PRIEST: We have come together today so that like Elijah the Prophet we too can be nourished from the hand of God, strengthened as we journey through life with all its struggles. In loving obedience to Jesus in today’s Gospel, we come to share Bread … Bread come down from Heaven to give life. We have come to drink of the same Cup, partaking of the Blood of Christ. As sharers of this Bread and drinkers of this Cup we are called to be bearers of this life to our world: a life that is full and compassionate, a life that is tender with gentleness and strong with justice. Let us ask ourselves whether we live Eucharist every day…
READER: God is our life-giver…
when we do not give life because we choose
to hurt and wound by our words and deeds…
LORD HAVE MERCY …
Jesus is our pain-bearer…
when we are afraid to share another’s pain,
to carry another’s burden,
to get involved in another’s journey and sorrow…
CHRIST HAVE MERCY …
The Spirit is our love-maker…
when we refuse love, diminish community, act insensitively…
LORD HAVE MERCY …
PRIEST: May God the giver of life embrace us in mercy;
may Jesus the bearer of pain heal our wounds and set us free;
may the Spirit, the maker of our love,
reconcile and heal our relationships and fill our emptiness
with the fulness of love;
and bring us all to everlasting life…
AMEN!