Opening Prayer

Lord our God,
we are your people on the march,
moving forward to you with your Son
who came to make everything new.
Dispose us Lord, to accept the pain
of leaving the familiar behind us.
Uproot us from our established ways
and guide our faltering steps
toward your new future in Jesus Christ,
your Son and our Lord for ever.

Liturgy of the Word

First Reading Introduction
      The author of the first reading interprets God's intervention in history as a free option for progress. Isaac, the farmer and shepherd, though younger, is preferred over the culturally inferior hunter, Esau, notwithstanding the latter's vested birthright position. God often chooses the younger (Joseph, David, Solomon), the one who can break with established situations and rights, above those who try to monopolize God and his authority.

Gospel Reading Introduction

     Can we be people of compromise? To settle disagreement and make peace, to solve disputed matters and to become at least tolerant of one another? Yes, but not with the Gospel. Not when it comes to the renewal of life, whether personal or communal, that is constantly asked of us. Jesus tells his disciples and us, who are living in messianic times, that we are new, liberated people: we cannot compromise with salvation, with our faith, with the Gospel. Young wine belongs in new wineskins. New times require new attitudes.

General Intercessions

– For the Church, that the People of God and its leaders may follow the promptings of the creative Spirit, to speak to the people of today the ever-new language of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we pray:
– For husbands and wives, parents and children, that they may not take one another for granted but renew each other with a love that is inventive and attentive, we pray:
– For artists, poets, and inventors, that they may reveal to us the splendor of creation and the riches of life beyond the apparent drabness of our existence, we pray:
– For this community, that we may not be afraid of authentic change, and draw from Christ the courage to start the reform of our world and our Church with the renewal of ourselves, we pray:

Prayer over the Gifts

Lord our God,
this bread and this wine
are the signs of the new covenant
that you have made with us
in the blood of Jesus Christ.
May we, indeed, be your new people
of the new and everlasting covenant.
Renew our hearts,
make us your new wine of joy and hope,
that we may build a new earth today
and march forward with your Son
towards your new heaven
where you will be our God for ever.

Prayer after Communion

God of our future,
you have given us Jesus, your Son,
as our companion on the road
for renewing ourselves and the world.
Let him prod us on
when we try to compromise
by merely patching up the old here and there;
let him curb our impatience
when we try to rush people and things
beyond their capacity for growth.
Lead us forward on the new road of the Gospel
through our trusted guide, Jesus Christ,
your Son and our Lord for ever.

Blessing

We are God's new people, the people of the new covenant. So, we must live the new life of Jesus and do all we can to make our world new in justice and love and compassion. May God give you this insight and the strength to carry it out: the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.