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| Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash |
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| Dotty Shugrue ARCWP and Joan Pesce, Presiders |
Theme: We too are sent….
Welcome and Gathering
Presider: Welcome to our Zoom liturgy at Mary Mother of Jesus, an inclusive Catholic Community, where all are welcome. At these difficult times, it is now more important than ever to gather together to support one another as “companions on this journey”, a journey of the unknown. For “wherever two or more of you are gathered in my Name, there is love.”
Presider: We invite you to pray the liturgy and respond where it says, All. All participants will be muted during the liturgy except for the presiders and readers. During the shared homily we ask you to raise your hand if you would like to contribute and unmute yourself. Please have bread and wine/juice in front of you as we pray our Eucharistic prayer.
Let us begin now with our gathering song:
Opening Song: We Are Called (Breaking Bread #617) Linda Lee-Miller
Verse 1:
Come! Live in the light! Shine with the joy and the love of our God!
We are called to be light for the kin-dom, to live in the freedom of the city of God!
We are called to act with justice, we are called to love tenderly,
we are called to serve one another; to walk humbly with God.
Verse 2:
Come! Open your heart! Show your mercy to all those in fear!
We are called to be hope for the hopeless, so all hatred and blindness will be no more!
We are called to act with justice, we are called to love tenderly,
we are called to serve one another; to walk humbly with God.
Opening Prayer
We gather today as Church Community to celebrate Jesus’s request that when we “break bread and share wine” we do this in his memory.
Today we reflect on what it means to be a “sent church.” We ask for Divine Wisdom to inspire us with new insight in ways that we may do as the disciples did and bring the message of Jesus as shared today through the reflections of Matthew. We live today in an atmosphere of fear enhanced by a lack of leadership, as we face the greatest disruptions in our life time in our broken country
We are witnessing Americans who are driven to the streets in massive demonstration. We recognize that the environment of hate being born today is deeply rooted in the very fabric of our society.
As people of faith we believe in our collective power, to send Spirit Divine to heal our broken country, our broken world. And together we say
ALL: So be it!
Transformation/Reconciliation Prayer
Our broken country continues to struggle with a deadly disease. What can I do amidst such sickness and death?
ALL: Transform us O Holy One
We are surrounded by hate and injustice. We have witnessed brutality and evil in our streets.
All: Transform us O Holy One
We live surrounded by fear, with a deep lack of faith in the power of Divine within each of us.
All: Transform us O Holy One
Gloria
Presider: Glory to the Spirit of Life, to the Holy One who surrounds us, who lives within us, whose Sacred Word is shared by us in our world.
ALL: Glory to the Spirit of Life, who offers us peace; peace in our hearts, peace in our thoughts, peace with one another as we reach out to one another and ask for blessing.
Presider: Glory to the Spirit of Life, who cares for the health workers, postal workers, store clerks, garbage collectors and all who serve our special needs in numerous ways.
ALL: Glory to the Spirit of Life, who sent Jesus who teaches us how to live the Gospels, who brings hope and healing to all those in need.
Presider: O Holy One, you are one with us. We are strong in our faith and will live life in hope and faithfulness to you, to be Church committed to the message of the Gospels.
We depend upon the ever-present Spirit to walk with us as we journey in the present and rejoice in the life before us.
ALL: Glory to the Spirit of Life, Amen
LITURGY OF THE WORD
First Reading: 2 Kings 4:8-11, 14-16
A reading from the second book of Kings.
