Category: Penitential Rites

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!

PRIEST:      A few days ago we celebrated our mission as a Church to proclaim the Good News to all;  in a few days time we shall celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit with the power needed to fulfil our Christ-commissioned task.  Today,  on this World Communication Sunday, we pray for wisdom and courage in using the new Internet Technology and the revolution in Mass Communications to proclaim the Gospel; and we cry out for the Spirit to empower us to communicate the Gospel to our generation. Let us recognise our need for forgiveness and healing to set us free to speak God’s Word to our world…

READER:   For every disunity that wounds Christ’s Body
and damages our witness to his love…

                                              LORD HAVE MERCY …

                         For every abuse and misuse of the media and the internet,
                         for not caring enough about the newspapers, TV programmes
and computer images that are seen and heard in our homes…

                                              CHRIST HAVE MERCY …

                          For every barrier to the Spirit’s coming
                          that we place in our lives and our community;
                          for refusing to risk for the Gospel…

                                              LORD HAVE MERCY …

PRIEST:      May the God of immense love
take our failures and sins in his merciful hands
                               and kindle with them a fire of love
                              that will bring healing & peace, reconciliation
                              and new beginnings to us to our world,
                         leading us all to everlasting life…

                                                AMEN!

PRIEST:   Today we celebrate our Mission as a Church – for Jesus sends us out to the whole world to be his witnesses. Today we celebrate Jesus enthroned as our King,  as he goes up to his throne with shouts of Joy and in the Cloud of divine Presence,  and all the powers of heaven and earth are made subject to him, exalted in Glory. Today we celebrate the immensity of our human dignity,  as in Jesus our brother, our human flesh is taken up into the very presence of God.  Today is a day of great rejoicing  and Jesus’ great trust in us.  Let us empty our hearts of the sin that limits our joy.

READER:    For the fear and narrowness of vision that stops us
being a missionary community…

                                                  LORD HAVE MERCY …

When we claim Jesus as our King,
                          but fail to walk his Royal Way of love,
fail to give him first priority in our lives…

                                                  CHRIST HAVE MERCY …

Whenever another human person is abused,
                         their dignity ignored or diminished;
                         for leaving our brothers and sisters to starve of food or freedom

                                                  LORD HAVE MERCY …

PRIEST:       May the God who calls us to eternal glory
transfigure our every weakness;
                         May Jesus our High Priest clothe us
with the mercy He has won for us by his blood;
                        May the Spirit who dwells in every human heart
heal every wound that diminishes us;
                        and bring us all to everlasting life…

                                                AMEN!

PRIEST:    Today the Word of God begins to point us towards the coming Feast of Pentecost,  speaking as it does of the Spirit, the other Advocate who will stand with us and speak up for us.  As we approach this great Feast of the Spirit’s Power and Love and as we prepare for the Confirmation of our young people, let us all seek a deeper openness to the Spirit, to empower our community as a Parish in Mission here in the Inner City. Let us ask forgiveness for every way that we resist the Holy Spirit in our life and our Church…

READER:            The Spirit is wisdom …
                                 when we seek wisdom elsewhere,
                                 and do not listen to the voice of the Spirit…

                                                   LORD HAVE MERCY…

The Spirit is unity …
                                   for the times we have served division
                                   rather than unity by our separatism and arrogance
and our refusal to understand the other…

                                                   CHRIST HAVE MERCY…

The Spirit is love …
                                    when we have denied our love, our compassion,
                                    our forgiveness to another…

                                                   LORD HAVE MERCY…

PRIEST:            May our God who is all love
                              speak his Word of Mercy,
                              breath his Spirit of forgiveness,
                              and send us to be reconciliation
                             for one another and for our world,
                             to bring all creation to everlasting life…

                                                      AMEN!

PRIEST:    Jesus Christ is risen among us … to be our Way, our Truth and our Life.  And His Way is a journey of service to the poor;  His Truth is freedom for the broken and despairing;  His Life is healing and hope for a fractured world.  Like the seven Deacons, whose appointment we hear of today, we too are called to do the works of love that is Christ’s Mission today.  Let us repent of the occasions when we fail to be good servants of the Kingdom.

