Category: Penitential Rites

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…
                                                 CHRIST 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…

                                              LORD HAVE MERCY …

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

                                              CHRIST HAVE MERCY …

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

                                              LORD HAVE MERCY …

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:   In this Week of Prayer for Christian Unity we listen to Jesus challenging us to fulfil the Text that the captives are set free, the broken healed, the blind liberated with sight. But the Church too is imprisoned in division, too often blind to the scandal of disunity, and wounded by intolerance and mistrust.  So we are less able to proclaim the Good News to the Poor.  Let us embrace the Lord’s forgiveness, that he may heal the wounds of division in His Body, the Church, and so empower us afresh for His Mission.

READER:      For our complacency with what we are and what we have
                           for our failure to open our eyes to recognise the values of others…

                                        LORD HAVE MERCY…

For yielding to our impatience in dialogues
                           with our Christian brothers and sisters of other traditions;
                          for when we are not willing to welcome them,
listen to them and receive them

                                        CHRIST HAVE MERCY…

When we make no effort to understand forms of thought,
                            of witness to the Gospel and of spirituality & prayer 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: We gather the year that is past with thankfulness for the many touches of grace and goodness that have been the gifts of God; with sorrow for all that has wounded our world through sin and selfishness, war and injustice; with healing prayer for hurts we have endured or have inflicted. We seek to enter the New Year with hearts purified in the fire of Divine Love and lives focussed on the God who makes all things new!

READER:     For Peace not won, and Justice not achieved;
For poverty still rampant and power still abused
For Climate Change denied or ignored
We ask your mercy, O God of Peace

                                        LORD HAVE MERCY …

For forgiveness withheld and wounds inflicted;
For relationships broken and lives abused
We ask your mercy, O God of Pardon

                                        CHRIST HAVE MERCY …

For touches of grace not welcomed and gifts not accepted;
For the Good News not proclaimed and unity not achieved
We ask your mercy, O God of Oneness

                                        LORD HAVE MERCY …

PRIEST:     May the God of Pardon bring mercy to our failures,
                       The God of Unity bring fire to our love grown cold,
                       The God of Peace bring healing to our hurting hearts,
                       and renew hope as we journey into this New Year
                       To bring all the world to everlasting life…       

                                              AMEN!

PRIEST: As we draw near the end of this year we gather as a family of families … around the simplicity and poverty, the love and the faith of the Holy Family of Bethlehem and Nazareth.  Theirs was not a trouble-free family life: homeless, fleeing for their lives into exile because of the fears of the powerful, destined to be refugees for years.  Yet we celebrate the wonder of God’s great confidence in us and in our families, entrusting His own Son to a family like ours, for Jesus to grow and develop into the power of love that He became.  In the midst of so many diverse forms of family life among us, let us rededicate ourselves to the task of love, recognising that our failures are forgiven…

READER:      The family is the school of love:
                            that we may replace harshness with forgiveness,
                            criticism with encouragement, deafness with sensitive listening

                                        LORD HAVE MERCY …

The family is called to be a healing community:
                               that we may care rather than judge, accept rather than reject,
cherish rather than take for granted

                                        CHRIST HAVE MERCY …

The family is called to be a place of prayer:
                              that Christ may be the centre of our homes, not on the edge,
                              that parents may be the first and best of teachers of their children in the ways of faith,
                              that love may set all free to search and develop, not criticism  to stifle and limit

                                        LORD HAVE MERCY …

PRIEST:      May our God who is family, Father, Son and Spirit,
                        bring mercy to our failures, fire to our love grown cold,
                       healing peace to our hurting hearts,
                       and renewed hope to the challenge of love and growth
                      bringing us all to everlasting life…

                                             AMEN!

PRIEST: Today is a wondrous day … a day for untold rejoicing as we gaze upon the awesome mystery of our God in vulnerable human flesh … the All-powerful contained in the powerless frame of a tiny baby.   Looking into the eyes of this child we can only treat every child with immense respect and love, embrace every human person with a divine love. Yet our world is not like that … and too often neither are we. So we repent of all evil, and seeking the way of peace for ourselves and our world: then our joy will be full this day!

