Category: Penitential Rites

PRIEST:    We celebrate today a Jesus who is the answer not only to all humanity’s hunger for God and  meaning,  but also hunger for hope of a full life,  for justice and dignity.  And when the people voice their hunger, he tells his disciples to give them food.  We celebrate our Mass while millions of our sisters and brothers do not have enough to eat the countless numbers of children suffer malnutrition. It is unthinkable that we should share the Bread of the Eucharist while refusing to share the bread of our tables. Let us confess our selfishness that wants to send people away to look elsewhere for what we have in abundance! Let us repent of a society and a system that keeps our brothers and sisters in poverty, homeless and hungry…

READER:       For the ways we turn aside from the great problems of our world
                            persuading ourselves that they are other people’s business,
                            and so avoiding our responsibility

                                         LORD HAVE MERCY …

For the times we protect what we have from those in real need,
                           and try to look the other way,
                           or deafen our hearts to the cries of the earth’s poor

                                         CHRIST HAVE MERCY …

When we feel defeated by the enormity of the problems
                           and so do not give of our little and poverty,
                           not trusting that God will use our little gifts to work miracles

                                         LORD HAVE MERCY …

PRIEST:       Father of life,
                         break for us the Bread of forgiveness that is Your Son Jesus;
                         and transform our poor love into the generosity of Your Spirit,
                         bringing us and all humanity to everlasting life

                                           AMEN!

PRIEST: We celebrate today that Jesus is the Wisdom of God, and we should give everything for the rich treasure that He is. We celebrate also that Jesus has given His whole self for us whom he speaks of as the pearl of great price. Jesus challenges us to help others discover the treasure, to rediscover themselves as His pearl of great value. He challenges us to ‘give everything’ as the only way to open ourselves to the incomparable treasures of His love. What in reality do we give,  what are we prepared to sacrifice … and more important what are we not prepared to sacrifice in order to be effective servants of the Gospel, bearers of the Kingdom to our world?

READER:    For listening to other wisdoms
                         rather than live by the challenging wisdom of the Gospel

                                           LORD HAVE MERCY…

When we are prepared to sacrifice much for our ambitions,
                          but little for our faith or the mission of the Gospel

                                           CHRIST HAVE MERCY…

Because Christ gave everything,  even life itself,
                         to gain us for His Father,  and to give us New Life

                                           LORD HAVE MERCY…

PRIEST:       May the God of Wisdom pardon us,
                         may Jesus who sacrificed himself for us be ever merciful,
                         may the Spirit fill us with the peace of forgiveness,
                        and bring us and all creation to the rich treasure of everlasting life

                                         AMEN!

PRIEST: Today Jesus continues his ‘Parables of the Kingdom’. They nearly all speak of the Kingdom growing from tiny beginnings to quite immense and transforming proportions. And as He speaks of wheat and weeds growing up together, He teaches us to be accepting of brokenness, failure, and ambiguities in others and in ourselves. Jesus combines the most demanding ideals with the most profound patience.  Let us welcome his mercy into the areas of our darkness.

READER:        For every intolerance of another’s weakness or failure,
                             for the judgments and condemnations we harbour in our hearts

                                                   LORD HAVE MERCY…

For our impatience with ourselves and our lack of self-acceptance,
                              that diminishes our freedom for love

                                                   CHRIST HAVE MERCY…

Because of the Lord’s great patience with us,
seeking our growth in freedom and peace

                                                   LORD HAVE MERCY…

PRIEST:      May the Father of compassion forgive us;
                        may Jesus our Redeemer reconcile us and grant us peace;
                        may the Spirit heal us and set us free with mercy;
                        and may our God bring us and all creation to everlasting life…

                                                      AMEN!

‘A sower went out to sow the seed’ … that all God’s People will sow the seed of the Word of God’s Love into the field of the world, and seek with our whole heart the harvest of the Kingdom    

[READER]              LORD WE PRAY…

[Response]May Your Word grow within us…

‘Some seed fell upon barren ground’ … that politicians and leaders in every theatre of conflict and violence will sow seeds of Peace especially in Africa, and the whole Middle East region; that they will also work together for a global response to the Covid pandemic and bring about a new world of justice and equality for all

[READER]LORD WE PRAY…

‘Happy are your ears because they hear’ … we pray that all of us in our parish family will grow in a deeper love for the Word of God, and allow our lives and our parish to be formed by God’s Word: may our emerging ministry through the internet serve the sowing of the seed of God’s Word in many hearts and minds

                                                [READER]      LORD WE PRAY…

‘Some seed fell upon rich soil and produced their crop’ … we pray for all who work the land and produce the food that feeds our nation and every nation – we pray for famine stricken peoples around the world, especially across in the Yemen and across Africa: may we learn to defend the victims and share equally with all at the Table of our fruitful earth

