Upper Room Inclusive Catholic Community LITURGY for the SEASON OF CREATION Saturday September 26, 2026 Kathie Ryan, Presider

 

 

Zoom:   https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82512159155 phone-in for (audio only).Phone Number: (646) 558-865

 

Welcome:  The Holy One created all of creation in Love.  We have always been a part of that great love.  The more we experience God, Love, the more loving we become.

Let us pray our opening song with our eyes closed as we Breathe Love.

 

Opening Song Breathe Love by Susan Lincoln and Craig Toungate

https://youtu.be/g2eBbv7vVZg

 

LITURGY OF THE WORD

 

1^st Reading: A reading an essay by Rev. Brandan Robertson “A Higher Love.”   (adapted)

 

After all the years in seminary, and all the doctrine I preached, I realized that it was only in service to love that touched my soul. There truly is a higher love, something more going on in the cosmos, than I could ever put into words.

 

All I knew was that love certainly did exist-be it infinite, eternal love, or the very imperfect human love that we all have experienced over our lifetimes.  In the darkest of nights, love has beckoned me forward, given me hope, and grounded my soul. It is love that gives me reason

to press on, to work toward a more just and equal world.

 

Our community affirms these words with AMEN.

 

Gospel Acclamation: Celtic Alleluia by Christopher Walker

https://youtu.be/o1rc7ojQtJU

 

2^nd Reading: A reading from 1 John

 

Beloved, let us love one another because love is of God; everyone who loves is from God and experiences God.   Love, then, consists in this: not that we love God, but that God loves us.

 

We affirm these words with AMEN!

 

Shared Homily

When I was in social work school, I learned that there are only two emotions, Love and Fear.   All our emotions stem from one or the other of these two.  If you think about it if we are angry, upset, judging, annoyed, etc. the source will be fear; we don’t have enough, others have more, we are not enough, we are misunderstood, we do not feel valued, or respected. Most of our negative emotions are fear based.   If we are focused on love, we feel less stressed, we are more likely to live in gratitude and joy, accepting of others, we don’t take things so personally, we are open to new ideas, we have enough and we are enough.

Dr. Amanda Udis-Kessler, sociologist, asks the question in her essay, Fear or Love, and I paraphrase here:  Is our core paradigm the way we live our lives, fear based or loved based? How do we handle all the ups and downs of everyday living?  We like to believe we are loved based. Hopefully this is true and we are loved based. But it does not mean we are “always great at loving.”  We struggle and try to love all things at all times.  With that said we are ‘both/and humans’ as we live life.  Sometimes we are fear based and sometimes we are loved based. 

 Our strength is in love, not fear. Fear slows us down. Brandan Robertson wrote “love gives us the reason to press on.”   God loves us, always has and always will.

 

Statement of Faith

 

We believe in the Holy One, a divine mystery
beyond all definition and rational understanding,
the heart of all that has ever existed,
that exists now, or that ever will exist.

We believe in Jesus, messenger of the Divine Word,
bringer of healing, heart of Divine compassion,
bright star in the firmament of the Holy One's
prophets, mystics, and saints.

 We believe that We are called to follow Jesus
as a vehicle of divine love,
a source of wisdom and truth,
and an instrument of peace in the world.

We believe in the Spirit of the Holy One,
the life that is our innermost life,
the breath moving in our being,
the depth living in each of us.

We believe that the Divine kin-dom is here and now,
stretched out all around us for those
with eyes to see it, hearts to receive it,
and hands to make it happen.

 

LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST

 

Prayers of the Community

 

As we prepare for the sacred meal, we bring to the table our prayer of intentions:

 

 We pray for these and all unspoken intentions. Amen. 

 

Eucharistic Prayer

 

With open hearts and hands let us pray our Eucharistic prayer in one voice:

 

O Holy One, you are always with us. In the blessed abundance of creation, we gather to celebrate Your nourishing gift of life. May our hearts be open as You invite us to participate in the wise and wonderful work of co-creation. May we be ever aware of Your Spirit within and among us as our world unfolds amid pain and beauty into the fullness of life. 

