Category: Penitential Rites

PRIEST:           We are made for faithfulness – to live our relationships with commitment and love. For God made us to need each other, and to complete each other. Yet our world finds it so difficult to say ‘forever’! As Christians we are called, in all our weakness, to echo God’s ‘forever’ in all our relationships. We are the People of the Covenant – covenanted to a Faithful God. Let us confess the ways we are unfaithful.

READER:         When we are unfaithful to God,
                              neglecting to listen to him in Word and in Silence,
not trusting him in the hard days and long nights

                                                        LORD HAVE MERCY …

When we are unfaithful to Creation,
polluting and damaging our earth
                              because of our greed and consumerism

                                                        CHRIST HAVE MERCY …

When we are unfaithful to each other,
by not valuing our families or our friends,
by not listening to the cries of the poor,
by not building up the Body of Christ in love

                                                        LORD HAVE MERCY …

PRIEST:          May God, faithful and merciful,
                            lead us along paths of forgiveness to
                                  a deeper fidelity,
                                          a more profound  compassion,
                                                  a more merciful generosity,
                            and bring us all to everlasting life

                                                           AMEN!

PRIEST:         Possessiveness is utterly foreign to Jesus…when his disciples resent another using His name,  using His power to set others free they want Jesus to stop him:  but Jesus yearns that all would set free their world in the power of his name!  He challenges us this morning to give up our possessiveness, as does St James challenge our materialism and greed: instead the Word of God urges us to seek each other’s freedom and growth…Let us confess the narrowness of our hearts and minds…

READER:               When we resent another’s gifts,  and resist another’s ministry;
                                    when we fail to encourage each other…

                                                            LORD HAVE MERCY …

For our possessiveness depriving others of the necessities for life;
                                   for a rich world refusing to share justly with the impoverished;
                                   for blinding ourselves to injustice…

                                                            CHRIST HAVE MERCY …

For disunity in the Body of Christ
                                    that harms our witness to the Gospel;
                                    for neglecting to worship and work
                                    with our fellow Christians of other traditions…

                                                            LORD HAVE MERCY …

PRIEST:                   Be assured that we are forgiven,
                                     forgiven by the tender Father,
                                     forgiven by our brother Jesus,
                                     forgiven by our fellow-pilgrims filled with the Spirit
                                     released from all that hurts us,
                                     that we might set others free from pain
                                     and bring all to everlasting life…

                                                                 AMEN!

PRIEST:       We hear today how Jesus tries to teach his disciples about the paradoxes of the Gospel:  the New Way that Jesus walks – the path of greatness that travels always through the Cross.  He urges us to walk with weakness:  our own and others,  and to discover the joy of serving with humble love.  He challenges us to learn from the child that true greatness is love alone! Let us confess the poverty of our love and the violence of our world…

READER:               For the wars and violence of our world,
                                    for the angers and aggression in our hearts,  `
                                    for the greed of voracious desires…

                                                           LORD HAVE MERCY…

For our refusal to serve,
                                     for building up our own esteem at the expense of others’ dignity,
                                     for not wanting to get involved…

                                                           CHRIST HAVE MERCY…

For resisting the cross in our lives,
                                     for lacking gentleness with the weakness of others or our own,
for every form of selfishness…

                                                           LORD HAVE MERCY…

PRIEST:            May the God of compassion embrace us with the tenderness of mercy;
                              may Jesus forgive us and set us free to serve;
                              may the Spirit heal us into deeper love and make us ambassadors of reconciliation;
                             and bring all creation to everlasting life…

                                                            AMEN!

PRIEST:      Jesus asks each of us today:  ‘Who do you say that I am?’  He leads the disciples on a Journey of Faith, and as they share with him and each other they begin to discover the depths of Jesus.  They also have to come to terms that being His disciples means embracing the cross of suffering as He did. Only then can they proclaim Jesus to their world.  On this Education Sunday let us reflect upon the ways we neglect to nourish our faith in Christ, share that faith with others and resist the cross of the world’s suffering…

READER:         When we do not translate our faith into action for others;
when we do not live God’s option for the poor

                                                  LORD HAVE MERCY…

For every abuse of power and authority in the Church,
When we do not root our way of acting and thinking
                               in the mind of Christ,  in the love of Christ;
                              when our Church is a stumbling block to others meeting Christ

                                                  CHRIST HAVE MERCY…

When we protect ourselves and our comfort
                              rather than risk living the radical love of the Gospel;
                              for all the things we cling to rather than to Jesus

                                                  LORD HAVE MERCY…

PRIEST:               May the life-giving God hold us in mercy…
                                 The pain-bearing Jesus heal us with forgiveness…
                                 The love-making Spirit reconcile us through compassion
                                 and bring us and all the world to everlasting life…

                                                    AMEN!

