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| Bridget Mary Meehan and Peg Bowen preside at Liturgy |
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| Presentation of Gifts |
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| Mary Mother of Jesus Inclusive Catholic Community prays Eucharistic Prayer |
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| Community anoints Joanne Cooper before heart surgery |
Theme: Activating Your Inner Spiritual
Trainer
Welcome and Greeting
Presider 1:
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Presider
2: Today we are called to activate the Spiritual
Trainer within us to grow stronger in loving and serving, justice seeking and
truth –telling.
Opening Song: Come Be Beside Us
by Jan Phillips
Come be beside us.
Come be around us.
Come be within us.
Come be among us.
Opening Prayer:
ALL:
We listen to the voice of God speaking to us and
give thanks that the power within us helps us grow into our kindest, most
inclusive selves. Here we recognize that in the beloved community the first
shall be last and the last shall be first.
Rite
of Forgiveness and Reconciliation
Presider 1: Let us pause now to pray with one
another for forgiveness for the times we failed to trust our Spiritual Trainer speaking
within us and through others in our world. Let us pledge ourselves to engage in
a spiritual workout each day to connect us with our power to heal and transform
negativity, pain and suffering on our journey to wholeness and holiness.
PAUSE
All: Raise hands in gesture of mutual
forgiveness and sing this chant: Ubi Caritas, et amor, ubi caritas, deus ibi
est.
(Sing 3 times refrain from-Taize)
Gloria:
ALL Sing:
Glory to God, glory, o praise God, alleluia, Glory to God, glory, o praise the
name of our God (3 times)
Liturgy
of the Word
First Reading: Isaiah 66:18-21
A Reading from the book of Isaiah
“I am coming to gather the nations of every language. They
will come to witness my glory. I will give them a sign and send some of their
survivors to the nations that have never heard of me or seen my glory. And they
will declare my glory among the nations. As an offering to the Most High, they
will bring all your sisters and brothers, from all the nations to my holy
mountain in Jerusalem,” says Our God, “like Israelites bringing oblations in
clean vessels to the Temple of the Most High. And some of them I will make
priests and Levites. “says Our God.
These are the inspired word of the prophet Isaiah. R. Thanks
be to God.
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 117 ( Psalms for Praying,
by Nan Merrill)
Psalm Response: Go out to all the world and tell the good
news
Praise the Most Merciful, All nations. Extol the Holy One,
all peoples
Psalm Response: Go out to all the world and tell the good
news
For great is the Blessed One’s Love towards us; The Beloved’s
Faithfulness endures forever.
Psalm Response: Go out to all the world and tell the good
news
Praises be to the Heart of all Hearts.
Psalm Response: Go out to all the world and tell the good
news
Second Reading: A
Reading from the letter to the Hebrews
12: 5-7, 11-13
Have you forgotten
that encouraging text in which you were addressed as God’s children?
My child, when God
corrects you, do not treat it lightly;
But do not get
discouraged when God reprimands you.
For God trains all
loved ones and punishes all those acknowledged as God’s children.
Suffering is part
of your training; you are being treated as God’s children. Has there ever been
any child whose parent did not give training? Of course, at the time it is
administered, all discipline seems a cause for grief and not for joy, but later it brings forth the fruit of
peace and justice to those who are trained in its school. So strengthen your
drooping hands and your weak knees. Make straight the paths you walk on, that
your halting limbs may not be dislocated but healed.
These are the
inspired words of the author of the Letter to the Hebrews. R. Thanks be to God.
Alleluia (eightfold)
Gospel: A Reading from the Gospel of Luke 13:22-30
Jesus went through cities and towns teaching, all the while
making his way to Jerusalem Someone asked, “ Are those who are to be saved few
in number?” Jesus replied “Try to come
in through the narrow door. Many, I tell you, will try to enter and be unable.
Once the head of the household has risen to lock the door, you may find yourselves
standing outside, knocking and saying, please open for us,” but the answer will
come, “I do not know you.” Then you will begin to say, “We ate and drank in
your company, You Taught in our streets.” But again, you will be told, “I tell
you, I do not know where you come from. Away from, you evildoers!”
“There will be wailing and grinding of teeth when you see
Sarah and Abraham, Rebecca and Isaac, Leah and Rachel and Jacob, and all the
prophets safe in the house of God, and you yourselves rejected. People will
come from the east and west, from the north and the south, and will take their
places at the feast in the house of God. Some who are last, will be first, and
some who are first will be last.”
These are the inspired words of Luke, follower of Jesus.
