Liturgy Alive Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Opening Prayer

Lord our God,
you call your Church to be
an open house,
a community of welcome
in which people can encounter your Son.
Let your Son continue in us
his deadly struggle against all evil
and turn death and suffering
into springs of life and joy.
May thus the world believe
that he is alive among us
and that he is the Lord who lives for ever.

Liturgy of the Word

First Reading Introduction
        We hear today the core of St. Paul's first letter to Timothy. The Church is the community of the living God that makes Christ visible to the world. At a time when Christians had no temples or churches, he speaks of the living Church, the body of the faithful, which must bear witness to the truth. Then, he quotes a hymn in honor of Christ, who is at the core of our faith, for the truth is Christ who is present in the community. Is Christ visible in the Church? Is he credible in us as a community?

Gospel Introduction

        Luke compares those who reject Christ and God's prophets to spoiled children. Jews, and later the pagans for whom Luke writes, see John the Baptist and Jesus and the things they say and do, but they do not recognize these signs.

General Intercessions

– For us, the People of God, that we may be more aware that we, all and each of us, are the living Church of Christ, we pray:
– For our Christian communities, aware that we are not perfect, we may support one another in mutual understanding and in one love of Christ, we pray:
– For ourselves, that we may be in his world the sign of God's constant care, holiness and goodness, we pray:

Prayer over the Gifts

Lord our God,
show what you can do
with frail and limited people.
Through the body and blood of your Son,
unite us and bring us to life
as a community of faith and love.
Make us hunger and thirst
for your kingdom of justice and peace,
that we may reveal to the world
the face of your own Son,
Christ Jesus, our Lord.

Prayer after Communion

Lord our God,
you have invited us
to come to your house
and to feel at home.
Through the Eucharistic body of your Son,
build yourself a house among us
made not of wood or concrete
but of living, human stones,
in which everyone is welcome
and in whom dwells Jesus Christ,
your Son and our Lord for ever.

Blessing

May we be the community of the living God that makes Christ visible to the world? How far are we still from that ideal? May God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.