PRIEST: In a world of plenty, millions starve! In a society where the employed are overworked, millions are unemployed and millions more exploited and enslaved. Today, Jesus challenges this crazy world where the rich get richer and the poor are further dispossessed. Jesus makes us ask ‘What is real happiness, what makes for true security? – plenty of possessions, or generous humanity?’ Solutions might be hard to find, but let us begin by risking to recognise what is wrong and selfish within ourselves and our world.
READER: Jesus cries out: ‘Happy are the poor in the Spirit!’
For every possessiveness of heart,
for each form of greed and for all our selfishness…
LORD HAVE MERCY …
Jesus cries out: ‘Happy are you if you hunger and thirst for justice!’
For the ways we ignore the plight of the starving;
for pretending that there is nothing we can do;
for thinking that it is not our problem…
CHRIST HAVE MERCY …
Jesus cries out: ‘Happy are you when you make peace upon earth!’
For the violence that is rooted in the lust for wealth and power;
for the vanity of a peace that is not justice for the oppressed…
LORD HAVE MERCY …
PRIEST: May the God, creator of our bountiful world,
forgive every selfish refusal to share;
May Jesus our Brother redeem and save us
from the injustice that kills;
May the Spirit, Who is Sharing,
inspire us to heal our world of possessiveness;
and bring all humanity to everlasting life…
AMEN!