Liturgy Alive Memorial - St.Martin of Tours, Bishop

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Friday, November 13, 2015

 

Memorial - ST. MARTIN OF TOURS, Bishop
November 11

Introduction

During a military campaign, Martin (317-397) cut his mantle into two to save a poor beggar from freezing to death. This gesture became the symbol of a sharing Christianity. Ordained a priest by St. Hilary of Tours, he introduced the monastic life in France. Later, as bishop of Tours, he created and organized many rural parishes and monasteries, whose monks evangelized much of Gaul in the 4th and 5th centuries. Tours became a center of pilgrimages.

Opening Prayer

Our loving God,
you let St. Martin of Tours remind us today,
that we have to recognize and love your Son
by welcoming him in those who are naked,
in all who are hungry and thirsty,
abandoned and lonely,
in refugees, in the poor and the sick.
Let our love become free and spontaneous,
like the tenderness you have shown us in your Son.
Welcome us in the everlasting kingdom
prepared for us through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Prayer over the Gifts

Our generous God,
this is the bread you give us
to share with the poor
and here is the wine you wish us to drink
with all who have forgotten what joy is.
In these signs, let your Son come among us
and give us the love and the strength to meet him
in all who hunger and thirst,
for food and affection,
in all that is little and insecure.
Let this be the sacrifice you accept
through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Prayer after Communion

Lord our God,
with the inspiration of his stirring words
and by the strength of this bread of life
may we go to you the royal way of Jesus
and to our neighbor the way of sharing.
Make us aware that what we are and have
is a gift from you, not just for ourselves
but for our brothers and sisters.
Let us meet Christ in the underprivileged,
for they are a treasure you have entrusted to us
through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

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