Liturgy Alive Monday, 5th week of Easter

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Monday, May 4, 2015

Date: Monday, 23 May, 2011
Year: I
Cycle: A
Season: Easter
Vestment: White
Psalter: Week I

Liturgical Calendar

 

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THEME
GOD LIVING IN US


LITURGY OF THE WORD
Acts 14:5–18; Jn 14:21–26

COMMENTARY
Introduction

In the first reading, Luke shows Paul working the same signs among pagans as Peter among the Jews (here the cure of a crippled person), and preaching the same message.
In the Gospel, Christ speaks of God’s indwelling. In the Old Testament, God’s dwelling place was first the Tent and the Ark of the Covenant, then later, the Temple. The Temple was the sign that God lived among and with his people. This was taken often too materially and almost magically. God’s presence was more interior, i.e., through his wisdom found in the hearts of the just, said the wisdom books. Christ says that God’s presence is much more intimate: he lives by love in the hearts of those who love him and keep his word, a presence that can be known only by one who loves.
Christ will manifest his presence among us now in the Eucharist.

Opening Prayer

Lord God, loving Father,
we look for your presence
in the temple of nature
and in churches built by our hands,
and you are there with your people.
But above all, you have made your temple
right here in our hearts.
God, give us eyes of faith and love
to recognize that you live in us,
with your Son and the Holy Spirit,
if we keep the Word of Jesus Christ,
your Son and our Lord for ever.

General Intercessions

–    That we may bear witness that we are disciples of Jesus by loving one another deeply and sincerely, we pray:
–    Now that Christ is no longer physically among us, we may discover his presence in every human face, we pray:
–    That the Holy Spirit may teach us to live by the Word we have heard from Christ speaking  to us in the Gospel, we pray:

Prayer over the Gifts

Lord, our God, loving Father,
your Son Jesus Christ is here with us
as we are gathered in his name
in this eucharistic assembly.
Give him to us now
as our bread and wine, our food and drink,
that where we are, you may be present,
because your Son is alive in us,
he who lives with you and in us forever.

Prayer after Communion

Lord our God, loving Father,
we thank you for giving us your Son
and for letting him live in us.
Help us to live the kind of life
he lived and wants us to live,
a life of obedience to your will
and of dedication to people and to our task in life.
Through us, you may be present
in this cold, calculating world
and bring to it the warmth of love,
of friendship and compassion,
through Christ who lives in us now,
we hope and pray, forever.

Blessing

Jesus assures us that we are certain that our Father in heaven loves us and lives in us if we live according to his words. We hear his words and we know them. Let us live accordingly, with the blessing of Almighty God, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

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