Being the Compassion of God-
Lenten Reflections
Feb 1, 2018 MMOJ at Sun City Center
“Kindness has converted more people than zeal, science or eloquence,
Holiness grows so fast where there is kindness” St. Theresa of Calcutta.
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| Walt and Mary co-preside |
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| Suzanne, Don seated, Paddy Cooney |
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| Connie Meade, Roman's Sister |
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| Paddy Cooney and Connie Meade |
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| Community blessing |
Presider: In the name of God, Fountain of Compassion, of Jesus our Brother who forgives us our faults, and of the Holy Spirit Sofia who heals all our wounds. ALL: Amen.
All: We gather at your table to reflect on our Lenten journey to deeper awareness and need for our own healing. As we begin Lent, O holy God, strengthen us in our endeavors against evil. Help us to discover whatever interferes with loving each other. Bless our efforts to live in union with you and all the people of the world. We ask your blessings in union with all followers who begin this season of Lenten reflection in your name. Amen
HEALING OUR SELFISHNESS and our wounds
Voice: O God, may we see your face in all who are demonized so that the bullying, bigotry and hate will stop. All: May we open our hearts like Mary, to God’s mothering love, affirming fullness of life for all. Jesus the Christ, may we see the divine reality in victims, especially in all who suffer violence, and discrimination. May we like Mary, champion the oppressed and protect the abused.
Voice: O Wisdom Sophia, may we see your face in people who are ill, unemployed, uneducated, are hungry and homeless, anxious and stressed. ALL: May we, like Jesus, care for all those in need.
All: (holding hand up in blessing) God of Love we ask our sisters and brothers to forgive our failures to serve them in works of mercy and justice. As we heal, may we become your ongoing Compassion in the world. Amen.
ALL: Glory to God, glory; O praise God alleluia, glory to God, glory, O praise the name of our God, 3x (sung)
Readings: see separate sheet.
Profession of Faith:
All: We believe in God who is creator and nurturer of all. We believe in Jesus, the Christ, who is our love, our hope, and our light. We believe in the Holy Spirit, the breath of Wisdom Sophia, who energizes and guides us to build caring communities and to challenge exploitation and injustices. We believe that all of humanity and creation are one in the Heart of God. We believe that God loves us passionately and forgives us everything. We believe that God calls us to be the saving presence of the Holy One in the world. We believe that we are called to love those in need in the most practical everyday ways. We believe in the communion of saints our heavenly friends, who support us on life’s journey. Here we are called to dwell in loving relationships with our brothers and sisters and all life of Mother Earth. Here we live our prophetic call of Gospel compassion. Amen
GENERAL INTERCESSIONS
Presider: Aware that God, like a fierce mother bear, who protects her young, is a defender of the oppressed and pursuer of justice, we now bring the needs of the suffering, in our church and world, before you. Response: God of forgiveness and healing, hear our prayer.
Voice: For those who have been rejected and demonized, our brothers and sisters who are LGBTQ, those of color and of the Muslim faith, we pray for acceptance and fullness of life. God of forgiveness and healing, hear our prayer.
Voice: For the hungry, lonely, homeless and for all those without basic human needs. God of forgiveness and healing, hear our prayer.
Presider: For other intentions…
Presider O Holy One, we walk in our Christian faith this Lent knowing that for you nothing is impossible and we can care for others in need through the power of your Spirit Sofia working in us. ALL: Amen
PREPARATION OF THE GIFTS
Co-Presider: Blessed are you, O God, Creator of all. This bread is your MMOJ community ministering with others to be your Compassion in our community and throughout our country. Through your divine providence, we have this bread to offer, it will become for us the Bread of Life. All: Blessed be God forever.
Co-Presider: Blessed are you, O God, source of compassion and forgiveness. This wine is our desire to come closer to you especially during the quiet times in our Lenten journey. Through your divine providence we have this wine to offer, it will become our spiritual drink. ALL: Blessed be God forever.
Presider: Divine Presence, we are united in this sacrament by the love of Jesus Christ in communion with all who live as the Compassionate presence of God in our world ALL: Amen.
