develop
communities in which no one will be without adequate food, clothing, shelter
and housing.
Rite of Forgiveness and Reconciliation
Presider 1: Let us pause now to pray with one another for
forgiveness for the times we failed to share our resources, time and talents
with those in need. Let us pray for a spirit of generosity in our giving, and a
new awareness of our responsibility to work for distributive justice so that
everyone will have adequate food, shelter and employment as a basic human
right.
All Sing: Ubi Caritas, et amor, ubi caritas, deus ibi est. #482
3 times (Sing 3 times refrain only -Taize)
Gloria:
ALL: Glory to God, glory, o praise God,
alleluia, Glory to God, glory, o praise the name of our God (sung 3 times)
Liturgy of the Word
First Reading: A Rich Fool
It is when one rests securely in
the arms of the Provider that one is then able to embrace each person as
brother and sister, equal heirs to the same promise. Competition and hoarding
dissolve as cooperation and equal distribution become realities. Entering into
such a stance in this world inaugurates its full expression in the life beyond.
The (second) reading from Colossians assures Christians that this power is
already given them through the risen Christ.
Believers have already died with Christ and are formed anew in the image
of the Creator. Christ has dissolved all divisions between peoples- boundaries
of ethnicity, religion and status- so that Christ is everything in all.
These are the inspired words of
Barbara Reid, author of Parables for Preachers, p. 143.
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 90
(Adapted from Nan Merrill’s rendition)
Response: Awaken us, Holy One, to
your Light within us.
You gather those who love You as
friends returning from a long journey, giving rest to their souls.
You anoint them with the balm of
understanding, healing wounds of the past.
Response: Awaken us, Holy One, to
your Light within us.
Who has lived with integrity? Who
will reflect the Light? Who can bear the radiant beams of love?
Who has reverenced the Counselor,
and opened their hearts to the Spirit of Truth?
Teach us, O Beloved, to honor each
day that we may a heart of wisdom.
Response: Awaken us, Holy One, to
your Light within us.
Let your love be known to the
nations.
Your Glory to our children’s
children.
Let the grace and gentleness of the
Holy Spirit be upon us guiding our feet upon the path of Love Consciousness as
You Increase the Light within us, O Beloved.
Response: Awaken us, Holy One, to
your Light within us.
Second Reading: Colossians, 3: 1-5,
9-11
Since you have been brought back to
true life in company with Christ, set your heart on what pertains to higher
realms, where Christ is seated at God’s right hand. Let your thoughts be on
heavenly things that are on the earth. After all, you have died, and now your
life is hidden with Christ in God. But when Christ who is your life, is
revealed, you too will be revealed in all your glory with Christ.
Put to death everything in you that
belongs only to earthly life: fornication, impurity, guilty passion, evil
desires and especially greed which is the same thing as worshiping a false god.
What you have done is put aside your old self with its past deeds and put on a new self, one that
grows in knowledge as it is formed anew in the image of its Creator; and in that image there is no room for distinction
between Greek and Jew, between the
circumcised and uncircumcised, or between foreigner and Scythian, slave and
free. There is only Christ, who is everything in all of you.
These are the inspired words of
Paul, apostle to the Gentiles.
Eightfold Alleluia (Charismatic)
Gospel: Luke 12:13-21
Someone in the crowd said to Jesus,
“Teacher, tell my brother to give me y share of our inheritance.“ Jesus
replied, “Friend, who has set me up as your judge or arbiter? Then he said to
the crowd, “Avoid greed in all its forms, for your life is not made more secure
by what you own even when you have more than you need.”
Jesus then told them a parable in
these words: “There was rich farmer who
had a good harvest. “What will I do?’ the farmer mused. “I have no place to
store my harvest. I know! I will pull down my grain bins and build larger ones.
All of my grain bins and goods will go there. Then I’ll say to myself: You have
blessings in reserve for many years to come. Relax! Eat, drink, and be
merry!” But God, said to the farmer,
“You fool! This very night your life will be required of you. To whom will all this piled up wealth of
yours go? This is the way it works with people who accumulate riches for
themselves but are not rich in God.”