 

We are grateful for Your Spirit whose breath inspired the primal waters, calling into being the variety and abundance we see around us. Your Spirit sustains and animates our every endeavor, inviting us to act in wisdom and in truth.

 

In gratitude and joy, we embrace our calling and we lift our voices to proclaim a song of praise:

Holy, Holy, Holy: Here in this Place by Christopher Grundy

https://youtu.be/sgkWXOSGmOQ

As a community, we gather in the power of your Spirit, refreshing wind, purifying fire and flowing water, for the variety and diversity of Creation. We seek to live as Jesus taught us, wise and holy as Spirit-filled people, courageous and prophetic, ever obedient to your call.

 

Please extend your hands in blessing.

 

We invoke Your Spirit upon the gifts of this Eucharistic table, bread of the grain and wine of the grape, that they may become gifts of wisdom, light and truth which remind us of our call to be the body of Christ to the world.

 

On the night before he faced his own death, Jesus sat at the Seder supper with his companions and friends.  He reminded them of all that he taught them, and to fix that memory clearly with them, he bent down and washed their feet.

 

lift bread

 

At the table, he took the bread, spoke the grace, broke the bread and offered it to them saying: 

 

Take and eat the Bread of Life

Given to strengthen you

Whenever you remember me like this go and love one another

 

lift  cup  

 

Jesus then raised a cup of blessing, spoke the grace and offered the wine saying:

Take and drink of the covenant

Made new again through my life in you.

Whenever you remember me like this,

I am among you.

 

In union with all peoples living and dead, we unite our thoughts and prayers, asking wisdom to discern more wisely your call to us in the circumstances of our daily lives.

Please receive the bread and the cup with the words: I press on in love.

 

Communion song: Christ, Shine in Our Lives by Chris Muglia

https://youtu.be/-vnwdrtwBwk

 

Prayer after Communion

 

We seek to act justly and courageously in confronting the suffering that desecrates the Earth and its peoples; to take risks in being proactive on behalf of the marginalized who suffer the environmental injustices of fouled air, tainted water, and a poverty of parks and public spaces that bring people together to enjoy nature. We pray for inspiration to act with the harmony and unity and synthesis that is modeled for us by the trees of the forest, and the stars of the evening.

Holy One, your transforming energy is always moving within us and working through us. Like Jesus, we will open up wide all that has been closed about us, and we will live compassionate lives,

for it is through living as Jesus lived, that we awaken to your Spirit within,

Moving us to glorify You, O Holy One,

At this time and all ways.

Amen.

 

Prayer of Jesus

 

Let us pray as Jesus taught us with an eye toward this Season of Creation:

 

Generous Creator, the intricate and elegant biodiversity of our world is your hallowed autograph on our lives, on our souls and in our hearts.

We yearn for the wholeness of being in harmony with Your will and with all living things.

Each day we draw on your creative, life-giving energy with gratitude and awe as we find nourishment in, seed and field, river and forest.

May we be stewards and co-creators with you in caring for the gifts of Your Creation. 

We acknowledge our shortcomings, especially our neglect of the environment. We seek to be reconciled with those we have hurt and we resolve to do better. 

With your unfailing wisdom and the wind of Your Spirit, inspire us that we may reach out and love one another and care for the world, our home.

Strengthen us to work for local and global justice so that we may one day reap a harvest of equality and fairness as if they were wildflowers, propagating spontaneously, unerringly and in surprising abundance. Amen.

We are called to live the Gospel of Creation in harmony and gratitude with all our sisters and brothers across the Earth. We will live justly, love tenderly and walk with integrity in Your Presence.                                                                                              Lynn Kinlan

 

BLESSING

 

­­­­Let us pray together our closing blessing:

Creator most generous and kind, your gift of Earth and sky reveals your omnipotence and glory. May we go forward boldly to live in the glory.

May we treat all of Creation as sacred and discern the best path to an equitable distribution of the resources we share with our sisters and brothers across the globe. Let us live as if the future depends on it. Amen.

As we go out into our troubled world let us breathe love and experience peace.

