FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT

PRIEST:          My dear sisters and brothers in Christ Jesus,
                  We gather today on this last Sunday of Advent Preparation to share in this Eucharist God’s great call to bear Christ to the world.  Mary heard this call and answered with such love that he whom she already carried in her heart,  was now  conceived in her womb.  Overshadowed by the Spirit and abandoned to God’s Word and Will,  the Saviour can come to us, flesh of our flesh.  Let us utter our ‘Yes’ to the God who calls as we share Mary’s song of joy in the Coming of our Saviour.

Let us pray…

O God of our History, from all eternity You have spoken forth Your Word of Love that gives Life, creating the heavens and earth,  making man and woman in Your own image and likeness.  You dreamed of a People ready  to serve Your Truth and Kingdom in the world. And in the fullness of time, You found a woman so full of love that Your Word could make His home in her heart and her womb. Through her your Son,  the Divine Word, is made Flesh and dwells among us.  Bless these Advent Candles of Light and Expectancy and bless our community with the faith and love of Mary,  that we might dare to abandon ourselves to You and welcome the Day of your Kingdom … In the Name of the Father, + and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit… AMEN!

READER:      Mary, the woman of faith, risked saying ‘yes’
                            to an unknown future in God’s plan:
                            for our lack of faith and trust,

                                                             LORD HAVE MERCY …

                             Mary,  the woman of hope, embraced the overshadowing Spirit
                             and dared the impossible for God:
                             for the ways we risk little in the service of God and His kingdom,

                                                             CHRIST HAVE MERCY …

                             Mary, the woman of love, welcomed the Word in her heart
before she welcomed the Word in her womb:
                             for our lack of love that silences God’s Word in today’s world,

                                                             LORD HAVE MERCY …

PRIEST:       O Lord, stir up your might and come!
                          Touch us with Your overshadowing Spirit,
                           speak Your Word of forgiveness to our hearts and to our world,
                           so that the Saviour, our Emmanuel, may come again
                          and bring us to  everlasting life

                                                              …AMEN!

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