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Saturday, May 1, 2021

Upper Room Inclusive Catholic Community - Liturgy to Celebrate the Divine Feminine - May 2, 2021 - Presiders: Ann Bayly, Clare Julian Carbone, ARCWP, and Mary Theresa Streck, ARCWP

Welcome and Theme 

Mary Theresa: Our theme today is celebrating the Divine Feminine. 

Traditionally in the Catholic Church, the month of May was a time to celebrate Mary, the Mother of Jesus. For many, she has been and continues to be an archetype of the Divine Feminine. The Divine feminine has an ancient history in the collective psyche of humankind. Only her names have changed over the centuries. In the Christian tradition we can say that since medieval times, praying to Mary has been constant. It is as if the whole planet were one uninterrupted joyous and trusting chant to the Holy Mother, the Divine Feminine of the Holy One.

In our liturgy today, we will listen to prayers and readings that celebrate the Divine Feminine. In doing this, we balance the Divine Masculine that has dominated our faith for centuries. When we celebrate the Divine Feminine, we celebrate the equal status of women and men as leaders within our community.


Opening Prayer (Ann)

Divine Mother, we are grateful for your loving presence as we seek your guidance through our troubled times.  Help us to be alert and attentive to your great wisdom.  Awaken us to your gentle love.  Illuminate our path forward as we embrace your holy mystery.


Opening Song: Ancient Mother 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJSBqNoIqsM






LITURGY OF THE WORD


First Reading: (Kathie) A reading from Wild Mercy by Mirabai Starr


Gather your burdens in a basket in your heart. Set them at the feet of the Mother. Say, “Take this Great Mama, because I cannot carry all this shit for another minute”. And then crawl into her great lap and nestle into her ample bosom and take a nap. When you wake, the basket will still be there, but half their contents will be gone, and the other half will have resumed their ordinary shape and sizes, no longer masquerading as catastrophic, epic, chronic and toxic. The Mother will clear things out and tidy up.  She will take your compulsions and transmute them, but only if you freely offer them to her.


These are the inspired words of Mirabai Starr from her book Wild Mercy and we affirm them by saying, Amen.


Alleluia – Sung by Lynn Kinlan


Gospel: A reading from the Gospel of Luke (Terri)


But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.
These are the inspired words of the Gospel writer known as Luke and we affirm them by saying, Amen.


Shared Homily – Clare Julian Carbone, ARCWP


Our theme this morning is on the Sacred Feminine. In the Jewish tradition she is known by her Hebrew name, ‘Shekinah’. The Greek equivalent of Her name, which we are more familiar with, would be ‘Sophia’. What do we mean by the Divine Feminine? Who is the Shekinah?

 

Mystical Judaism, known as Kabbalah, defines her as the Feminine face of God. Her name means, “Dwelling”. It was Shekinah, for instance, who dwelt with, guided and comforted her people through the wilderness during the Exodus. She has been likened, by many scholars, to the Holy Spirit. Indeed, Mirabai Starr writes that Shekinah, “is the Life force that permeates and enlivens every form and expression of life. She is heart-centered, “an aggregate of qualities such as mercy, loving kindness, wildness, inclusiveness, radical truth telling, nurturing, relationality, community building, honoring of embodied experience, comfortable with ambiguity…  She is dishonored by uniformity”


According to Jewish tradition, the Shekinah withdrew her Presence and remains in exile except for the days of Shabbat (the Sabbath) when she is intentionally invoked and temporarily returns. Over the years I have been trying to understand why Shekinah withdrew. Why was she sent away? Very recently many of us shook our heads in disbelief once again, at the ban on same sex blessings, with the absurd reasoning that “God cannot bless sin!”  We hear our souls cry out, ‘Enough is enough. I cannot remain here any longer’.  I imagine Shekinah’s withdrawal of her Presence, was similar, except perhaps with many, many more tears. Was she too so disheartened by centuries of patriarchal demeaning of her values? 