Closing Song: Dona Nobis Pacem sung by Carrie Newcomer

https://youtu.be/3qF5WDCFymg?si=Yl0CqjA6GOnFH1iG

 

 

Upper Room Inclusive Catholic Community Moment of Oneness September 23, 2026 Prepared by Deb Trees

 

                                                                Choose Love

Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81507551772
Meeting ID: 815 0755 1772
To connect by phone dial: 1-301-715-8592

Welcome dear friends to this Moment of Oneness.

Jesus centered himself on inclusivity and love. Is it so hard to do that for ourselves? I think it is.

DEB: When someone hurts us; when someone is disrespectful to us; when someone degrades our point of view; when someone makes it seem like it’s our fault that they are not able to function; when someone tries to instigate our reaction; when someone has no idea how they are disruptive. Ahhh. That is when we must choose Love.

We are challenged to Love.

First Reading:

You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others?

These words are from the works of Matthew (5:43-47) and we affirm them by saying: AMEN.

Second reading: From challenged to Love, in Hearts Renewed, Lenten Devotions for Families by Amy Welborn, 2000

Here’s the hard part. It’s easy to run towards open arms or answer kind words lovingly. Jesus challenges us to do more. Our caring hearts are committed to loving in God’s way. Whomever God loves, we love. Whomever God cares for, we have concern for. But remember—we’re not left to offer kindness in return for hurt all on our own. Jesus stays with us, deep in our hearts, giving strength to love as he does. Whom do you have a difficult time caring for this week?

 

Let’s take a moment of silence as we ponder these readings for ourselves and for our lives…

 

Song: Only Love, By Fearless Soul

https://youtu.be/EDVYKRy0xQU?si=m_FAt5mew2UeiWKW

Intercessory Prayer:

1.     Jesus, you show us the power and the cost of Love.  Help us to follow your way in every moment of our lives here on earth.

2.     Jesus, you give us an example of God’s love for us, Keep reminding us of this great miracle that we can hardly fathom.

3.     Jesus, you love us unconditionally. Show us by your example how to treat all people in our lives, whether they are intimate or a fleeting encounter.

4.     Jesus, you challenge us to Love and trust in God’s grace and presence. Thank you, in complete gratitude, for the opportunities that enfold in our lives.

 

Please add your own requests for anyone, or any issue you desire…

 

Deb: We ask for all of these holy imperatives for ourselves, in our communities and beyond in our earthly presence.

 

AMEN

 

Deb: Final Blessing: May each of us find the strength, patience and love in our hearts to meet others in the sacred space of Love. In gratitude we love, and in gratitude we call all around us to show Love.

 

May we have the awareness to see ourselves as beautiful spirits of God’s Love and Presence. AMEN.

Upper Room Inclusive Catholic Community Season of Creation 2026, Week Three September 20, 2026 Harmony of Creation Presiders: Mary Beth Sottile & Suzanne O’Connor

 

Zoom:   https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82512159155 

phone-in for (audio only).Phone Number: (646) 558-865

Welcome/Theme

 

Welcome to all - in this room and on zoom. Today we will consider Jesus’ teaching of economic justice & equity. Further, since Yom Kippur begins tonight at midnight, we stand with our Jewish sisters and brothers as they mark this Day of Atonement by fasting, intensive prayer, and abstaining from work, food, and drink. 

 

Opening Song:  The Ghost of Tom Joad – written and performed by Bruce Springsteen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Nbe2O-mJmc

Lyrics:

Men walking along the railroad tracks
Going someplace, there's no going back
Highway patrol choppers coming up over the ridge
Hot soup on a campfire under the bridge
Shelter line stretching around the corner
Welcome to the new world order
Families sleeping in the cars in the southwest
No home, no job, no peace, no rest

Well, the highway is alive tonight
But nobody's kidding nobody about where it goes
I'm sitting down here in the campfire light
Searching for the ghost of Tom Joad

He pulls a prayer book out of his sleeping bag
Preacher lights up a butt and he takes a drag
Waiting for when the last shall be first and the first shall be last
In a cardboard box beneath the underpass
You got a one-way ticket to the promised land
You got a hole in your belly and a gun in your hand
Sleeping on a pillow of solid rock
Bathing in the city's aqueduct