These are the inspired words of
Luke, follower of Jesus.
Homily
Starter: Bridget Mary
Meehan ARCWP
So, my sisters and brothers, I now invite you to share your thoughts. and experiences on living the Gospel today.
I dislike house cleaning and have
always looked for shortcuts to get the job done quickly and efficiently. A long
time ago when I was a postulant, I decided to help Barbara, my fellow
postulant, to clean the baseboards in the basement of the IHM Motherhouse. On
that day I spotted a little wagon –which I “borrowed”- to pull Barbara in. Off
we went merrily down the hall- laughing and chatting quietly even though we
were supposed to be silent. Suddenly, out of nowhere, our postulant director, Sister
Sacre Coeur, appeared. We were in big trouble! Needless to say, she was not
impressed with our collaborative little innovation. So I was assigned to clean
toilets.
In October, my band of sisters will
celebrate 50 years since we made our profession of vows in 1969 at Villa Maria.
The spiritual bonds of caring- the lasting values- that we experienced in our
community long ago continues to connect us to one another today. We learned the
basics about simple living and sharing with our sisters at the heart of Jesus’
vision in Nunhood 101!
In the Gospel parable, Jesus focuses
on the life lesson that everything we have is on loan and that greed,
overconsumption and self-centeredness will destroy us. The rich man in the story
only thinks of himself, “my barns, my grain, my harvest.”
Barbara Reid writes in her excellent
commentary:
“First -century Palestinians did not
operate within a system of capitalism. There was no expectation that all could
keep getting richer...Hoarding for them was a clear sign of greed, the vice
most destructive to community life. The parable cuts two ways: to those who are
blessed with abundance hard questions are posed about legitimate use,
greediness and just distribution of resources for the common good. To those on
the underside of privilege, there is encouragement to take action to unmask
vicious greed and to engage in efforts to bring about economic justice.” (Abiding Word, pp. 91-2)
In our world today we know that climate change
and economic inequality are one of the greatest challenges of the 21st
century. The World Bank reports that the poorest are often the most
vulnerable and least prepared to cope with the effects of climate change,
regardless of national borders. Droughts, floods, and superstorms are happening
every day. Women, especially those in rural communities, are most vulnerable,
since they often depend on agriculture and have few other opportunities to make
a living.
Community Sharing:
How do we deal with excess, overconsumption and hoarding? Your
ideas on how we can bring about economic justice?
Statement of Faith
We believe in the Holy One, a divine mystery
beyond all definition and rational understanding, in whose infinite love all creation exists and evolves.
We believe in Jesus, messenger of the Divine Presence,
bringer of healing, heart of Divine compassion,
bright star in the firmament of the Holy One's
prophets, mystics, and saints.
We believe that we are called to follow Jesus
as a reflection of divine compassion and healing
a source of wisdom and truth,
and an instrument of peace and healing in the world.
We believe in the Spirit of the Holy One,
the life that is our innermost life,
the breath moving in our being,
the depth living in each of us.
We believe that the Divine kin-dom is here and now,
stretched out all around us for those
with eyes to see it, hearts to receive it,
and hands to make it happen.
General Intercessions:
Presider 1: As we prepare for the sacred meal, we
pray for the needs of the people of God in our community and around the world.
Our response is: I bring to the Table…
Please share your spontaneous prayers.
Presider 2: We give thanks for all our intentions whom we held in the circle of
grace and will continue to pray for and use our talents to serve our sisters
and brothers with joyful hearts in the coming weeks. Amen.
PREPARATION OF THE GIFTS
(Lifting up the Bread and
Wine)
Presider1: Blessed are you,
God of Creation. Through your goodness we have this bread, this grain of the
earth, that human hands have prepared.
It will become for us the bread of life. All Blessed be God forever.
Presider 2: Blessed are
you, God of Creation. Through your goodness we have this wine to offer, fruit
of the vine. It will become our spiritual drink. All Blessed be God forever.
(All are welcome to join us
around the table)
Liturgy of the Eucharist
Presider 1: God is with you.
ALL:
And also with you.
Presider
2: Lift up your hearts.