      But all is not forever lost. According to Jewish tradition Shekinah returns every Shabbat to reassure us, bless us and invite us into her Presence once again. Mirabai Starr writes, “According to the ancient teachings, she resides in exile during the rest of the week, and on Shabbat she comes home.  It is our task to receive her. It is her task to awaken us to what is real - Love, and to whom we are - Love.” 


During Shabbat, the symbols of candle, bread and wine are used. The sacred candle is lit, by the woman of the household, who invokes Shekhinah’s temporary return. Bread is blessed and consumed in honor of the Earth and Shekhinah’s Presence in all things physical. The cup of wine is blessed – the empty chalice symbolizing our empty hearts’ longing to be filled again by her loving Presence; and. he wine, symbolic of the infinite, overflowing Love of God. We recognize this symbolism in our Eucharistic celebration, and I love the rich Jewish meanings we can be mindful of as we celebrate our own Christ centered ritual. In Mirabai’s words, Shabbat is about “reclaiming the power of love-longing; being released from the tyranny of the head, and brought back to the sovereignty of the heart”.  


As I reflect on Jesus’ life and self giving, I come to understand him as the male embodiment of the Shekinah. Jesus is described by John, as “the Word, that became flesh and dwelt among us”. Like Shekinah, Jesus dwells with us and promises to do so until the end of time.  Jesus’ life and death and resurrection are all witnesses to Shekhinah’s qualities of true Presence, nurturance, inclusiveness, radical truth telling and community building. With his every action and teaching we see the Divine Feminine principles being conveyed – especially to the males he mentored. 


I consider Jesus’ time with his male disciples, as a kind of three-year male sensitivity seminar, intended to ‘release them from the tyranny of the head and bring them back to the sovereignty of the heart’! And I wonder if after the Resurrection, when Jesus breathed on his disciples the Holy Spirit, if that indeed was the breath of the Shekinah, being permanently restored to us. Jesus our Shabbat, our Sabbath rest! He is the Light of our world and the balancing of Sacred Feminine and Masculine energies.  He is the Bread of Life, and the Cup of infinite Love filled to overflowing. My heart swells in love for his gift of restoring the Sacred Feminine to us.  In Christ, we need not be without Her loving, healing Presence, any longer.

 

And what of Mary, his mother?  Throughout history the Shekinah has come to us embodied via many feminine presences, the Green Tara, Bhakti, QuanYin, and I believe Mary as well. Given her many titles, such as Queen of Heaven and Earth, Our Lady of all the Nations, Our Lady of Good Counsel, Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Mother of All Peoples, etc., our understanding of Mary as an embodiment of the Sacred Feminine seems crucial.


Scripture tells us little of Mary, perhaps to allow a vast opening for Spirit to inform us inwardly, in the way that she herself came to understand God’s meanings in her life, ie. “She pondered all these things in her heart”, as St. Luke reiterates in his gospel.  We too can perceive the depth of her Shekinah presence as we allow ourselves to reflect and ponder on her meaning for us.  Her icons, and her many titles give us much to contemplate. 


When I reflect on an icon of the Madonna for instance, I see the great Shekinah presence forming the young male child away from the ways of patriarchal domination, into the ways and qualities of the Feminine; the way of Presence and compassion and inclusiveness. In his own personal reflection on Mary, Carl Jung asserted that the dogma of the Assumption was “the most significant theological event since the Reformation”. He explained that the soul communicates its deepest longings via sacred images and symbols, and that the image of Mary being elevated and received into the Godhead was conveying to us the longing of the human soul to restore and elevate the role of the Feminine. 


Over the years, I personally have grown in my love and devotion of Mary, as the Sacred Feminine, as Universal Mother, as holding the potential to heal our world of its many divisions, its violence, its mindless treatment of the earth and one another, if only we could see past the tyranny of the head and behold her with the sovereignty of our hearts. If invoked she will come, nurture, bless, guide, inspire and heal us. What meaning does the Sacred Feminine hold for you? How may you experience the Divine Feminine Presence?