Well the highway is alive tonight
Where it's headed, everybody knows
I'm sitting down here in the campfire light
Waiting on the ghost of Tom Joad

Now Tom said, "Mom, wherever there's a cop beating a guy
Wherever a hungry newborn baby cries
Where there's a fight against the blood and hatred in the air
Look for me, Mom, I'll be there
Wherever somebody's fighting for a place to stand
Or a decent job or a helping hand
Wherever somebody's struggling to be free
Look in their eyes, Ma, and you'll see me"

Well the highway is alive tonight
But nobody's kidding nobody about where it goes
I'm sitting down here in the campfire light
With the ghost of old Tom Joad

 

 

Opening Prayer: The Conversation by Jan Phillips

 

A conversation in the year 2050 between a boy and his grandfather

 

Grandpa, did you know it was happening?

Well, sort of.  There was news about it, but it didn’t seem too real.

 

How did it feel when you couldn’t eat the fish anymore?

Well, that was hard.  We never thought that would happen.

 

Didn’t they warn you?

Not really. I guess some tried to, but not in a big way.  Not like on television, or even much in the newspapers.  You had to really want to know.  People just didn’t care that much.  We were pretty busy then. Pretty caught up in our own lives.

 

What about the forests?  Didn’t you know how much we needed them just to breathe?

People never thought about that connection, son. We needed that timber. Companies needed it for their business.  That’s what was important back then. Business.

But why would you let them take away everything we needed?  Why did you let them make all those stupid things out of plastic?  Why didn’t you save some of the oil for us?

I swear, we never thought we’d use it up. We weren’t trained to think about the future.  No one taught us how to think.  We did the best we could do, day by day.

 

I thought you were smart.  You had your own business, didn’t you?

Yes.

 

If you were so smart, why didn’t you stop them from ruining all the water?  Didn’t you ever think that I might want to swim like you used to?

It’s not like that.

 

Oh yes, it is.  If you were so smart you would have known what was happening. But you didn’t care. It’s your fault.

It’s not my fault, son. There were millions of us here.  Everyone was to blame.

 

Then why didn’t they stop it?  Why did they ruin things for us? Why didn’t you care enough to do something?  Why? Why? WHY?

 

 

LITURGY OF THE WORD

 

First Reading: The True Fast

(Inspired by Isaiah 58, read on Yom Kippur, Author Unknown)

 

The gates are swinging open, heavy brass and gold,
while outside in the autumn chill, the unhoused stories unfold.
We strike our breasts for private sins, we skip the morning bread,
but hunger is a systemic ghost that demands to be unfed.

This is the fast the Sovereign seeks: to break the heavy yoke,
to tear down every ledger where a worker’s spirit broke.
Not just to share a single loaf, or hand a coat away,
but to rewrite the very laws that keep the poor at bay.

The ram’s horn shakes the sanctuary, a sharp and piercing cry,
it asks us why the corporate tower reaches for the sky,
while minimum wage remains a floor that drops into the deep.
Awake, it screams to comfortable souls, awake from structural sleep.

These are the inspired words of an anonymous author inspired by Isaiah, and the community affirms them by saying “Amen.”

 

Gospel Acclamation: Alleluia written by Josh Blakley

https://youtu.be/CnWAjWvArto?si=irRy_4SK92-VTF12

 

Gospel: A reading from the anonymous writer known as Matthew (Mt 20:1-16a)

 

