PRIEST: Jesus touches with His love the outcasts of His day … the ten lepers. Only one returned to give thanks:, and he was not even a member of the People of God! We are provoked to ask a number of questions: who do I make into an outcast, putting them beyond my love? Do I reach out to those the world despises? Do I live with a grateful heart, do I live the Eucharist, the ‘sacrifice of thanksgiving?
READER: When I exclude anyone from my love,
making them my outcast,
Father forgive me…
LORD HAVE MERCY
For accepting the prejudices of my society
against whole groups of my fellow citizens,
for not struggling to unmask and eradicate these prejudices,
Jesus reconcile me…
CHRIST HAVE MERCY
For the lack of gratitude in my life, for forgetting to thank God,
or to thank those who show me their love and compassion,
Holy Spirit change me…
LORD HAVE MERCY
PRIEST: May God the Creator of all fill our hearts with love
for all that He has made;
May Jesus our Brother reconcile us with all against whom
we have closed our hearts;
May the Holy Spirit sing with thankfulness for God’s mercy
deep within our being;
and bring us all to everlasting life…
AMEN!