Statement of Faith


Mary Theresa: Please join in proclaiming our Statement of Faith.


Dave: We believe in the Holy One, a divine mystery
beyond all definition and rational understanding,
the heart of all that has ever existed,
that exists now, or that ever will exist.

We believe in Jesus, messenger of the Divine Word,
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 vehicle of divine love,
a source of wisdom and truth,
and an instrument of peace 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.



LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST


Dennis: As we prepare for this sacred meal we remember that just as Jesus is anointed, so is each of us. We bring to this table our blessings, our gratitude and our cares and concerns. 

We bring to the table….. 


Dennis:  We pray for these and all unspoken prayers and blessings. Amen.


Ann:  O Holy One, you have been called by many names by many people in the centuries of our planet’s life. Yet, no name truly defines you or describes you.  We celebrate you as the marvelous, loving energy of life who caused us and our world to be. We celebrate you as the Source of light and life and love, and we celebrate your presence and all-ways care.


Mary Theresa: Please join in praying the Eucharistic prayer together: 

WomanSpirit Rising written by Jay Murnane.


O Holy One, You give us life, and we live and breathe with your Spirit. You create us female and male; You call us good, and we live as equal partners. You share the earth with us, and we, as co-creators with you, complement your ongoing activity of creation.


Among all our blessed ancestors, we celebrate the women who gently and firmly confronted the structures of oppression in their times with unique vision and compassion: Sarah, Deborah, Judith, Miriam, Ruth, Esther, Anna, Miriam of Nazareth, Julian, Hildegard, and so many more.


United with them, with WomenSpirit rising, with our Mother-Planet and her people everywhere, with one another and You, O Holy One, our spirits dance and sing this song of praise: 


Holy, Holy, Holy

https://youtu.be/sgkWXOSGmOQ 



Joan: We give grateful thanks for all your faithful servants, opening for all of us a path to life. We are thankful for all the women who risked everything they had so that all of us could live in a better, brighter world.


We give grateful thanks for our brother, Jesus who showed us so simply, so tenderly, how the world is in our hands.  He showed us how to be free of the blindness and paralysis of fear. 


He had nothing in this world but your love, companions on the journey, and his very self. Together, that was more than enough, and that remains our clarity in the midst of confusion: the miracle of healing, new hope, nurturance, nourishment, liberation and life.


Ann: Please extend your hands in blessing.  

 
We are ever aware of your Spirit in us and among us at this Eucharistic table and we are grateful for this bread and wine which reminds us of our call to be the body of Christ in the world. 


On the night before he faced his own death and for the sake of living fully, Jesus sat at supper with his companions and friends.  He reminded them of all that he taught them, and to fix that memory clearly within them, he bent down and washed their feet.


All lift their plate and pray the following:


When he returned to his place at the table, he lifted the Passover bread, spoke the blessing, broke the bread and offered it to them saying:

Take and eat; this is my very self.


All lift their cup and pray the following:


Mary Theresa: He then raised high the cup of the covenant, spoke the grace, and offered it to them saying: 


Take and drink.

Whenever you remember me like this, I am among you.


What we have heard with our ears, we will live with our lives, 

As we share communion, we become communion

Both Love’s nourishment and Love’s challenge.


Please receive communion with the words: The Divine Feminine is within me.


Communion Meditation: Requiem by Eliza Gilkyson dedicated to COVID-19 victims

https://youtu.be/wRJfOfUYXT0 


Prayer After Communion


Clare Julian: O Holy One, we have felt deeply the barrenness of our lives and of our community. Yet, we have always been pregnant with your creative Word and your life-giving Spirit. 


We make new our commitment to the harmony of the original vision of creation living

justly, loving tenderly, and walking this earth with integrity.  We will bind and blind and burden no longer and use our gifts only for life.