Reader: Janet Blakley
One day Elisha came to Shunem, where there was a woman of influence, who urged him to dine with her. Afterward, whenever Elisha passed by, they dined together. One day the woman told her husband, “I know that Elisha is a prophet. Since he visits us often, let us arrange a little room on the roof and furnish it with a bed, table, chair and lamp, so there will be a place for him to stay.” Sometime later Elisha arrived and stayed in the room overnight. Elisha then said to his attendant Gehazi, “Call this Shunammite woman.” Gehazi did so, and when the woman arrived Elisha said to Gehazi, “Tell her, ‘You have lavished all this care on us, what can we do for you? Can we put in a good word for you with the commander of the army?” The woman replied, “I am living among my own people.” Later Elisha asked, “Can something be done for her?” “Yes! Gehazi answered. “She has no children, and her husband is getting on in years.” “Call the woman,” said Elisha. When she had been called and stood at the door, Elisha promised, “This time next year you will be holding a child in your arms.” “Please,” she protested, “you are a prophet; do not deceive your faithful one.”
The inspired word of the Prophets.
And the people affirm with the words: So be it!
Psalm: 39
Response: I will sing the story of Your love, Adonai, forever.
I will sing the story of Your love, /Adonai, forever,
I will proclaim Your faithfulness/to all generations.
Your true love is firm as the ancient earth, / Your faithfulness fixed as the heavens.
R. I will sing the story of Your love, Adonai, forever.
Happy the people who have learned to acclaim You, / who walk in the light of Your presence!
In Your Name they will rejoice all day long;/Your righteousness will lift them up.
R. I will sing the story of Your love, Adonai, forever.
You are the strength in which they glory;
Through Your favor we hold our heads high.
Our God is our shield;/the holy One of Israel is our ruler.
R. I will sing the story of Your love, Adonai, forever.
Contemporary Reading
Reader: Joan Pesce
Awakening in the Cosmos by Dr. Barbara Holmes
Richard Rohr writes: “My friend and fellow CAC teacher Dr. Barbara Holmes has the ability to bear witness to the expansiveness of the cosmos, the major systemic shifts taking place in society, and the small and sacred moments of daily life—all at the same time. Her writing is a poetic and prophetic call for us to wake up and pay attention to everything that is happening around us”.
It is time to awaken to self, society, and the cosmos, for none of us has the luxury of sleepwalking through impending cultural and scientific revolutions. In the last sermon that he preached before he was assassinated, Martin Luther King Jr. urged us to “remain awake through a great revolution.”
Although we have a fascination with space and the possibility of life in other realms, we steadfastly refuse to respond when the universe invites us to broaden our lines of sight. We are beckoned by blazing sunsets and the pictures returned by powerful telescopic lenses, yet, on any given day, we court a busyness that beguiles us into focusing on the limited perspectives in our immediate space.
Today, scientific information about the universe is increasing exponentially while ethnic and racial balances within the United States are shifting radically. In the scientific realm, the epistemological foundations for hierarchy, dominance, and rationality are crumbling, while proponents of gender, class, [racial,] and sexual equity have found their public voices.
We are not hamsters on a wheel, waiting to fall into the cedar shavings at the bottom of the cage. We are seekers of light and life, bearers of shadows and burdens. We are struggling to journey together toward moral fulfillment. We are learning to embrace the unfathomable darkness where God dwells with enthusiasm that equals our love of light. Physics and cosmology have metaphors and languages to help us awaken to these and other possibilities. We are not just citizens of one nation or another, but of the human and cosmic community.
Awareness is the moment when we rise with eyes crusted from self-induced dreams of control, domination, victimization, and self-hatred to catch a glimpse of the divine in the face of “the other.” Then God’s self-identification, “I am that I am / I will be who I will be” (Exodus 3:14) becomes a liberating example of awareness, mutuality, and self-revelation.
This reflection is the inspired words of Dr. Barbara Holmes and the people affirm it by saying:
ALL: SO BE IT!
ALL: Alleluia Jan Phillips
The Gospel: Gospel Reading: Matthew 10:37-42
Reader Sally Brochu
A reading from the Gospel according to Matthew.
Jesus said, “Those who love mother or father, daughter or son more than me are not worthy of me. Those who will not carry with them the instrument of their own death—following in my footsteps—are not worthy of me.
You who have found your life will lose it, and you who lose your life for my sake will find it.
“Those who welcome you also welcome me, and those who welcome me welcome the One who sent me.