EUCHARISTIC PRAYER
Voice: Holy One, it is right that we give you thanks and praise at this table of boundless compassion. Your empowering presence is revealed in the friendship meals where Jesus dined with tax collectors, lepers, sinners, and women. All are accepted, loved and forgiven. In joyful thanksgiving for your extravagant affection for all of us, we join with the angels and saints in an unending hymn of praise:
ALL: (sing) We are holy, holy, holy…, you are holy…I am holy…we are holy (Music by Karen Drucker)
Co-presider: Jesus taught his disciples how to love with a compassionate heart. May we learn his lessons anew during our Lenten journey. Healing Spirit, we trust that your love flows through us as we feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, visit the sick and imprisoned, and assist the dying and work to change a system of injustice.
ALL: As we come together in memory, Jesus we pray that Your Spirit will come upon these gifts of bread and wine and upon us, that we may become the body and blood of Christ blessed, broken and shared. (pause as bread is lifted)
ALL: We remember how, on the night before he died, Jesus was at table with those he loved. He took bread and blessed you, God of all creation. He broke the bread shared it with his friends and said, “Take this, all of you and eat. This is my body. Do this in memory of me. “
(pause as wine is lifted)
Co-presider: Then Jesus took the cup of blessing, spoke the grace, and offered us the wine:
ALL: “Take this all of you and drink. Do this in memory of me.”
MEMORIAL ACCLAMATION
ALL: The Body of Christ is blessed, broken and shared every time we comfort the troubled. The Body of Christ is blessed, broken and shared every time we counsel the confused. The Body of Christ is blessed, broken and shared every time we advocate for justice.
Voice: Heart of Love, we celebrate our Lenten journey in memory of Jesus our brother, who reminds us that we are the face of God, through whom the Spirit redeems injustice by Compassionate caring for our sisters and brothers in our world today.
Voice: Creator of the Universe, your love flows through all beings to heal our earth. As we work for environmental healing, your sacred energy transforms the cosmic Body of Christ.
Voice: Energizing Spirit, we are one with the cloud of witnesses who have lived your works of mercy during their lives. As we serve human needs with generous hearts, we are channels of your tender compassion. We ask that you heal us on our Lenten journey with Jesus our Brother.
ALL: Through Christ, with Christ and in Christ, all glory and honor is yours, loving God forever and ever. Amen.
We pray with Jesus as we walk with him this Lent: Our Father and Mother….
Sign of Peace: Peace is flowing like a river, joy….hope… (by Carey Laundry)
LITANY OF THE BREAKING OF BREAD
Presider: Loving God, we will serve the least and the last in our world ALL: Namaste (translation: The Spirit in me greets the Spirit in you)
Presider: Loving God, we will care for our sisters and brothers who need our help. All: The Spirit in me greets the Spirit in you
Presider: Loving God, we will advocate for non-violence and a more just world. All: The Spirit in me greets the Spirit in you
COMMUNION
Presider: There is room at the table for everyone. Let us share the Body of Christ with the Body of Christ.
AFTER COMMUNION
Prayers of Thanksgiving from the community, announcements
All: Nourished at this open table where all are welcome, may we live the saving presence of God by doing works of mercy. Go, now and live the Gospel of Jesus!!
FINAL BLESSING (extend your hand in blessing)
All: During this season of Lent, make us reconciled to you, O God, that we may put on the holiness of Christ and give you glory. Help us to live this season as true disciples on our way to transformation and fullness of life. Grand this as we journey to you with Jesus, our brother. We love, bless and serve one another in the name of God our Creator, Jesus our brother, and Holy Sofia our Wisdom living in you through all eternity. Amen.
Adapted from the liturgy by Bridget Mary Meehan, 2017 www.arcwp.org
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Readings for our Lenten Reflections
February 1, 2018
LITURGY OF THE WORD
First Reading: Acts 22:3-16
Paul addressed the people in these words: “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus I Cilicia, but brought up I this city. At the feet of Gamaliel I was educated strictly in our ancestral law and was zealous for God, just as all of you today. I persecuted this Way to death, binding both men and women and delivering them to prison. Even the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify on my behalf. For from them I even received letters to the brothers and set out for “Damascus to bring back to Jerusalem in chains for punishment those there as well.