We will open up wide all that has been closed about us, and our small circles. Like Jesus, and Mary, we are filled with your Spirit and with You, we renew the face of the earth.


for it is through living as Jesus and Mary lived,

That we awaken to your Spirit within,

Moving us to glorify you,

O Holy One,

At this time and all ways.

Amen. 


Ann: Let us pray as Jesus taught us:


Holy One, you are within, around and among us.  

We celebrate your many names. 

Your wisdom come; your will be done, 

unfolding from the depths within us. 

Each day you give us all that we need. 

You remind us of our limits and we let go. 

You support us in our power, and we act with courage. 

For you are the dwelling place within us, 

the empowerment around us, 

and the celebration among us,  

now and forever, Amen.  

                                Adapted by Miriam Therese Winter 



BLESSING

Ann: Please extend your hands as we bless each other. 


Holy One, you continue to send us marvelous messengers.  Please bless us with Divine Feminine Wisdom as we ponder in our hearts the things we heard today. As we reflect on the healing that our communities cry out for, let us remember that real change happens in the sovereignty of hearts. 


Mary Theresa: Please join in singing our Closing Song


Woman Spirit by Karen Drucker

https://youtu.be/K4UTqvXeyl8




Thursday, April 29, 2021

People Who Take Every Moment Seriously Are Ready for Heaven by Richard Rohr


Image: Prescott Korn

"God puts us in a world of passing things where everything changes and nothing remains the same. The only thing that doesn’t change is change itself. It’s a hard lesson to learn. It helps us appreciate that everything is a gift. We didn’t create it. We don’t deserve it. It will not last, but while we breathe it in, we can enjoy it, and know that it is another moment of God, another moment of life. People who take this moment seriously take every moment seriously, and those are the people who are ready for heaven. If religion isn’t leading us into an eternal now, an eternal moment, an always-true moment, an always-love moment, then we have not lived the moment at all."

References:
Adapted from Richard Rohr, “The End of Worlds,” homily, November 15, 2015; and

“A Time of Unveiling,” Four Steps to the Second Coming, Day 1, presentation to Franciscan friars, November 25, 2020, video. Unpublished talk; used with permission. 

Mary, Mother of Jesus Inclusive Catholic Community Liturgy, Fifth Week in Easter, May 1, 2021, Presiders: Kathryn Shea ARCWP, and Lee Breyer, Readers: Cheryl and Jim Brandi, Music Minister: Linda Lee Miller

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85108095506?pwd=Y3IyS0xkaWZ1WGRUOXlZMm5qcE1Fdz09         

Zoom link for video- 4:00 PM Eastern Standard Time

ID 851- 0809-5506

Passcode 1066          

Theme: “… forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who..."




Welcome


Kathryn:  Welcome everyone to our Zoom liturgy at Mary Mother of Jesus Inclusive Catholic Community.  We will share together the compassionate presence of God that is in each and every one of us.  We know that we are companions with one another on our journeys.  Each one of us has the same goal of blessedness, but with different paths to that common goal. 

Today our travels on our paths will be helped along by Zoom; they will be supported by the hard work of our IT team.  And, as you would expect, there are some “rules of the road” that are familiar to many here today and will serve as reminders to all of us.

Lee:  We will all be “muted” (silenced) as we open the liturgy, except for the presiders and the readers.  When they have something to read, they will be “unmuted;” they will then be able to be heard by everyone.  All of us are invited to pray the liturgy and respond to where it says “ALL”.  And if you have a comment to make after the homily starter, or some information you would like to share with the community near the end of the liturgy, please “unmute” yourself when you speak, and then remember to “re-mute” yourself when you are finished. 

Kathryn:  So let us take a few minutes to settle our bodies and minds for the blessed time before us.  Our path leader, Jesus, and our supporter, the Spirit, will move us along on our path today. 