“Those who welcome prophets just because they are prophets will receive the reward reserved for the prophets themselves.
“Those who welcome holy people just because they are holy will receive the reward of holy ones.
“The truth is, whoever gives a cup of cold water to one of these lowly ones just for being a disciple will not lack a reward.
The inspired words of Matthew.
And the people respond: So be it!
All: SO BE IT!
HOMILY STARTER: Dotty Shugrue ARCWP
What are your experiences in “being sent” by the Christ.
Profession of Faith
We believe in our Creator who has not forgotten us, and is ever and always present with us.
We believe in Jesus, the Word incarnate, who journeyed on the earth, blessing the sick, making whole the broken, healing many, instilling faith in his followers so that they insure his legacy till the end of time.
We believe in Christ, the everlasting Presence in our world in our universe.
We believe in the Spirit of Life, the breath of wisdom Sophia, who stays present and real to us during this great human struggle we face today.
We believe in the communion of saints, our heavenly friends who walk with us in love as we continue our life journey.
We believe in the partnership and equality of women and men in our Church and our world. Here we live our prophetic call of Gospel equality.
General Intercessions
Presider: We pray that the Holy One renew in our hearts our commitment to journey always in faith and hope as we reach out and support, comfort and love those closest to us, pray together for all the needs of the citizens of the earth.
We pray for those persons who are protesting the injustices levied on our African-American brothers and sisters, we pray that their pain and suffering will finally be heard.
We pray for the families who have lost loved ones because of Covid 19
We pray for all those “first line” Americans who directly care for the sick and dying and those who provide needed service to all of us during this time of distress.
We pray today with heavy hearts, we pray with deep sadness, we pray as we try so desperately to calm our fears and to find ways to support those in such horrific pain.
We pray for those individuals who intentionally disrupt peaceful protest to create chaos, for those who foster fear in a time where many plead for leadership and for healing.
Presider: And together we say:
ALL: SO BE IT!
OFFERTORY
God Beyond All Names – Bernadette Farrell
God, beyond our dreams, you have stirred in us a memory,
You have placed your powerful Spirit in the hearts of humankind.
Refrain: All around us, we have known you;
All creation lives to hold you,
In our living and our dying
We are bringing You to birth.
God, beyond all names, you have made us in your image,
We are like you, we reflect you, we are woman, we are man. R
God, beyond all words, all creation tells your story,
You have shaken with our laughter; you have trembled with our tears. R
God, beyond all time, you are laboring within us;
We are moving, we are changing, in your Spirit ever new. R
God of tender care, you have cradled us in goodness,
You have mothered us in wholeness, you have loved us into birth. R
Invite Community to place their bread and cup of wine before them
Presider: Ever present Sacred Spirit, you who hold us in your loving hands, we offer these gifts of bread
and wine as we celebrate your life with us. These gifts are made sacred through our faith.
We ask this in the name of Jesus our brother. Amen
EUCHARISTIC PRAYER
*(The Eucharist Prayer is adapted from “The Prayer of Thanksgiving” which originates from the 1945 discovery of 52 documents, nearly all of them Christian, in Nag Hammadi, Egypt. It is believed to be one of the original prayers used when early Christians gathered together to “break and share bread and wine in memory of Jesus.” It can be found in A New NEW Testament edited by Hal Taussig)
Presider: The Holy One is with you.
All: Let us give thanks.
Presider: We give thanks to you. Every life and heart stretches toward you, O name untroubled, honoring the name of God, praised with the name Creator. To everyone and everything comes the kindness of the Holy One and love and desire.
Presider: And if there is sweet and simple teaching, it gifts us mind, word and knowledge; mind, that we may understand you; word, that we may interpret you; knowledge: that we may know you. We rejoice and are enlightened by your knowledge; we rejoice that you have taught us about yourself. We rejoice that in the body you have made us divine through your knowledge.
“We are Holy, Holy, Holy”
We are Holy, holy, holy.
We are holy, holy, holy.
We are holy, holy, holy.
