Category: Penitential Rites

PRIEST:      We have begun our journey of these 40 days of Lent – like Jesus we enter into the desert to face the demons of our own hearts – demons of selfishness and of comfort,  demons of greed and exploitation.  Whatever our demons are,  Lent is a time to confront and defeat them in the power of Jesus’ love. Jesus seeks to set us free from everything that imprisons our hearts and limits our love. So let us enter upon the sacred and life-giving task and so grow in the freedom of the children of God…

READER:        Jesus is tempted to be popular with the crowd  rather than faithful to His Father:
                             when we conform to others wisdom and prejudices
rather than live by the challenging values of the Gospel

                                                          LORD HAVE MERCY

Jesus is tempted to use His power for his own gain, rather than to enrich others with life:
                            when we use our power to diminish others or
                            to satisfy our own desires,  rather than to serve others

                                                          CHRIST HAVE MERCY

Jesus is tempted to take the quick and easy road to success,
                                       rather than the hard road through calvary to love’s victory:
                            when we opt for our own comfort,  when we do not want
                            to be disturbed or to disturb

                                                          LORD HAVE MERCY

PRIEST:     May the God who calls us to the desert of his love embrace us with mercy;
                       may the Redeemer who walks our path of temptation so forgive us
                      as to heal our sin;
                      may the Spirit change our hearts and give us the joy of repentance;
                      and bring us and the world to everlasting life

                                                          AMEN!

PRIEST:     Jesus sees with a clear eye to the core of every human person;  he speaks a life-giving word from a pure heart of love;  his life bears God’s fruitfulness from the tree of the Cross.  Today His Word really challenges each of us who are His disciples:  as we near Lent and the beginning of this time of Renewal, we need to recognise how blind we can be to our own failures, while so prone to judge harshly the failures of others; we need to look at the soundness of our tree – whether we are truly rooted in Christ and so one heart with him, bearing the same fruit as him…

READER:     For all the hidden ways we judge each other,
see the faults of others without being honest about our own

                                         LORD HAVE MERCY…

For words that wound rather than heal,  deceive rather than enlighten,   tear down rather than build up

                                         CHRIST HAVE MERCY…

For the ways our heart is not a heart of prayer,  a heart of love, and so we do not bear the fruit that brings people to know our Beloved Christ

                                         LORD HAVE MERCY…

PRIEST:     May the God who sees to the heart challenge our hypocrisy and forgive our weakness;
                       may the Saviour transform us by the mercy of the Tree of His Cross;
                      may the Spirit be the light of love to heal us into the fruitfulness of God
                     and bring us all into everlasting life…

                                            AMEN!

PRIEST: Today we hear how David refuses to give way to vengeance on King Saul; St Paul tells us to become more and more like Jesus, the heavenly man; and Jesus himself confronts us with the foolishness of God! He challenges us to love our enemies,  to return blessing for a curse.  He urges us to share the very compassion of God with a generous and giving heart. It is foolish talk,  unrealistic idealism for the world …  Is it the same for us?  Or have we the courage to live the foolish generosity of God here and now?

READER:    Jesus says: ‘Love your enemies’ …
                          when we hold onto grudges,
                          past hurts,  and meaningless animosities

                                            LORD HAVE MERCY

Jesus says: ‘Give to everyone who asks you’ …
                         for meanness of heart and pocket,  for lack of generosity
with our time, our energy and our caring

                                            CHRIST HAVE MERCY

Jesus says: ‘Be compassionate – do not judge’ …
                         when we ignore or make ourselves blind to the suffering of others,
                         because it will cost too much;
                         for being judgemental rather than forgiving and understanding

                                            LORD HAVE MERCY

PRIEST:     May the compassionate Father embrace us;
                       may Jesus who died for love of his enemies and ours forgive us;
                      may the Spirit given so generously empower us to be
                     servants of reconciliation and peace;
                     and bring all the world to everlasting life…

                                              AMEN!

PRIEST: Jesus is the Prophet of the Poor – the Voice of the Voiceless. We hear this morning Luke’s version of the Beatitudes – the Blessings of the Kingdom. But if the Poor are blessed, if the world is to change to raise up the poor, then  the world of the rich must radically change! Jesus’ Kingdom turns the world’s order of things upside down!  Are we going to be ‘turning the world upside down’? Are we going to stand with Jesus where he is … among the poor, powerless and voiceless? What a challenge to the Church – what a challenge to you and me!