Opening Song

Gather Us In by Marty Haugen; performed by Linda Lee Miller



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnom5mFwJaI

Opening Prayer

ALL and Kathryn:  God of life, wholeness and holiness, you who direct all creation to its complete fulfillment in Jesus the Christ, open our hearts to the messages of the Gospels so that your peace may rule in our hearts and your justice guide our lives.  Loving God, bless us in our efforts to follow the example of Jesus, especially his concern for everyone everywhere he went.  And may we learn to love as he did, regardless of their behaviors … including even those who, in the end of his time on earth, actually killed him.

Penitential Right and Community Forgiveness

Lee:  Loving God, we may not fully open our hearts to your Spirit living within us; we have lessons to learn. 

ALL and Kathryn: Help us to open ourselves to her message and to be your voice among the people we meet on our paths to our common goal. 

ALL and Kathryn: Christ Jesus, help us to grow in our understanding and confidence that your word will certainly bring peace to us and our world.

ALL and Kathryn:  Help us to recognize and respond to your presence in us and share that blessing with our brothers and sisters in your earthly family.

Glory to  God

Lee:  Glory and praise in the highest, and peace to all God’s people. Creator God, heart of the universe, we thank you for the breath of the Spirit at work in everything that exists, everywhere in the cosmos.  Through the life and teaching of Jesus, you opened our minds so that we could truly know that you are always with us – and that we can experience you in our brothers and sisters.  We believe that in everyone with whom we celebrate this liturgy…even on Zoom!  With you, space is no separator.

Liturgy of the Word

Lee:  Today’s first reading will be presented to us by Cheryl.  In it Paul is providing information about whom we are, the roles that we play and the result of this.  He did so in his Second letter to the Corinthians.

Cheryl:  We are Christ’s ambassadors, as though God was making this message to others - through us.  As Christ’s co-workers, we beg you not to receive the grace of God in vain.  For God said through Isaiah: “At the acceptable time I heard you, and on the day of salvation I helped you.”  Now, my people, is the acceptable time!  Now is the day of salvation!

This is the word of God, through Paul to us.  We are grateful, as an ambassador of God’s message and share this message. And, for that, we all say: Thanks be to God. 

Lee:  Jim B will lead us in our response to this sacred message.

Jim B:  Our response to Psalm 146 is:

      Response: Happy are the poor in spirit, the reign of God is theirs.

You who keep faith forever, secure justice for the oppressed…you give food to the hungry.  And you set the captives free.

R:  Happy are the poor in spirit, the reign of God is theirs.

Adonai, You give sight to this blind person.  You raise up all those who are bowed down in their physical and spiritual difficulties... and you give much love to all those like them.  You do so while setting the captives free.

R:  Happy are the poor in spirit, the reign of God is theirs.

The orphan and the widow you support, but even the ways of the wicked ones you attend to.  Adonai, You will reign forever; You will live through all generations.  Alleluia!

R.  Happy are the poor in spirit, the reign of God is theirs.

And to this good news, we say “thanks be to God.”

Kathryn: Cheryl will share with us Paul’s good words to all those who are part of the sacred family he fathers, those people who live in Corinth.

Cheryl:  The “cup of blessing” that we bless -- is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ?   The “bread” that we break – is it not a sharing in the body of Christ?  Because the loaf of bread is one, we who are many persons are one body, for we all share the one loaf.

This is the holy word of God, that we, who soon will share in the cup and the bread, Christ’s blood and body - are the one loaf Paul described. 

And to this description of a part of our liturgy, we all say:  Alleluia, Alleluia!

Lee:   The gospel for today will be proclaimed by Kathryn; it is a selection from John, chapter 13, verses 33-35.   And what Kathryn will share with us is a message from Jesus immediately after He finished His final meal and people were leaving the room. This was what He said when Judas had left the place where he had been with others for the paschal meal. 

