Liturgy Alive Monday, November 7, 2011

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Monday, November 7, 2011

 

Opening Prayer

God of mercy and compassion,
your Son Jesus Christ has brought us together
as a community of sinners
that knows that you have pardoned us.
When our weaknesses threaten our unity,
remind us of our responsibility for one another.
Let your unifying Spirit give us the strength
to care for one another
and to do all we can to remain
a living, forgiving and welcoming community.
May we meet in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Liturgy of the Word

First Reading Introduction
It was written in Greek in Alexandria, the century before the Christian era. Although he hopes non-Jews too to read it, the author advises mainly his coreligionists to seek wisdom in their faith in God rather than in the surrounding philosophical culture of Alexandria.

Gospel Introduction

It is hard to place the sayings of our Gospel today (Lk 17:1-6) in a coherent context. They rather look like disparate statements about key concerns and messages of Luke: concern for the lowly, the need of forgiving one another, and faith. When Luke speaks about scandal, he is not thinking of giving any bad example, but of obstacles that make people stumble, like Jesus sitting at table with sinners, something totally unacceptable to many Jews. We take the message of forgiveness.

General Intercessions

– That in all honesty we may acknowledge our sins to the Lord, who knows what is in our hearts, and also to the persons we have hurt, we pray:

– That we may have enough faith to forgive totally and without reservations those who have offended us, we pray:

– That pastors in charge of communities may practice what they teach and inspire their people, we pray:

Prayer over the Gifts

God our Father,
you bring together at the table of your Son
the weak with the strong, the sick with the healthy.
Let your Son fill us here
with the fullness of his presence,
that we may accept one another
to live with one another in peace and friendship.
We offer you our good will
to welcome one another
in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Prayer after Communion

God our Father,
your Son Jesus has been in our midst
and he has strengthened us with his body and blood.
He made our wounds of sin
his wounds and he healed them.
Let the wounds of our brothers and sisters
become ours, their joys our happiness.
Let your Son teach us the art
of bringing those who err back to you
and into our communities,
without embittering or humiliating them,
without any feeling of superiority,

but simply because they are our brothers and sisters
in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Blessing

Let us keep in mind the exhortation Jesus gives us in Luke, to be people of deep faith who can forgive one another and care for the poor and the humble, with the blessing of almighty God, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

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