Jesus told his disciples this parable:
"The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner
who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard. 
After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage,
he sent them into his vineyard. 
Going out about nine o'clock,
the landowner saw others standing idle in the marketplace,
and he said to them, 'You too go into my vineyard,
and I will give you what is just.'
So they went off. 
And he went out again around noon,
and around three o'clock, and did likewise. 
Going out about five o'clock,
the landowner found others standing around, and said to them,
'Why do you stand here idle all day?'
They answered, 'Because no one has hired us.'
He said to them, 'You too go into my vineyard.'
When it was evening the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman,
'Summon the laborers and give them their pay,
beginning with the last and ending with the first.'
When those who had started about five o'clock came,
each received the usual daily wage. 
So, when the first came, they thought that they would receive more,
but each of them also got the usual wage. 
And on receiving it they grumbled against the landowner, saying,
'These last ones worked only one hour,
and you have made them equal to us,
who bore the day's burden and the heat.'
He said to one of them in reply,
'My friend, I am not cheating you. 
Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? 
Take what is yours and go. 
What if I wish to give this last one the same as you? 
Or am I not free to do as I wish with my own money? 
Are you envious because I am generous?’

These are the inspired words of the anonymous writer known as Matthew and the community affirms them by saying “Amen.”

 

Shared Homily

 

The Jewish High Holy Days, the International Day of Peace and the Fall Equinox represent a confluence of noteworthy days. As you all know, last Friday, we remembered those lost 25 years ago on September 11^th.  Rosh Hashana began at sunset last Friday as well. Tonight, at sunset, Yom Kippur begins and tomorrow September 21^st is the International Day of Peace, and the eve of the Fall Equinox.  Rosh Hashana is the celebration of the Jewish New Year, marking the anniversary of the creation of the universe and humanity. Yom Kippur is the Day of Atonement in which forgiving those you have hurt is a starting point.  September 11^th and September 21^st are days to immerse ourselves in a desire for peace.  And the Fall Equinox is about balance, transition and the natural cycle of release; it marks the exact moment when the sun sits directly above Earth's equator, creating nearly equal amounts of daylight and darkness. As we consider the transition of this season, when nights grow longer, might we be aware of the opportunity to slow down and reflect on where forgiveness and peace manifest in our lives.

 

When Mary Beth suggested our meaningful opening song, I had to research Tom Joad from the Springsteen song. He is a fictional character from John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, which was a story about migrants heading west during the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl.  However, “Springsteen’s song isn’t about Tom Joad’s life in the 1930s – it takes his story and weaves its themes into present day America: homelessness, unemployment, migrant workers, poverty, people living under bridges and people being pushed to the margins.”^[1] 

 

Which brings us to today’s Gospel story of the workers in the vineyard. If I were among the workers hired at dawn, I would certainly be cranky when I learned that those hired at 5pm got the same wage as those of us who worked all day.  “Hey - wait a minute!  That isn’t fair!”  In this story, Jesus’ deeper message is about justice and equity.^[2]  The early workers agreed on a fair daily wage and that is what they received. Maybe those workers still waiting at 5:00 p.m. to be hired were people who had been pushed to the margins. Perhaps they stood there hungry and unwashed, their clothes worn and tattered, and the people hiring simply looked past them. Jesus, who is all about justice for the poor, is emphasizing that it is up to the landowner (and to us) to be extravagantly generous to those who are suffering. 

 

In our first reading, The True Fast, the author has created a poem inspired by Isaiah 58. God is calling us to wake up to the needs of those who are suffering in an unjust society. The poem is a call to action. It reminds us of the unhoused, the hungry, the worker whose spirit is broken. It speaks of rewriting laws that keep the poor at bay. The powerful image of corporate towers reaching for the sky, while minimum wage drops into the deep describes the injustice that oppresses so many.  The last line of the poem is the loudest call to action.  “Awaken, it screams to comfortable souls, awaken from structural sleep.”

Although I have mixed feelings about the power and impact of AI, I still asked my friend ChatGPT to reflect upon Tom Joad, Yom Kippur and the Fall Equinox. I was stunned by the words as they formed on the page. How did ‘it’ know what I was struggling to say? Here is the result of Chat’s synthesis of my ideas throughout this reflection.

“Perhaps this is what the turning of the season asks of us: to notice who is standing at the edge of the vineyard, who has been overlooked, who is carrying a burden we cannot see. Yom Kippur invites us to reckon with what we have done and left undone. The Fall Equinox reminds us that balance is never permanent; it is something we continually seek. And Tom Joad reminds us that our lives are bound together - that another person’s hunger, loneliness, or injustice is not entirely separate from our own.