We are whole.
(Repeat refrain with You are holy, I am holy,…)
Presider: The thanksgiving of the human who reaches you is this alone; that we know you. We have known you, O light of mind. O light of life we have known you. O womb of all that grows, we have known you. O womb pregnant with the nature of Creator God, we have known you. O never-ending endurance of the Spirit of Life who gives birth, so we worship your goodness. One wish we ask: we wish to be protected in knowledge, One protection we desire; that we do not stumble in this life. When they said these things in prayer, they welcomed one another, and they went to eat their holy food, which had no blood in it.
Presider: (Please place your bread and your cup of wine before you)
In this sacrament of breaking bread and blessing wine, we pause and call upon Spirit Divine to bless this bread and wine which is made sacred through our faith. We celebrate with one another as we remember Jesus walked this same earth we walk today.
During Jesus’s life on this earth he lived and died loving the poor, healing the sick and challenging the injustices within society. Because of his ministry Jesus was feared by the authority of his day.
ALL: On the evening of the Jewish Seder Jesus gathered with his close friends for a meal. He reminded them of what He had taught them. He washed their feet as an act of love.
Jesus returned to his place at the table and spoke to his companions. He lifted the Passover bread, and spoke the blessing, He broke the bread saying these words:
“Take and eat, this is my very Self. Do this in memory of Me.”
Jesus then lifted the cup filled with wine. He spoke the blessing and said:
“Take and drink of the covenant made new again through my life for you and for everyone. Whenever you do these things, remember Me.”
Presider: Let us proclaim the mysteries of our faith.
ALL: We believe, we proclaim, we live as Jesus lives.
ALL: For it is through learning to live as he lived,
And why he lived, and for whom he lived,
That we awaken to your Spirit within, moving us to celebrate life with you
life-giving Creator Spirit, At this time, and all time, and in all ways.
Presider: Let us pray in the manner that Jesus taught his companions to pray:
ALL: O 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, Miriam Therese Winter, MMS)
(sing) Amen. Linda Lee-Miller
Presider: Let us pray our communion prayer together.
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.
Presider: Please now receive Communion with the words “Receive the bread of life”. And “Receive the cup of sacred wine”
Presider: As we celebrate the memory of Jesus in our sharing of Eucharist, we remember all those people in particular who walk with us in the search for the Divine. We remember families we know and those we do not know who suffer because of the Covid virus. We remember the communion of saints, and we celebrate all of life with thanksgiving.
Communion Song: Prayer of St. Francis/Make me a channel of your Peace (Breaking Bread #523: Linda Lee-Miller
Make me a channel of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me bring your love.
Where there is injury, your pardon, God, And where there’s doubt, true faith in you.
Make me a channel of your peace. Where there’s despair in life, let me bring hope.
Where there is darkness, only light. And where there’s sadness, ever joy.
O God, grant that I may never seek so much to be consoled as to console,
To be understood as to understand. To be loved, as to love, with all my soul.
Make me a channel of your peace. It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
In giving of ourselves that we receive, And in dying that we’re born to eternal life.
Closing Prayer
Presider: O Great Love, thank you for living and loving in us and through us. May all that we do flow from our deep connection with you and all beings. Help us become a community that vulnerably shares each other’s burdens and the weight of glory. Listen to our hearts’ longings for the healing of our world. [Please add your own intentions.] . . . Knowing you are hearing us better than we are speaking, we offer these prayers in all the holy names of God, So Be It! Richard Rohr
INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
Presider: Together we raise our hands in a blessing of one another.
May the blessing of the Holy One hold you on your journey.
May the blessing of Spirit Life give all families peace.
May the blessing of Divine Mystery protect all those alone.
ALL: Amen
Presider: Go forth and bring peace to all those you meet.
ALL: “We are sent as disciples of the Christ ”
Closing Song: May the Longtime Sun by Sara Thomsen
Shine upon you
All love surround you
And the pure light, pure light that's within you
Guide your way home
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