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Dotty
Theme: Women Who Seize Power: Today we bring to our attention three women of Scripture whose faith in their personal power caused great and wonderful things to happen for the people of God.
WELCOME AND GATHERING:
Joan P.
Welcome to our Zoom liturgy at Mary Mother of Jesus, an inclusive Catholic Community, where all are welcome. Our liturgy is participatory as members of our community sharing in speaking parts of our Liturgy. Important reminder: unmute to speak, re-mute when you finish speaking.
We all bless both bread and wine so have a cup with wine/juice and a plate with bread on your table.
Dotty
Today we celebrate a woman with no name. Many women in the Scriptures are not identified by name. This woman had a very advanced understanding of the teaching of Jesus, “ I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater.”(John 14:12) She believed that she could participate in the healing power of Jesus by merely touching his garment to be healed. In this act, she took power from Jesus without his consent. We have heard this story many times. We are invited to re-think what we have been taught and see through the eyes of this unnamed woman.
GATHERING SONG: Day By Day”
https://youtu.be/P3PjfBQjJT8
OPENING PRAYER:
Joan P.
My sisters and brothers, we celebrate the life of Jesus each time we celebrate Eucharist. We reflect and open ourselves to the way the Scriptures apply to our personal life experiences.
Through contemplation and deep reflection, the Word is “broken open” for us with new understanding of faith and ministry.
Sacred Spirit, Holy Mystery, we lift our voices in recognition of your Divine Presence ever with us inviting us to search for truth always and to believe always in our power to heal ourselves.
All: Let It Be So
TRANSFORMATION PRAYER:
Reader: Peg Bowen
There are many indications in our country today that the “soul of America” needs to be restored, to be healed, to create new dreams, new possibilities, new actions which will bring about a society of acceptance of differences.
ALL: Transform us O Holy One
The divisions among us are destroying the beauty and peace of our souls, our inner life, our ability to accept change that serves the needs of all people. We commit ourselves to do what is within our own possibility to restore the broken soul of America to wholeness.
All: Transform us O Holy One
The woman in today’s Gospel recognizes that she has great power, and she reaches out that she may be healed. We, too, can reach out to all those we meet and witness to the power within us to heal ourselves and one another.
All: Transform us O Holy One
GLORIA
Reader: Maryal Gagnon
Glory to the Spirit of Life, to the Holy One who surrounds us, who lives within us, whose Sacred Word is shared by us.
Glory to the Spirit of Life, who offers us peace; peace in our hearts, peace in our thoughts, peace with one another.
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.
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.
Glory to the Spirit of Life
LITURGY OF THE WORD
Reader: Jim Brandi
First Reading: Judith Chapter 9 (excerpts)
Look now at these Assyrians who stand before us in vast numbers, who boast of the might of their cavalry, who trust in the shield and spear and bow and sling. They do not know that you are Sovereign—that you crush warfare. You alone are Sovereign!
I am only one widow but give me the strength to do as I have planned...Let the strength of a woman break their pride. Your power does not depend on numbers nor your might on armies. You are the God of the downcast, the Liberator of the oppressed, the Defender of the weak, the Protector of the forgotten, the Savior of the despairing. I cry to you, please, God of my ancestors, God of the heritage of Israel! Sovereign of heaven and earth, Creator of the seas, Ruler of all creation— hear my prayer!
These are the inspired words of Judith, and the community affirms them by saying:
All: Let It Be So
Psalm: Shepherd Me, O God – Marty Haugen
https://youtu.be/T0kxWXHETlU
Reader: Cheryl Brandi
Second Reading: Excerpts from The Act of Paul and Thecla Chapters 7 and 45
A certain maiden, who was promised to a man called Thamyris, sat at a window close to the house and listened night and day to the message about holiness spoken by Paul. She did not turn away from the window but moved forward in faith rejoicing exceedingly. And yet having seen many women and maidens coming to Paul, she also decided herself to be deemed worthy, to stand face to face with Paul and hear the word of Christ.
She was cast into the fire when she was seventeen and to the wild animals when she was eighteen. It has been said that she is an ascetic in a cave when she was seventy-two so all the years of her life were ninety. And after accomplishing many healings, she rests in the place of the holy ones having fallen asleep on the twenty-fourth of September in Christ Jesus, to whom be the glory and strength forever and ever.
These are events in the life of a prophet and healer, Thecla, and the people affirm them by saying
Let it be so
ALL. CELTIC ALLELUIA – Linda Lee Miller
https://youtu.be/2ME1cF2iSgE
Joan P.
Gospel: A reading from the Gospel of the Apostle called Mark
When Jesus crossed again to the other shore in the boat, a large crowd gathered, and he stayed by the lakeside.
Now there was a woman who had suffered from hemorrhages for twelve years; after long and painful treatment from various doctors, she had spent all she had without getting better—in fact, she was getting worse. She had heard about Jesus, and she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak. “If I can touch even his hem,” she had told herself, “I will be well again.”
Immediately aware that healing power had gone out from him, Jesus turned to the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?”
The disciples said, “You see how the crowd is pressing you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’”
But Jesus continued to look around to see who had done it. Then the woman came forward, frightened and trembling because she knew what had happened to her, and she fell at Jesus’ feet and told him the whole truth. “My daughter,” Jesus said, “your faith has saved you; go in peace and be free of your affliction.”