PRIEST:     Today we celebrate Jesus, the Light of God, who opens eyes that they may see; Jesus the Word who opens ears that they may hear; Jesus, the Good News who loosens tongues that they may speak; Jesus the Love of God, who opens  hearts that they may wonder at the God of Love and the dignity of our humanity.  Jesus cries out to us:  ‘Be Opened’ – let us confess the many ways we are closed to Him, to one another and to our world …

READER:                 The deaf man’s ears were opened…
when we are deaf to God’s challenging Word to us,
                                      when we are deaf to the cries of pain, hunger and despair
in our brothers and sisters

                                                             LORD HAVE MERCY…

The dumb man’s tongue was loosened…
when we are afraid to speak out for human rights and dignity;
when we are slow to praise another’s goodness and gift

                                                             CHRIST HAVE MERCY…

The Good News of healing and life was published widely…
when we are afraid to proclaim the Good News
                                      to our neighbours,  our street,  our colleagues at work

                                                             LORD HAVE MERCY…

PRIEST:         May the God of mercy open our hearts to his pardon;
                            may the Saviour,  our brother Jesus open our woundedness to his healing;
                            may the Holy Spirit open our lives to divine compassion;
                            and bring us all to everlasting life…

                                                                    AMEN!

PRIEST:      Today is a day of rejoicing,  a day of glory:  for Mary the poor virgin of Nazareth is raised above the angels; she has gone before us into the fullness of Christ’s Resurrection.  Her glory is His, she is a mirror, reflecting the wonder of Christ to us. She summons us likewise to be mirrors of Christ’s Glory to the world; she pleads with us to tread her same path of humble and faith-filled love, and like her to give of Christ’s endless life and hope to the people of our earth. Let us ask forgiveness for the ways and times we have clouded, not reflected Christ’s glory and love…

READER:             For the ways the poverty of our loving has hidden
the wonder of Christ from the people among whom we live;
for the ways we have not struggled for peace in a war-torn world…

                                                LORD HAVE MERCY …

For the ways and times we refuse a share in the sufferings of Christ,
                                   and so do not touch the glory of Christ…

                                                CHRIST HAVE MERCY …

For those times when we do not defend the dignity and rights
of the human person especially the poor and the vulnerable,
and those of races or sexual orientation other than our own…

                                                LORD HAVE MERCY …

PRIEST:        May the God of Life free us from the sin that is death;
                          May the Risen Jesus summon us by his mercy into the holiness
                                          that is His Resurrection;
                          May the Holy Spirit heal us into the glory that is our destiny
                                          and our witness to the world
                          and bring us all to everlasting life…

                                             AMEN!

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!

PRIEST:   As we celebrate today the beautiful Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord, we behold the Glory of God, the glory that each of us carries deep within our being. For we are all created in God’s image and likeness. And the Glory of God is humanity fully alive.  Transfiguration is only complete, however, when we have transformed our world from war and injustice into the glory of equality, justice and peace among all the peoples of the earth. Sadly today is also the anniversary of the dropping of first Atom Bomb – upon the city of Hiroshima in Japan. Its dark cloud of death and destruction has overshadowed the world ever since! To transform a world addicted to weapons of mass destruction will demand we truly listen to Him – God’s Word made flesh – and act! Let us now bring our world of war to the God of Peace and limitless Mercy.

READER:               For the human addiction to war and destruction
that it be transfigured to peace and healing

                                                               LORD HAVE MERCY …

For the mountains of injustice and inequality
                                    that diminishes all human beings, both rich and poor alike

                                                               CHRIST HAVE MERCY …

For the transformation of our inhumanity that wounds
into the divine Humanity that is fully alive and life-giving

                                                               LORD HAVE MERCY …

PRIEST:     May God our Father speak his words of forgiveness
and mercy to our hearts;
                       May the Transfigured Christ transform the darkness of
                                      our sin into the glory of His love;
                      May the Holy Spirit be the light of justice, healing
                                     and compassion in our hearts,
                      and bring us and all Creation to everlasting life…

                                                                  AMEN!

PRIEST:           Jesus is the True Bread of God,  for comes to give life to all our world.  He breaks bread with us,  so that we too become a fragment of the Bread of God,  as we say ‘yes’ to living and loving in order to give life to our hungry world.  Do our families give life to those outside our own circle?  Do we play our part in helping our parish give life,  hope,  peace and new beginnings to those among whom we live and serve?

READER:                 Jesus is the Bread of Truth that sets free:
                                       forgive us when we enslave each other in criticism;
                                       when we fail to value each other as God values us…

                                                          LORD HAVE MERCY…

Jesus is the Bread of Mercy that gives new life:
forgive us when we are not merciful,
                                       when we resist giving or receiving forgiveness,
                                       and so deny life to ourselves and others…

                                                           CHRIST HAVE MERCY…

Jesus is the Bread of Life that satisfies our deepest hunger:
                                      forgive us when we refuse to share equally
                                      the world’s rich resources,
                                     when we close  our hearts to the cries of the hungry
                                     and impoverished of our earth

                                                          LORD HAVE MERCY…

PRIEST:           May the God of Life meet our hunger for forgiveness;
                             may Jesus be Bread of compassion and healing in the midst
                             of  the wounds our sins inflict;
                             may the Holy Spirit draw us to ever deeper unity,
                             so that we might bring all the  world to everlasting life…
                                                                AMEN!