READER:       Jesus is the Way…
when we follow our own ways
                             and do not walk humbly with him

                                               LORD HAVE MERCY

Jesus is the Truth…
when we fail to listen to His Gospel that sets us free,
                              and prefer the world’s hollow truths that enslave  

                                               CHRIST HAVE MERCY

Jesus is the Life…
when we do not reverence the life of every person, of all creation,
                               when we do not love enough to give others
new life and new hope

                                               LORD HAVE MERCY

PRIEST:          May the God of all compassion lead us in His peace
                            that we might walk his Way;
                            free us with His mercy
                            that we might proclaim His liberating truth
                            and restore us in his love
                            that we might live always as signs of his love;
                            and bring us and our world to everlasting life…

                                                AMEN!

PRIEST:  Jesus calls himself the Gate of the Sheepfold – as the Flock of Christ we can go freely into God’s presence through Him. He is the Good Shepherd who calls to us to listen to His voice and follow Him wherever He leads. He also lays down his life for his sheep – for us. We discover our fulness of life in him, as we live our own particular vocation,  Indeed we all share the vocation to live for others, to be life-bearers, to be witnesses to the glorious truth of Christ. We now pause to examine how well we have answered our special vocation.

READER:   For not making space in our busy lives and noisy hearts
                         to listen to the voice of the Shepherd

                                       LORD HAVE MERCY…

                         For listening to the voices of ambition and selfishness,
the voices of security and safe-options,
                         and not following the Shepherd wherever he leads us

                                       CHRIST HAVE MERCY…

                          When we leave the work of serving our community to others,
                          and do not play our part in building the Church or the Kingdom –
                          for not being a  shepherd to each other

                                       LORD HAVE MERCY…

PRIEST:     May the God who calls us into life, forgive us;
                        May our Redeemer and Shepherd, Jesus, free us with his mercy;
                        May the Holy Spirit empower us to give of ourselves with generosity
                        and so find everlasting life…

                                       AMEN!

PRIEST:    We gather today to celebrate Resurrection, and like the Emmaus disciples have a story to tell. But our story is our experience of Jesus in the Church and in the broken bread of Word and Eucharist. So at this moment in the Church’s story, we once again recognise Him in the Breaking of Bread. Whenever the Bread of Friendship, Bread of Love, Bread of Justice is broken and shared, He is Risen and among us.  Let us seek forgiveness when our love is too shallow to recognise Him with us.

READER:     When we fail to stand alongside each other in the painful days,
and our eyes are closed to the Christ in each other

                                                   LORD HAVE MERCY …

When we do not value the Eucharist,
                            when we neglect the Word of God in the Bible,
and so limit our understanding and love of Him

                                                   CHRIST HAVE MERCY …

When we are so slow to bear witness before others to our Risen Christ;
                             when we hide our faith from others’ gaze
                             and do not invite them to eat of the Broken Bread of Life

                                                   LORD HAVE MERCY …

PRIEST:       May the God of all compassion
                         who stands with us in our every grief of sin
                         bring us peace and mercy,
                         and open our eyes to know that we are forgiven and reconciled
                        in the power of the Risen Christ,
                        who brings us and all creation to everlasting life…

                                                     AMEN!

PRIEST:  In today’s Gospel we hear a story of doubt that becomes magnificent faith;  a story of wounds that breath peace and healing;  a story of frightened empty men who become courageous in the Holy Spirit;  a story of a community witnessing the Risen Christ.  It is the story not only of the apostles, but also of each one of us;  not only the early Church,  but the Church of every age and land – the story of our own parish.  Let us welcome the Risen Jesus among us to transform us and our community – that we might be life-givers.

READER:        We give thanks for God’s mercy, flowing from the Father’s love
for He has brought us from doubt to deeper faith

                                                LORD HAVE MERCY…

                              We give thanks for God’s mercy, made flesh in Jesus the Crucified
for his wounds are our peace

                                                CHRIST HAVE MERCY…

                              We give thanks for God’s mercy, breathed into us by the Holy Spirit
for he has filled our emptiness
                              and sent us as bearers of reconciling love

                                                LORD HAVE MERCY…

PRIEST:         May God our creator give us the peace of his forgiveness;
                            may the Risen Jesus heal our wounds and transform our weak love;
                           may the Spirit breathe new courage and deeper faith, reconciling us to everlasting life…

                                                AMEN!