READER: When we trust in our own power and possessions

rather than trust in the foolish wisdom of Jesus

SUNG RESPONSE

For resisting the challenge to be truly identified with Jesus

who identifies with the struggles of the Poor

SUNG RESPONSE

When the words of our Church speak of Option for the Poor

but our own life-style and the way we use our energy as a parish

belie the fine words 

SUNG RESPONSE

PRIEST: May the God who saved the poor of Israel bring us mercy;

May Jesus born into the poverty of Bethlehem and Galilee

          share with us liberating compassion and strong justice;

May the Holy Spirit who renews the face of the earth 

        by turning the world upside down, renew us forgiveness

and bring all the world to everlasting life…

AMEN!

PRIEST: We celebrate today that Jesus calls and makes disciples:  people who will follow him anywhere,  do whatever he tells them,  share the work with him. Disciples are not some elitist group in the Church – they are you and me. And when he calls,  it involves leaving something behind so that we can give ourselves to mission,  to action. What is our answer to the call of Christ?  What do we need to leave behind? 

READER: For protecting ourselves against the challenging call of Christ,
for reckoning that it is always someone else who is called, and not me

                            LORD HAVE MERCY

For being afraid of holiness,  for being afraid of the God who is Holy,  for counting ourselves as unworthy of his work…

                            LORD HAVE MERCY

For wanting to ‘do our own thing’ and being unwilling
to work with others for the sake of the Gospel:
for not considering the work and the love of Christ
important enough to change our lives…

                            LORD HAVE MERCY

PRIEST: May the God of Holiness purify our hearts with his mercy;
                    may the Redeemer who calls, summon us to work for
                    the world’s healing and reconciliation;
                    may the Spirit empower us with compassion
                    that sets us free to liberate others
                    and bring us all to everlasting life…

                            AMEN!

PRIEST: We celebrate the Prophet of a Love that knows no limits! He challenges us in today’s Gospel to love the stranger, those different from us, teaching us compassion and generosity of heart: Gospel values so necessary for our own age.  Are our parishes, our homes and our communities truly places of welcome where the ‘stranger’ can become the ‘friend’, where the ‘excluded’ can ‘belong’ – communities where the Gospel will be seen in action?

READER: When our hearts and communities are filled
with more hostility than hospitality…

SUNG RESPONSE

When our welcome is superficial and cold, when we refuse
to share or build a justice that will set another free…

   SUNG RESPONSE

When we are afraid to listen with compassion,
or accept another without judgement;
When our love is offered only to our own…

       SUNG RESPONSE

PRIEST: May the God of Limitless Love pardon us that we may learn how to forgive; May Jesus the Prophet forgive and challenge every narrowness of mind and heart; May the Spirit enfold us in mercy and enflame us with Divine Love; and so bring us to everlasting life…

  AMEN!

PRIEST: We celebrate today the dramatic beginning of Jesus’ ministry … ‘with the power of the Spirit in him’ he returns to his home synagogue,  to proclaim the New Age that his life and ministry, his death and resurrection bring to the world – a New Age of equality and justice,  of freedom and partnership.  We are the Body of Christ,  bearers and makers of this New Age in our own land and our own century.  As we begin our Eucharist,  let us ask ourselves whether or not this text is indeed being fulfilled in our lives and our Church today even as we listen…

READER: ‘Sent to bring Good News to the Poor’ …
are we Good News to the poor of our Inner City,
of our nation, or our world?

                                   LORD HAVE MERCY

‘Sent to bring new sight to the blind’ …
are we quick to see other’s blindness and heard hearts,
                        and slow to be honest about our own?

                                   CHRIST HAVE MERCY

‘Sent to give liberty to captives’ …
                         do we avoid those held captive in their woundedness;
                         do we care about how prisoners are treated,
or their families cope?

                                   LORD HAVE MERCY

PRIEST: May the God who has chosen to dwell among the poor
                           have pity on the poverty of our love;
                   May the Redeemer who raises the downtrodden
                           set us free with forgiveness;
                  May the Spirit who sends us with Power to heal our world,
                           anoint us with life-giving mercy;
                  and bring us all to everlasting life…

                                    AMEN!

PRIEST:   As we share this Week of Prayer for Christian Unity and celebrate Peace Sunday, we witness Jesus’ first miracle, His first Sign of Glory – insipid water turned into rich wine! The water is transformed because in Mary’s words, the servants do what he tells them! The world can be transformed if only we, the Church, the community of the Servants of God, do what He tells us. But our disunity shows well that we do not. Our disunity is not only a scandal that silences the Good News for so many, but makes our work for Peace ring hollow to the world in conflict. Let us embrace the Lord’s forgiveness, that he may change our disobedient hearts, and heal the wounds of division in His Body, the Church that we might better serve the Peace of our world.