[READER]         LORD WE PRAY…

‘The lure of riches chokes the Word’ … as we continue our Covenant with the Poor, especially through our expanded Food Bank and the ministry of the Parish office, may it be our joy to buy justly and to reward the world’s workers properly – may we discover the power of sharing that can heal a greedy world

                                          [READER]LORD WE PRAY…

We pray for our young people: may God guide them to use their gifts in the service of the Gospel and the coming Kingdom, building a compassionate  and contemporary Church and a world of humanity and peace

[READER]LORD WE PRAY…

‘Those who hear and understand the Word yield a rich harvest’ … we pray for all suffering from the Coronavirus and all caring for them – may they hear God’s Word of Love for them; for Mary and Lizzie Cash, Pat Hart, Bernadette James, Mr Ademuyemo, Una Sorhaindo, Philip Strainge, Scott Duffy, Venetia Sorhaindo, Tayaenna May Henry, Nicola Lewis, and Deacon David Wakefield ;
for those who have died recently, especially Claire Warren, Mikhail Hanid, Vahabee, and  all victims of race hatred, war, famine and the Covid pandemic;
and for all whose anniversaries are at this time: Mary McKay, the Serbeniscky atrocity 25 year years ago  and all victims of the Conflicts i Africa and Asia 

[READER]             LORD WE PRAY…

  Mary, Mother of the Word made Flesh, who pondered the Word, open our hearts to the Divine Seed, your Son, sown into creation to bring redemption to all…

                                                             HAIL MARY…

Let us pray in a moment of silence

PRIEST: Today we gather around the Table of the Word and the Table of the Eucharist – at  least some of our community can – for the first time in over three months. We bring with us all we have experienced during this difficult and times tragic time of lockdown. We grieve those who have died during this period and want to comfort their families with our love and prayer. And we celebrate today the strong gentleness of our Christ, who joyfully comes humble and vulnerable among the humiliated and powerless. He comes  to give new value to our lives, to cast out all fear of God from our hearts and to heal  our wounds with His peace.  He comes to share our burdens. Let us give him the burdens of  these past months, as well as the burden of our sin, trusting that his loving mercy might make it light for us. 

READER:     For every abuse of power,  in our lives, our Church and our world;
for using power to dominate rather than to serve
                                                 LORD HAVE MERCY

For ignoring the welfare of others, for not sharing their burdens
but pursuing our own ambitions, desires and self-interest

                                                 CHRIST HAVE MERCY

For being afraid to let people be true to themselves,
                             for rejecting those who do not conform to our ideas or wishes

                                                 LORD HAVE MERCY

PRIEST:   May the Father of all mercy forgive us,
                      may His Son, Jesus, give us His peace,
                      may the Holy Spirit lead us along the gentle paths of God,
                       and bring us all to everlasting life…

                                                  AMEN!

PRIEST:       We celebrate today the two great founding Apostles, Peter and Paul. In celebrating them we celebrate also who we are as Church, for they more than any others have shaped for all time the Body of Christ. In Peter we have the uniting Shepherd who knows his own weakness only too well and so gathers us gently as one: a Rock of Faith who is not hard! In Paul we have the fearless Prophet, the adventurer for Christ who breaks new ground and reshapes the Church to be truly Universal. Together they teach us to be at once a gentle Pastor and a fearless Prophet. Let us embrace the mercy of God so that we might be such a Church …

READER:     Peter is the Rock of Faith who affirms us in faith
                          when our weakness overwhelms us:
For the times we do not affirm, heal and encourage each other …

                                                  LORD HAVE MERCY ….

                          Paul is the bold Pioneer of the Gospel,
                          ever open to the the new challenges of the Spirit:
when we cling to the things of the past and make the Church a museum
rather than the creator of a new future

                                                  CHRIST HAVE MERCY ….

                           Peter and Paul together gather the One People of God
                           into a unity rich with diversity:
when we do not value each other’s differences and gifts
when we do not strive for unity in Christ

                                                  LORD HAVE MERCY ….

PRIEST:     May the God who calls fill us with mercy;
                        may the Lord who sends heal our every wound with His forgiveness,
                        may the Spirit who empowers encourage us in our weakness;
                        and bring us all with the Saints to everlasting life

                                                   AMEN!

PRIEST:     Today, Jesus both warns and comforts his disciples: he warns us that if we take the Gospel seriously, then like him we shall experience opposition, even persecution; and he comforts us that whatever happens, we are precious in the eyes of our God and he will protect us – our eternity is safe, even if we suffer for the Truth now. Do we trust God when things go wrong – do we trust God when we are hurt doing the work of God?

