Liturgy Alive Easter Feria

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Friday, May 7, 2021

Introduction

Fraternal love among Christians as well as love of all people for one another, without boundaries or reservations is inseparable from friendship with God. Both loves are in fact one. For Christians, human relations have a religious content and express a religious relation. For sure, we can and must love God in himself. But we experience God when our love, like his, is liberal and without calculation, oriented towards people in their otherness. Such a love converts us, that is, turns us to God and to others, overcomes selfishness, forgives and shares. It recognizes the sensitivities and respects the backgrounds of others. See today’s first reading: Jews and Christians recognizing one another as brothers and sisters in Christ. This is Christian love in action.

Opening Prayer

Lord, our God,
you want your Church
to be open to all persons and all nations,
for your Son was available to all
and you love all people.
God, give us open minds
and open hearts.
Save us from our narrow prejudices
and stop us from trying to create people
in our own image and likeness.
We ask you this through Christ, our Lord.

General Intercessions

–    That the Church may be deeply aware, that what matters to God is not our language or culture or face, but that his friends are those who learn to love, we pray:
–    That we may know that we, God’s servants, are more than servants, for we belong to his household and are his friends, we pray:
–    That we may know that we could not choose and love God, but that he has chosen and loved us, we pray:

Prayer over the Gifts

Lord, our God, loving Father,
your love appeared with a human face
in your Son, Jesus Christ.
He showed all the depth of your love and his
by laying down his life for us, his friends.
As he gives himself to us as the bread of life,
may he be our food
on the road of life and of love,
not only when it is easy to love
but also when it is hard to be faithful,
and when love demands self-forgetting sacrifice.
We ask this through Christ, our Lord.

Prayer after Communion

Our loving God,
in this Eucharistic celebration
you have given us new proof of your love
by giving us your Son and his Spirit.
Jesus has strengthened our love.
Accept our thanks
and bring out the best in us,
that we may bear rich fruit
of faithful, reliable love.
Let your Holy Spirit unite us
to build community with one another
and to live in your love and joy,
now and for ever.

Blessing

Just imagine! Today, Jesus has called us his friends and asked us to remain in his love. Let us do all we can to put this into practice, with the blessing of Almighty God, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

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