“On that journey as I drew near to Damascus, about noon a great light from the sky suddenly shone around me. I fell to the ground an heard a voice saying to me, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” I replied, “Who are you, sir?” And he said to me, “I am Jesus the Nazorean who you are persecuting.”
My companions saw the light but did not hear the voice of the one who spoke to me. I asked, “What shall I do, Sir?” Jesus replied, “Get up and go into Damascus, and there you will be told about everything appointed for you to do.” Since I could see nothing because of the brightness fo that light, I was led by the hand by my companions and entered Damascus.”
“A certain Ananias, a devout observer of the law, and highly spoken of by all the Jews who lived the, came to me and stood there and said, “Saul, my brother, regain your sight.” And at that very moment I regained my sight and saw him. Then he said, “The God of our ancestors designated you to know his will, to see the Righteous One, and to hear the sound of his voice. For you will be his witness before all to what you have seen and heard. Now why delay? Get up and have yourself baptized and your sins washed away, calling up the name of Jesus.” The Word of God. All: Thanks be to God
Responsorial Psalm: Taken from Psalms for Praying, an Invitation to Wholeness, Nan C Merrill
Response All: May we be known for mercy rendering justice for those who are poor.
The Beloved loves justice and will enable all who call upon Love to grow in love. The upright of heart know Silence; when they speak, it is with wisdom and justice. Love abides in their hearts; their way is made sure. (Psalm 37)
All: May we be known for mercy rendering justice for those who are poor.
Bring justice to the peoples, O Beloved, and your mercy to all generations! May the people be known for mercy, rendering justice to the poor! …May we heed the cry of the poor---the young and the old, helping to free all those in need, awakening the souls of oppressors! (Psalm 72)
All: May we be known for mercy rendering justice for those who are poor.
Great peace have those who co-create with You, who share the living wine of your Spirit Sofia. They know that all goodness comes from your Divine Love, the Source and Foundation of all life. Fill us, O Gracious One, with your loving wisdom, guide all hearts on paths of peace. When the journey seems long, when we become discouraged along the way, You uphold and sustains us, you restore us with your blessed grace.
All: May we be known for mercy rendering justice for those who are poor.
Second Reading: “Today’s Good News” Sr. Melannie Svoboda, SND, pg 173 in Living with Christ
The Gospel is clear; all disciples of Jesus are sent. Some are sent to faraway places as many of the first apostle were. Being sent can be dramatic too. Consider the account of the calling of St. Paul to conversion…But distance and drama need not be a part of being sent. We can be sent without leaving our own neighborhood or even our own home, without blinding lights or mysterious voices. As Christians, we are sent no matter where we are ---even if we are hearing this in a prison cell or a hospital room. Being sent simply means we carry God’s love in our hearts and share that love with whomever God puts into our lives. We might ask ourselves where am I being sent this Lent? To Whom? The inspired word of Sr Melannie. All: Thanks be to God.
Gospel: A reading from the Gospel according to Matthew 5: 1-10
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on the mountainside, and after he sat down and disciples had gathered around, Jesus began to teach them:
Blessed are those who are poor in spirit; the kindom of heaven is theirs.
Blessed are those who are mourning, they will be consoled.
Blessed are those who are gentle; they will inherit the land.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice; for they will have their fill.
Blessed are those who show mercy to others; they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are those whose hearts are clean; they will see God.
Blessed are those who work for peace; they will be called children of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of their struggle for justice; the kindom of heaven is theirs. The good news of Jesus, the Christ!
All: Glory and praise to you, Jesus our Compassionate and Forgiving Brother!
Has my understanding of the meaning of Lent changed? Childhood, adult life, Senior?
What has been my experience of meeting Jesus/walking with Jesus in past Lents?
Have I changed my behavior over the years because of my Lenten practice?
What is the most important lesson I have learned during my Lenten practice?
Does any Lenten experience stand out in your memory?
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