Homily Starter: Bridget Mary
Meehan ARCWP
Today a growing number of people are
engaged in physical fitness and eating healthy foods. My community at Oakwood Manor works out to
music in our heated pool each day. Eating healthy is a work in progress for me. Breakfast
for me most days is a plain ice cream sundae and a sugar free French vanilla
latte at McDonalds where I meet with friends. On the improving side, I do not
drink diet coke each day anymore and supper consists of 3 servings of frozen
vegetables nuked in my microwave, a protein, and fruit. I know! There is lots
of room for improvement!
Rabbi Jesus knew how to keep his listeners on
the edge of their seats. His responses sometimes provoked and even made them uncomfortable
like I believe our readings do today. While physical training is popular topic,
salvation and spiritual training are far more controversial and even polarizing
topics.
When Jesus is asked in today’s
gospel who will be saved, he does not give a direct answer. Rather he issues an
invitation to enter through the narrow gate.
Some contemporary Christians believe
that all we have to do to be saved is accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Many
Catholics believe if they go to Mass on Sundays, stay out of mortal sin and
follow the Church’s rules, they are good to go!
Several weeks ago, Janet talked about
how the Church misinterpreted the creation story found in Genesis 1 with its
emphasis on original blessing and replaced it with an emphasis on original sin.
in this theology Jesus became a mere
mop-up exercise for sin, and sin management,” as Richard Rohr suggests, ”His
death instead of his life was defined as
saving us… We must reclaim Jesus as an inclusive Savior instead of an
exclusionary Judge, as a Christ who hold history together as the cosmic Alpha
and Omega. Some would call this the very shape of salvation.” (Richard Rohr, The Universal Christ,
pp. 62,68)
According to Scripture scholar Barbara Reid,
the original meaning of the word “strive” refers to the effort and training
that is necessary to develop spiritual strength. In the second reading the
author of Hebrews makes an analogy between the training that a child receives
from a parent and the guidance a loving God provides for deepening in the
spiritual life.”
( Abiding Word pp. 97-98)
( Abiding Word pp. 97-98)
So, the bottom line is how does
Jesus’ words “strive to enter through
the narrow gate,” inspire and challenge each of us today to grow spiritually,
more whole and holy, with our eccentric traits and unique talents?
Three spiritual exercises that strengthen me are:
1. Prayer declutters
my mind and centers my soul in love with the Beloved within a praying community. My practice is to hold in love the people and intentions I am asked to pray for at a holy hour where others are also praying at Incarnation Church Monday-Friday.
2. My second exercise is spiritual reading and journaling. This exercise stretches my mind and often inspires me. Currently, I am reading Ally Kateusz’s new book entitled Mary
and Early Christian Women Hidden Leadership which has numerous texts
and illustrations of Mary Mother of Jesus as a liturgical leader, high priest
and bishop who led the apostles in prayer. I felt like jumping out of my seat when I looked at the illustrations depicting her with arms upraised,
not as a submissive virgin with head bowed like so many statutes I have seen.
3. I
strive to live in the present moment and respond to whomever or whatever comes
before me as the voice of Christ. One humorous example, happened this summer in Dublin when I was
walking down Grafton Street. A young
man approached me and asked if I would buy
him a jacket. When I agreed, he added that a trousers would be nice too. Long ago when I worked as a pastoral associate,
Chaplain Frank Keefe said that I was like a magnet that attracted "broken wings." When people like Bill ask for help, I try to see them as the face of Christ dying, rising and coming again and again in our world.
Community Sharing: What practices help to activate your inner spiritual trainer to grow stronger in loving and
serving others in today’s world?
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.
I bring to the Table… Response to each prayer: Amen
Please
share your spontaneous prayers.
Presider 2: (HOLD UP BOOK OF INTENTIONS) We give thanks
for all 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 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 share. 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
Holy One, we trust that your Voice speaks in us and through us as we recognize
your presence in the least and the last in our communities, nations and world.
May our spiritual practices expand our hearts to live compassion and work for
justice for all. 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:
Holy, Holy, Holy by Karen Drucker
Voice 1: We thank you
for Jesus, our brother, who called us embrace the least and the last and to
recognize them as the Face of God in our world. 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
where everyone has enough and where all are welcome.
(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 compassion and justice where all are
welcome.
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.
Great Amen (Lilies of the Field)
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.
Song: Peace is
flowing like a river by Carey Landry
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: Instrumental
Prayers of Gratitude, Introductions and Announcements
Blessing
Presider 2: Let us raise our hands in blessing pray
together:
All: May we live lives of kindness reaching out to those in
need. May we listen to our Spiritual Trainer speaking within us and through us.
May we walk with an awareness of our call to serve the last and the least as
the “hands and feet of Christ each day. All:
Amen.
Closing Song: We Are
Marching in the Light of God(Singing, Dancing, Loving)
Siyahamba
This liturgy was written by Bridget Mary Meehan. ARCWP