Kathryn:  My friends, I will not be with you much longer.  I give you a new commandment: love one another.  And you are to love each other as I have loved you.  This is how everyone will know that you are my disciples: they will see and understand that you truly have love for one another.

Pause a bit before continuing

This is the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus, his message to all those he met on his time on earth…and that, of course, includes us, each one of us.   

And to this we all say:  Thanks be to God!  Alleluia, thanks be to God.

Shared Homily and Community Reflections

Lee Breyer

Communal Statements of Faith

Kathryn and ALL: We are a people of faith.  Having heard the words of scripture, we now add our own, individually and as a blessed community.  This is an opportunity for all of us to pray:

We believe in God, the Creator of the universe, whose divinity infuses all that exists, making everything, everywhere, sacred.

We believe in Jesus, the Christ, who leads us to the fullness of humanity. Through him, we become a new people, called beyond the consequences of our brokenness. 

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Wisdom who keeps the Christ-vision present to all those who are searching for meaning and wholeness in their lives.  She is the one who heals and energizes us when our spirits may grow weary in our journeys.  We say: Amen to courage, to hope, and to truth.  We say: Amen to the partnership and equality of all people of different genders, races and faiths. We believe in a world of justice and peace for everyone, everywhere, with no exceptions.  In all of this, we surely do believe.

Prayers of the Community

Lee :  We just said that we were “a people of faith,” and stated a number of actions that we believe and associate with the Holy Trinity.  We now bring to our prayer the needs that we know that we, family members and friends, suffer from results of the Coronavirus, especially Covid-19.

After each intercession, we will respond:

R/   Compassionate God, we believe in the grace of your healing power, have mercy on us.


Lee and ALL: 

That those who are injured by statements and actions of hatred and violence will find consolation and peace, we pray…R

That those who are sick, in need of physical and spiritual help, we pray…R

That those many, many people who have gone home ahead of us and now dwell in their heavenly homes, we pray…R

That those who suffer their separation from people and places, particularly due to the contagious nature of our disease, we pray…R

Lee:  Please take this opportunity to pray for your personal intentions.

We hold these and all our unspoken intentions in our hearts.

Our Preparation Of Our Gifts

Please have your bread and drink handy where you can handle them soon.

Cheryl:  Blessed are you, God of all creation. Through your goodness we have this bread that will become the bread of life, the Body of Christ.

Cheryl and ALL:  Blessed be God forever.

Cheryl:  Blessed are you, God of all creation. Through your goodness we have this fruit of the vine that will become our spiritual drink, the Blood of Christ. 

Cheryl and ALL:  Blessed be God forever.    

Kathryn:  Merciful God, we are united in this sacrament by our common love of Jesus. Though we are brought here by Zoom to our community gathering, we are united with everyone everywhere who proclaims your mercy.  Grant us your grace so that we may love tenderly, do justice, and walk humbly with you in solidarity with our brothers and sisters everywhere in the cosmos.  May we live as prophetic witnesses to the messages of the Gospel, and with the direction of Jesus and the support of the Spirit.


Eucharistic Prayer

Jim B:  Ever present and always caring God, we do well always and everywhere to give you thanks for the many blessings you have bestowed on us.  You are always with us…living in us, as we do in you.  Our hope is that we can reflect your compassionate care well, wherever we go and with whatever we say.  We pray that your Spirit makes aware of this.

Loving God, we thank you for the gift of Jesus of Nazareth in history – and the gift of Jesus the Christ in faith.  You brought him from among all your people to baptize us in your Spirit.  His life was moved by his consuming vison of your presence in himself and in his mission.  He extended that when he also recognized your presence in every person he met…and shared with them the love that was him.  He showed us with his example not only how we should live, but also for what was worth dying.