READER:      Father,  come and speak Your Word of Forgiveness to every human heart:
                           forgive us when we close our heart to Jesus’ brothers and sisters,
                          when there is no room in our nation for the stranger and refugee;
                          come free us to welcome Your forgiveness

                                            LORD HAVE MERCY…

                         Jesus, come and speak Your Word of Peace         into the violence and war of our world:
                        for every anger that we harbour within,
                        for every injustice that makes some victims,
                        for being so slow to work for the peace proclaimed at Your birth…

                                            CHRIST HAVE MERCY…

                          Holy Spirit, come and speak Your Word of Love to a world that forgets how to accept each other:
                         for every refusal to love, to heal,
                         to give ourselves in compassion and sacrifice…

                                            LORD HAVE MERCY…

PRIEST:       May the Father who has so loved the world
that He has sent His beloved Son embrace you in forgiveness;
                         May the Son and Saviour Jesus who died to reconcile us all
                        touch your heart with pardon and peace;
                       May the Holy Spirit who hovers over this day more brightly than the Star
                      fill your lives with light and healing;
                      and may our God who is with us bring us and all the world to everlasting life…   

                                             AMEN!

PRIEST:          My dear sisters and brothers in Christ Jesus,
We gather today on this last Sunday of Advent Preparation to welcome in this Eucharist the Visitation of God’s Love. Like Elizabeth, we carry humanity’s longings within us…longings for a world of peace,  equality and justice;  like Mary,  we carry the Christ within us,  he who is God’s answer to every human longing, God’s gift of Mercy made Flesh.  Our meeting with the living God this day is rich with promise.  Let us seek to run to meet him with the obedience of love.

[proceed to wreath, singing the ‘Magnificat’]

Let us pray…
O God of our History, from all eternity You have spoken forth Your Word of Love that gives Life. Your Word created the heavens and earth…Your Word made man and woman in Your own image and likeness…Your Word called forth a People 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,  indeed You our God have visited your people!  Bless this Advent Wreath of Light and Expectancy and bless our parish community with the faith and love of Mary so that the Word may be free to become Flesh in our flesh, so that the Day of His Kingdom may come…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, journeyed forgetting herself
                         in order to serve Elizabeth and all God’s People:
                         for the times we refuse to hope and to serve,

                                          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 world,
                     so that the Saviour may come again and bring us life everlasting

                                          AMEN!

Let us share once more Mary’s Song of Rejoicing and Exultation  [‘Magnificat’]

PRIEST: My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
This third Sunday of Advent is a day for rejoicing…rejoicing that the coming of our Saviour is close at hand; rejoicing that we are called to work joyfully for the Great Day of the Lord,  when all creation will ring with the Glory of God; rejoicing that we hear the call to conversion, and wish to respond, rejoicing in the endless mercy of the Father that Jesus brings.

Let us now sing with joy as we witness the Light of Christ growing in our midst…

[ proceed to wreath, singing – Rejoice in the Lord always! ]

Let us pray…
O God, Mother and Father of all that lives, come among us and dance over us with your joy, as on a day of Festival! Fill our community with that rejoicing that comes from welcoming your Light, Jesus Christ, and sharing that light with one another in the household of faith and with all the world. Bless this Advent Wreath and our parish so that we may hasten the day when your Son, our Brother, will fill all creation with joyous Glory…
IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER + AND OF THE SON, AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT…AMEN!

READER:         Lord, for all the darkness that is in our lives, and in our world:
a darkness that deprives our earth of your joy; we ask your mercy

                                               LORD HAVE MERCY …

Lord, for the darkness of violence and war,
for the darkness of hunger and poverty,
for the darkness of greed and luxury;
we ask your mercy

                                               CHRIST HAVE MERCY …

Lord, because of the joy you have in forgiving us,
because you come among us bearing the light of healing and reconciliation;
with confidence we ask your mercy

                                               LORD HAVE MERCY …

PRIEST:          Lord, stir up your might and come!
Clothe us in your joyous Light,
                            renew our hearts in your compassion and forgiveness,
                           and bring us all to your Day of unending Light,
                          that we may live for ever and ever…

                                                AMEN!