READER:     When we risk little for the Kingdom of God,
when we prefer safety and respectability
                           rather than faithfulness to  the Jesus who takes risks

                                              LORD HAVE MERCY…

When we are slow to trust God when things go wrong,
when we fail to recognise God protecting us and caring for us

                                              CHRIST HAVE MERCY…

For all the hidden corruption in our hearts,
for the things we are afraid to expose to the light of day
for being afraid of God’s gaze, which is all forgiveness

                                              LORD HAVE MERCY…

PRIEST:       May the God, who holds us precious, pardon us;
                         May Jesus, the Second Adam, who died for us, forgive us;
                         May the Spirit, who renews and strengthens, heal us
                          and bring us all to everlasting life…

                                               AMEN!

PRIEST: Today as we celebrate this beautiful Feast of Corpus Christi, we lift our voices in thanksgiving and praise for the ‘inestimable gift’ of the Eucharist;  we lift our eyes to gaze upon the awesome presence of our Lord and Saviour in the poverty of bread and wine;  we lift up our hearts to embrace the love whereby God touches the depths of our being.  We are called to allow the Body and Blood of Christ to give us life and to shape and renew our selves and our communities:  let us repent the ways we are not the love of Christ…

READER:      The Eucharist is the Sacrament of Unity and Love:
for all divisions among Christians,
                            for every denial of love in our own hearts

                                             LORD HAVE MERCY …

The Eucharist is the Sacrament of Healing:
for the ways that our touch and our words hurt rather than heal;
                            for the ways our Church excludes rather than welcomes

                                             CHRIST HAVE MERCY …

The Eucharist is the Sacrament of God’s Life-giving:
for the ways we are not life-giving, withholding love and mercy;
excluding others from sacraments, friendship and community

                                             LORD HAVE MERCY …

PRIEST:       May God rain down upon us the Bread of Forgiveness;
                          may Jesus break for us the Bread that heals our brokenness
                                      and liberates freedom and love;
                          may the Spirit draw us into the Unity that reconciles;
                          and bring us all to everlasting life…

                                              AMEN!

PRIEST:    Having for months celebrated the great actions of God in Christ that bring us salvation and life, today we celebrate the being of God: not what God does, but Who God is! Today is a day for gazing with wonder, a day to contemplate the mystery of God Who is Love – always Love, never other than Love! And each one of us, without exception are made in the image and likeness of this God. Today we celebrate that there is such diversity in identity, creating such a profound harmony. So today we celebrate who we truly are and all that God wants us to become – a freedom for Love … like God! And yet we know we are not such love! Let us ask for mercy …

READER:    Father, you so loved the world You sent Your Only Son
not to condemn, but to save and to give Life:
Confidently we cry out to you ….  

                                           LORD HAVE MERCY…

Eternal Word and Son, made flesh in the womb of Mary,
You came home into our humanity to set love free within us:
Confidently we cry out to you ….  

                                           CHRIST HAVE MERCY…

Holy Spirit, love shared between the Father and the Son,
You are Love poured out into our hearts,
                              You flow through our lives into the world to renew the face of the earth
Confidently we cry out to you ….   

                                           LORD HAVE MERCY…

PRIEST:    May the God whose best name is Love …
                       Be the Father who forgives us,
                       the Brother who redeems us,
                      and the Loving Holy Spirit who gives us a new heart,
                      bringing us and all creation to everlasting life

                                            AMEN!

PRIEST:    Fifty days ago we celebrated Jesus’ Resurrection – now we celebrate the Power of Resurrection set free to transform the world! Today is not only the birthday of the Church in a ferment of Praise and Mission, it is also the beginnings of a New World, a New Creation, for through the Church and beyond it, the Spirit is recreating the face of the earth! Let us welcome the purifying fire of the Spirit into our lives so that through forgiveness we will ever grow in holiness.

READER:         The Holy Spirit comes as a mighty wind!
For our fears and timidity, our lack of courage,
                               in witnessing to Jesus and speaking out Gospel Justice! 

                                                  LORD HAVE MERCY

The Holy Spirit comes as flames of fire, fire of Love!
For every denial of love that starves the world of hope;
For every division between Christians that hides the face of Christ 

                                                  CHRIST HAVE MERCY

The Holy Spirit gives us a new language of faith and praise!
That we might ever speak the language of mercy and forgiveness
Healing and hope to our broken but beautiful world 

                                                  LORD HAVE MERCY

PRIEST:    May the Father set us free to be Children of God;
                       may Jesus enthroned in Glory pour out upon us the Spirit of Love and Mercy;
                       may the Holy Spirit rush through our lives to lead us to new beginnings
                      and bring all the world to everlasting life

                                                  AMEN!