SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT – Year A – Bible Sunday

PRIEST:    We gather on this Bible Sunday, at the beginning of our second week of Advent Preparation and Prayer. On this Bible Sunday, we come together to listen to the proclamation among us of God’s Holy Word in the Bible, so that we may allow His Word to be made Flesh in our lives. John the Baptist proclaims the Coming of the Word made Flesh, and prepares the Way of the Lord. That same Word will be spoken over bread of the earth and wine from the hills, with such power that the Word will become the Flesh and Blood of Christ in Eucharist.

Let us now praise the Light of God’s Word as we sing…
                               (‘Prepare the Way of the Lord’)

Let us pray…
O God, from all eternity You have spoken forth Your Word, so that all creation may experience Your Love. Your Word first created Light at the dawning of time. Your Word came to John in the Wilderness. In the fullness of that time, Your Word became Flesh in the poor Virgin of Nazareth. For Your People everywhere, Your Word remains the Light that guides our journey, the Lamp revealing the path before us. Bless our Advent Wreath of growing Light, and this our parish family, so that the Light of Your Word may grow in our hearts, inspire our lives, and guide our community,
IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER  +  THE SON AND THE HOLY SPIRIT                                     … Amen!

READER:         Too often, Lord, we allow the false lights of our world to guide us,
                               rather than the Light of Your Word:
                               forgive us for failing to root our lives in the Word of the Gospel…

                                                  LORD HAVE MERCY…

                                 Lord, for the many times we do not listen to Your Word in the Bible,
                                 for the ways we leave it an unopened book, a treasure sadly neglected

                                                  CHRIST HAVE MERCY…

                                 Lord, the neglect of Your Word makes us less a People of Faith;
                                 it weakens our witness to Your Presence and Your Kingdom:
                                 so for the ways our lives do not shine with the Light of Your Word

                                                  LORD HAVE MERCY…

PRIEST:       O Lord, stir up our hearts to prepare the way of Your Son,
                         the Word made Flesh, so that through His Coming on earth
                         we may serve you with lives filled with the Light of His Word,
                        for He Who will come again lives for ever and ever…
                                                   AMEN!

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