READER:   When we feel complacent and superior as Catholics;
for our failure to recognise the values and faith of others…

                                         LORD HAVE MERCY

For judgmental attitudes towards our fellow Christians;
                         for conflicts and divisions in the Body of Christ
                         that diminishes our witness for Peace and Reconciliation 

                                         LORD HAVE MERCY

When we make no effort
                         to understand Christian thinking different from our own,
                         ways of witnessing and praying  different from our own;
                         for not having the courage to blend love
with the search for truth

                                         LORD HAVE MERCY

PRIEST:  May the God of perfect unity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
                    fill us with mercy, clothe us with forgiveness,
                    and empower us with reconciliation,
                    that together we may heal the Church
                    and build a world of unity and peace,
                    bringing all to everlasting life…

                                             AMEN!

PRIEST: Today the Christmas Season draws to a close as we celebrate that holy day when Jesus sanctified the waters of baptism by his own humble baptism in the Jordan River at the hands of his servant and prophet, John. Jesus committed himself to be forever the sign of the Father’s Love, His Word of Liberating Truth, and the Servant of His Kingdom. Today, we call to mind our own baptism, and we say ‘yes’ once more to being the same Love, speaking the same Truth and serving the same Kingdom.  And we welcome that Holy Water that affirms and strengthens the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that is ours by baptism.

                                                [the blessing of water]

Loving Father, you sent Your Beloved Son to make Your Word dwell among us. And you washed Him in Jordan’s water, and filled Him with Your Spirit of Love so that His Word would bring freedom, and His touch healing. Bless + this water, and sanctify + this community, that filled with the same Spirit, we may live the Baptism we have embraced and serve the Kingdom we proclaim.

READER:       Knowing that we are sinners,
but confident in the forgiveness
Baptism has brought us, we commit ourselves afresh
                             to the journey of holiness as disciples of Christ Jesus…

                                             WE COMMIT OURSELVES TO CHRIST

Aware of our many failures, but ready to begin again,
we commit ourselves again to proclaim
the Word that is Christ, by our lips and by our lives…

                                               WE COMMIT OURSELVES TO CHRIST

Acknowledging our lack of courage
and our many compromises,
                               we nevertheless commit ourselves in the Holy Spirit
                               to build the Kingdom of the Beatitudes in our society,
                               and to serve the needs of all
our sisters and brothers in the world…

                                             WE COMMIT OURSELVES TO CHRIST

                                 [water is sprinkled as we sing Taizé Kyrie]

PRIEST:      May our loving Father forgive our sins,
                         send us the freedom of Christ
and the love of the Holy Spirit;
                         and as we celebrate Jesus’ Baptism
and our own by this Eucharist,
                         may He rekindle within us the Spirit’s fire
                         and life everlasting…        

                                                AMEN!

PRIEST: The Wisdom of God has guided each of us here today, as surely as the Magi’s Star:  for we too are pilgrims on a journey searching for wisdom,  walking by faith and yearning in hope for the peace for our world.  We gather to offer our gifts,  our talents and our very selves on this feast of the Epiphany,  the Manifestation of Christ’s Redeeming Light to all the Nations of the world, the glory of the Father’s infinite Mercy to all creation.  Let us find in the Wise Men inspiration to give all we are in the service of the Light of Christ’s Good News.

READER:     We welcome the wisdom of the Gift of Gold…
our love given to Christ our King:
                          may we so grow in love that we can offer the world
Christ’s healing, justice and New Life…

                                              O … ADORAMUS TE DOMINE [x2]

We welcome the wisdom of the Gift of Frankincense…
our worship for our God in human flesh:
                           may we so grow in prayer that we will find strength
and inspiration to shine before the world
with Christ’s Light…

                                             O … ADORAMUS TE DOMINE [x2]

We welcome the wisdom of the Gift of Myrrh…
our share in the passion of Christ
for the salvation of our world:
                          may we so grow in his sacrificial love that we may place
the demands of the Kingdom
                                    before our own desires and wants…

                                           O … ADORAMUS TE DOMINE [x2]

PRIEST:     May our God forgive the coldness of our love,
                                 the poverty of our prayer,
                                the shallowness of our sacrifice;
                       that we may shine with the splendour of Christ’s Light,
                                and journey with Gospel Wisdom to everlasting life…

                                            AMEN!