Cheryl: And when his time on earth had come to an end, Jesus – aware of and accepting his destiny, gave up his life as a witness of the values that he deeply believed, lived and taught … and that was his conviction that love is stronger than death.  In providing an example of this wisdom for everyone in the ages to come, he opened wide his arms…and died.  And the Spirit that lived in Jesus raised the “dead Jesus” to a new life.  The Spirit of resurrection is promised to each one of us as well.  Jesus is with us today in the coming of the kindom; he will be with us through the end of time.

Kathryn and ALL:  We remember the gift that Jesus gave us on the night before he died.  He gathered with his friends to share a final Passover meal.  And it was at that supper that Jesus took bread, said the blessing and shared it with them saying: take this all of you and eat it. This bread is you; this bread is me.  We are one body, the presence of God in the world.  When you do this, remember me and all that I have taught you.  This is the new and everlasting covenant.  

Lee and ALL:  In the same way, Jesus took a cup of wine, said the blessing and gave it to his friends saying: take this all of you and drink it. This wine is you; this wine is me.  We are one blood, the presence of God in the world.  When you do this, remember me and all that I have taught you.  This is our new and everlasting covenant.

Jesus, who was with God “in the beginning of the heavens and the earth,” is with us now in your bread.  The Spirit, of who the prophet spoke in history, is with us now in your cup.  Let us proclaim this mystery of our faith.

Jesus has died.  Christ has risen.  The cosmic Christ lives in and through us, as a Divine presence, in the world today. 

Jim and ALL: We believe that the Spirit of God, the Divine Presence, is at work in and among us always.  We believe that it is in Christ, through Christ and with Christ that the Holy Spirit moves in each one of us.  All glory and honor is with the Creator God, forever and ever.


Song: The Great Amen (Linda Lee Miller’s)



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dy76fpfkNsg

The Prayer of Jesus

Lee and ALL

Our Father and Mother, who are in heaven, blessed are your names.

May your kindom come; your wills be done…on earth as they are in heaven.

Give us this day, our daily bread.

Forgive us our trespasses … as we forgive those who trespass against us.

Strengthen us in times of temptations, and deliver us from evil.

For yours is the kindom, now and forever.

Amen,    Amen,    Amen.


The sharing of the peace of Christ

Cheryl and All: Jesus, we know that you have given us the gifts of peace and unity beyond any words we could express.  Help us to spread them around the world, everywhere we go. Let us be the peace of Christ in our neighborhoods.

Let us “get in the mood” with singing “Let there be peace on earth”


Song: Let there be Peace on Earth



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPH4LRASWbo&feature=share
 


Breaking of the Bread   and   Consuming Communion

Lee and All: Loving God, you call us to be your presence in the world and to be bearers of forgiveness and understand, healing and compassion everywhere in your name.

We will live justly

We will love tenderly

We will walk humbly with you

Loving God, when we eat this sacred meal – we who have always been worthy – ask you to strength us that we may always follow the teaching of Jesus and spread the Sacred Message of the Gospel everywhere.

Kathryn: Please receive/share the Eucharist now saying: “You are the face of God everywhere and always.”

Communion Song:


I Am the One Within You, performed by Linda Lee Miller



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Pz4wO1AJ2w

Introductions, Thanksgivings, Announcements

Closing Community Commissioning

Together with an arm extended to one another in mutual blessing we say:

Kathryn and All: May our hearts be glad on our journey as we dream new dreams and see new visions. 

May we all live and work for peace, justice, forgiveness and non-violence in our hearts.

May we learn to bless, honor and hold in reverence the Earth and one another.  Amen.

Closing Song

Wonder by MaMuse


https://youtube.com/watch?v=S2v2yBXAnqM&feature=share



If you would like to add your intercession to our MMOJ Community Prayers book,

Please send an email to Joan Meehan at jmeehan515@aol.com



If you would like to invite another person to attend our liturgy please refer them to

www.marymotherofJesus.org where the day’s liturgy is found. Zoom instructions are also included there.


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Mary Mother of Jesus Inclusive Catholic Community

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