PRIEST: My Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ Jesus,
We gather this morning, at the beginning of our second week of Advent Preparation and Prayer. We come together to listen to God’s Holy Word on this Bible Sunday, so that we may allow His Word to be made Flesh in our lives. That Word will be spoken over bread of the earth and wine from the hills, with such power that the Word will become the Flesh and Blood of Christ in Eucharist. May we recognise the Bible as our first and greatest ‘prayer book’.

Let us now praise the Light of God’s Word as we sing…

(‘The Lord is my Light’)

[ proceed to the wreath ]

Let us pray…

O God, from all eternity You have spoken forth Your Word, so that all creation may experience Your Love. Your Word first created Light at the dawning of time. In the fullness of that time, Your Word became Flesh in the poor Virgin of Nazareth. For Your People everywhere, Your Word remains the Light that guides our journey, the Lamp revealing the path before us. Bless our Wreath, and this our parish family, so that the Light of Your Word may grow in our hearts, inspire our lives, and guide our community,

IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER  +  THE SON AND THE HOLY SPIRIT,

 … Amen!

READER:       Too often, Lord, we allow the false lights of our world to guide us,
                             rather than the Light of Your Word:
                             forgive us for failing to root our lives in the Word of the Gospel…

                                               LORD HAVE MERCY

                              Lord, for the many times we do not listen to Your Word in the Bible,
                              for the ways we leave it an unopened book, a treasure sadly neglected

                                               CHRIST HAVE MERCY

                               Lord, the neglect of Your Word make us less a People of Faith;
                               it weakens our witness to Your Presence and Your Kingdom:
                               so for the ways our lives do not shine with the Light of Your Word

                                               LORD HAVE MERCY

PRIEST:      O Lord, stir up our hearts
                        to prepare the way of Your Son, the Word made Flesh,
                        so that through His Coming on earth we may serve you
                        with lives filled with the Light of His Word,
                        for He Who will come again lives for ever and ever …
                                               AMEN!

          We sing once more our Advent Song of Joyful Hope…

RICHARD:  My dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
We have come to the Holy and Joyful Season of Advent, these four weeks of preparation … learning to watch with faith for the Coming of the Lord in Glory … learning to welcome with love our brother Jesus who has already come … learning to yearn with hope for the final coming of the Kingdom upon the earth.

Let us now sing the ancient prayer of our Christian forebears, ‘Come, Lord Jesus!’

[proceed to wreath]

Let us pray…
O God, Father and Mother of all Life, by your Word all things are made holy. Send forth your Blessing upon our Advent Wreath, and upon our parish family: may we use this sign of Your growing Light to prepare our hearts and minds to serve Your Kingdom, and so hasten that day when the Lord Jesus will come in His Glory … In the Name of the Father, + the Son, and the Holy Spirit … AMEN!

READER:    The purple candles and ribbon call us to repentance,
                          making our hearts wide open and ready for His Coming:
Lord, grant us the grace of conversion to your Gospel this Advent…

                                                 LORD HAVE MERCY…

The circle of evergreen reminds us that God is ever faithful to us,
                           in His love and mercy that never ends:
Lord, forgive us all our unfaithfulness to your call to love…

                                                 CHRIST HAVE MERCY…

The red berries make us mindful that Jesus came among us
                           to die on a Cross, & that we drink the Cup of His Redeeming Blood:
Lord, by Your wounds we are healed,
                           and by Your death we are freed from the death of sin…

                                                 LORD HAVE MERCY…

RICHARD:     O Lord, stir up Your might and come!
                            Be our protector and liberator; rescue us from the dangers that threaten us because of our sins,
                            and lead us to our salvation, for ever and ever…
                                                 AMEN!

Let us now sing once more ‘Come Lord Jesus…’  as we prepare to listen to God’s Word