Liturgy Alive Saturday, February 25, 2017
Opening Prayer
Almighty God and Father,
creator of all that is,
you have entrusted this earth
and the entire universe to us
to develop and humanize it.
Help us to take up our responsibility
of conserving and protecting nature,
that you and our earth may remain a place
where people can breathe and live
and let it be a foretaste of the happiness
of your eternal home.
We ask you this through Christ, our Lord.
First Reading Introduction: In his own image the Lord made them.
Ben Sirach reflects at length and with warmth on the first chapters of the Bible dealing with creation. He stresses particularly the role of people as masters and the center of creation. People, who organize creation, are or should be responsible for creation and are the voice of all creation to praise God.
With human progress in subduing the earth and traveling in space, today, we need to glorify not merely our conquests, but also refocus our attention on our role as humanizers, which we have forgotten.
Gospel Introduction: Whoever does not accept the Kingdom of God like a child will not enter it.
“Christ’s reception of children cannot be regarded as a recommendation of infantilism or a vain search for primeval innocence. He recommends the adult attitude which acknowledges limitations and accepts dependence upon God with interdependence between people... The child, who acts with all his being, is in the final analysis more human and more integral than the thinker who becomes entangled in arguments and in worry about motives.” Guide to the Christian Assembly II, p. 327.
General Intercessions
– Lord, may the services and the food that you let animals and plants provide us with fill our hearts with gratitude, we pray:
– Lord, make us concerned to make the earth’s goods, spiritual and material, accessible to all, we pray:
– Lord, make us share our abundance, and at times even our need, with people who are poor, we pray:
Prayer over the Gifts
God our Father,
you let bread and wine,
the produce of this earth,
express the presence of your Son in our midst.
May we approach nature and its gifts
with admiration and respect
and make it fully your world
that joins us in praising you
through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Prayer after Communion
God our Father,
you transform us by the power
of your risen Son, Jesus Christ.
Temper our craving for prosperity and progress,
that we may not destroy the beauty of nature
but let your creation serve
our happiness and human welfare.
May we transform it to bring more freedom,
justice and dignity to all,
by the power of Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Blessing
Working for the integrity of nature is not just a fad that is in today, but a moral responsibility that also plays a very important role in the future of humankind. It is good that with the prophets, we have rediscovered it! May Almighty God bless you and our earth: the Father and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