These are the words of the Apostle called Mark and the community affirms them by saying:
Let it Be So
All: CELTIC ALLELUIA – Linda Lee Miller
https://youtu.be/2ME1cF2iSgE
HOMILY STARTER:
PROFESSION OF FAITH:
Reader: Bridget Mary Meehan
We believe in our Creator who has not forgotten us and is ever and always present with us.
We believe in Jesus, prophet and teacher, 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 the Cosmic Christ, the everlasting Presence, one with the universe.
We believe in Sacred Spirit, the breath of wisdom Sophia, the power of the winds enwrapping us in glory.
We believe in the communion of saints, our heavenly friends who walk with us in love, who are never far from us, who are separated from us by a mere veil, always near opening our minds to what is difficult to see
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.
PRAYERS FOR THE NEEDS OF OUR WORLD:
Reader: Joan Meehan
We bring to the table our openness to 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, and all the needs of the citizens of the earth and beyond.
We bring to the table all young girls who look to role models who will inspire them, lift them up that they may emulate women living today who work to bring about unity and healing.
We bring to the table all those who struggle with illness, especially Sally, Mary Kay, Bridget Mary, Diane. We pray that the treatments they seek make them whole in body and spirit.
We bring to the table the children, the ones who have been taken from their mothers, the ones who are hungry and sick from lack of food, the ones in our country and other countries: may our world community respond with compassion and necessary resources.
Share any special concerns you have.
(unmute – re-mute)
We knock and believe the door will be open to us, we ask and believe we will receive.
Let it be so.
OFFERTORY: Here is My Life by Joe Wise
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsHM7_XZT5A
Place your bread and cup of wine before you on your table
Joan P.
We are blessed by the Holy One in a multitude of ways. We have bread made from human hands, and wine made from harvested grapes. These are gifts of the earth, and together they will become our spiritual food and drink.
With this bread and wine, we pledge ourselves to the teachings of Jesus as revealed in the Gospels. We accept our call to be present to all persons in our world. We are committed to the teachings and the ministry of Jesus.
All: The Holy One is praised forever.
Holy, Holy, Holy
Here in This Place by Christopher Grundy
EUCHARISTIC PRAYER
Cheryl Brandi
We celebrate, O Holy One, women of faith who, like the woman in the gospel today, embrace the power to be healers.
Jesus was a teacher who spoke in such ways that hundreds listened to him. Jesus took time to go apart from the chaos in his life and to pray alone. Like John he knew that caring for his spiritual life nurtured his soul, and he grew in wisdom and understanding. He gained strength to face the challenges of his mission.
We, too, are called to speak clearly with respect and love, as we challenge the numerous injustices our world faces today. We are called to the inner life, our spiritual life, to go apart and pray.
We embrace our call to prayer as a source of strength as we seek the power within to continue to live our call to serve.
Joan P.
(Hold your hand over bread and wine)
Jesus, we celebrate the last meal you had with your followers. We call upon Sacred Spirit, ever and always with us, to bring blessing on this bread and wine as they are made sacred through our faith in the presence of Christ with us.
During Jesus’s life on 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 authorities of his day, and they sought out ways to bring him to end his life death.
Dotty
On the night before he faced his own death, Jesus sat at the Seder supper with his companions and friends. He reminded them of all that he taught them, and to fix that memory clearly with them, he bent down and washed their feet.
Joan P.
Lift the plate on your home altar and pray:
Jesus returning to his place at the table, lifted the bread, spoke the blessing, broke the bread and offered it to all those gathered saying:
Take and eat, this is my very Self.
(pause)
Dotty
Lift the cup and pray:
Jesus then took 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.
(pause)
Let us share this bread and cup to proclaim and live the gospel of justice and peace, remembering that we are bearers of light and hope.
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. You are the Christ alive today.
Receive the bread and wine you have consecrated before you remembering “You are the Body of Christ -You are the face of the Holy One”
Communion Méditation
What Shall I Give? by Sara Thomsen
https://youtu.be/UUTs9qa5h3g
Joan P
Sacred Spirit, we rejoice that the Universal Christ remains always and ever present within and around us. We remember all those who have transitioned from life on earth to complete union with the Sacred Presence: Especially the women of Scripture who are all but forgotten, those un-named mystics, saints, prophets and martyrs we call to our awareness
today. We remember our sister priests, strong extraordinary women: Adele, Judy, Tish, Joan and Michele. We remember, too, family members and friends. We remember all those mothers who morn their missing children. We remember those our community members wish to be remembered....
silence
All are beloved souls who have blessed our lives and who continue to inspire us.
And we respond together:
All: So be it
Jim Brandi
Let us pray as Jesus taught us:
O Holy One, who is 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 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 (Miriam Therese Winter)
Dotty
Prayers of Thanksgiving and Announcements
Blessing: Let us raise our hands and bless each other
May we seek truth boldly and love deeply.
May we welcome opportunities to demonstrate our profound faith in the power within that heals.
May we live the way Jesus lived, walking among the poor, teaching the power of love and reminding all those we meet who Jesus called us to be.
May we welcome the woman who took power from Jesus as we walk and stand with those who cry for justice, equality, peace and most of all love.
May we be known by the company we keep.....
May we continue to be the face of the Holy One, and
May our names be a blessing in our time
Closing Song: Power of Kindness by MaMuse
https://youtu.be/pfsRSoeC8Lg
If you would like to add your intercession to our MMOJ Community Prayers book,
Please send an email to 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
% St Andrews UCC, 6908 Beneva Rd., Sarasota, FL 34328