ALL:
We lift them up.
All: : O
God of open tables, we pledge ourselves to build
communities of care and justice that promote equitable distribution. We remember the angels and saints and all our
loved ones who have gone before us. Joined with all creation, we lift up our
hearts and sing:
We are holy, holy, holy by Karen Drucker
Voice 1: We thank you
for Jesus, our brother, who called us to turn away from the idols of power and
greed that create conflicts over stockpiling possessions. He lifted up the
vulnerable, and revealed your abundant tenderness toward those who are sick and
suffering, lonely and grieving, marginalized and excluded.
Voice 2: We celebrate our call to follow Jesus and to build communities of care and justice where everyone has enough
and where all are one.
(Extend hands in blessing toward bread and wine
for Invocation of the Holy Spirit)
All:
Now, as we share
the bread of life and lift the cup of joy, we pray come Holy Spirit deepen your
Presence within us and in these gifts of bread and wine.
All: On the night before he died, Jesus gathered with his
friends, and washed their feet, so that they would follow his example.
Presider
1: (lifts bread as community prays
the following:)
All: When he
returned to his place at the table, he spoke the blessing, broke the bread and shared
it with them saying:
Take and eat of the
Bread of Life
Whenever you remember
me like this
I am among you.
(pause)
Presider
2
(lifts the cup as community prays the following: )
All: Jesus then raised a cup of blessing, spoke
the grace saying:
Take and drink of the
covenant
Made new again
through my life in you.
Whenever you remember
me like this,
I am among you. (pause)
All: Let us share this bread and cup,
and live the
gospel of social justice as we confront greed and struggle with economic
inequities.
Voice 3: We are called to do everything Jesus did, to be the
living presence of a love that does justice, of a compassion that heals and
liberates, of a joy that generates laughter, of a light that illumines right
choices and confronts the darkness of every injustice and inequity.
All: It is through the Spirit moving- in Jesus’ life and
teaching, his loving and healing, and in our lives - that all honor and glory
is yours, O Holy One, forever and ever.
All sing: Amen.
Presider 1:
Let us pray as Jesus taught us:
All: Sing -Prayer of Jesus:-Our Father and Mother
Sign of Peace:
Let us hold hands sing “Peace is flowing like a River” as we pray for peace and
justice to spread through our world.
Prayer for the Breaking
of Bread
Presider 2: Please join in the prayer for the
breaking of the bread:
(Presiders break the bread)
All:
O God of Courage, You call us to live the Gospel of peace and
justice. We will live justly.
O God of Compassion, You call us to be Your
presence in the world. We will love
tenderly.
O God of Truth, You call us to speak truth to
power. We will walk with integrity in
your presence.
(Presiders hold up bread and wine)
Presider 1: "This is the bread of life and the
cup of blessing. Through it we are nourished and we nourish each other. All are
welcome to the Feast.
All: What we have heard with our ears, we will live with our
lives; as we share communion, we will become communion, both Love’s nourishment
and Love’s challenge.
Meditation Song: Mindy Lou Simmons
Prayers of Gratitude, Introductions and
Announcements
Blessing
Presider
2: Let us raise our hands in blessing pray
together:
All: May we live lives of generosity, sharing our time, treasure
and talent with those in need. May we work for economic equity for all who have
been victimized by vicious greed. May we walk with an awareness of our call to serve
one another as the “hands and feet of Christ each day. All: Amen.
Closing
Song: # Who Will Speak? By Marty Haugen, https://youtu.be/kZ70EZqlCys
Who will speak?
Who will speak for the poor and the broken
Who will speak for the people oppressed
Who will speak so that voice will be heard
Oh, who will speak if you don’t
* Who will speak if you don’t
Who will speak if you don’t
Who will speak so that voice will be heard
Who will speak so that voice will be heard
Oh, who will speak if you don’t
Who will speak for the ones who are voiceless
Speak the truth in the places of power
Who will speak so that voice will be heard
Oh, who will speak if you don’t
This liturgy was
written by Bridget Mary Meehan. Special thanks to Barbara Reid for her scripture
scholarship which has been incorporated into this Liturgy.)
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