As the days grow shorter and the leaves begin to fall, may we make room for both reflection and renewal. May we acknowledge where we have fallen short, forgive what can be forgiven, and open our eyes to those who are too often unseen. And may we remember that even as one season ends, we are given the grace to begin again.”^[3]

 

¹Text generated by ChatGPT, OpenAI, September 16, 2026, https://chatgpt.com/

^[2] Fugelsang, John, Separation of Church and Hate, pg. 186

^[3] Text generated by ChatGPT, OpenAI, September 17, 2026, https://chatgpt.com/

 

 

Statement of Faith for Season of Creation

 

We believe in God, who creates all things,

who embraces all things, who celebrates all things,

who is present in every part of the fabric of creation.

We believe in God as the source of all life,

who baptizes this planet with living water.

We believe in Jesus Christ, seen in the suffering one,

the poor one, the malnourished one,

the climate refugee - who loves and cares for this world

and suffers with it.

And we believe in Jesus Christ, the seed of life,

who came to reconcile and renew this world

and everything in it.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the breath of God,

who moves with God

and who moves among and with us today.

We believe in everlasting life in God.

And we believe in the hope that one day God will put an end to

death and all destructive forces.

                                     ~ Lutheran Theological College, South India, adapted

 

LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST

 

Prayers of the Community

 

As we prepare for the sacred meal, we bring to this table our blessings, cares and

concerns. Please feel free to voice your concerns beginning with the words “I bring to

the table….”

 

We pray for these, and all the unspoken blessings, cares, and concerns held in the

silence of our hearts. AMEN

 

Eucharistic Prayer

 

Please join us in the praying of the Eucharistic Prayer.

 

Great Mystery surrounding us, we lift our hearts to understand that our spirits are

one. You are with us, and we live. Everything lives because of you, and everything is

one. Your wisdom moves among us like the wind, and we are blessed.

So now we enter the oneness of creation, attune ourselves to join in the harmony, let us embrace that oneness with thankfulness and joy.

 

And so, we join with all of creation and sing in glory for the beauty that encircles us.

 

Holy, Holy, Holy: Music - John Bacchus Dykes, words by Peter Mayer, video by Denise

Hackert-Stoner

https://youtu.be/A4kiEGVb3E8

 

Creator of the whole universe, we glory in the environment, especially forests, that

surround us. May we have the vision and strength to protect all forest ecosystems and

the whole of Your creation, which have been corrupted by human exploitation, pollution,

and destruction, so that the whole of creation may be renewed and made whole,

 

We join with the earth and with each other, to bring new life to the land, to restore the

waters, and to refresh the air.

 

We join with the earth and with each other to renew the forests, to care for the plants, to

protect the creatures.

 

We join with the earth and with each other to celebrate the seas, to rejoice in the sunlight,

to sing the song of the stars.

 

We join together as many and diverse expressions of one loving mystery: for the healing

of the earth and the renewal of life.

 

We join together and call the Spirit upon the gifts of the earth, bread and wine, as we bless them and remember our call to be the Body of Christ in the world.

 

On the night before he died, he sat at a table with friends and relived with them his work,

his teaching and wisdom of the universe. Then he went among them as servant, washing

their feet, touching their hearts.

 

When he returned to his place at the table, he lifted the bread, spoke the blessing, broke

the bread and offered it to them saying:

 

Take and eat the Bread of Life for all who hunger for peace and justice.

 

Pause

 

Then he took the cup of blessing, spoke the grace, and offered it to them saying:

Take and drink the Cup of Compassion for a broken world.

 

Pause

 

What we have heard with our ears, we will live with our lives, as we share Communion,

we will become Communion, both love’s nourishment and love’s challenge.

 

Please receive the blessed bread and cup with the words: “I care about the future.”

 

Communion Meditation: Raise up the Good, Emmaus Productions, Monica Brown

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94xx-TS_8kU&list=RD94xx-TS_8kU&start_radio=1

 

Post-Communion Prayer

 

Mystery of Life present in the whole universe and in the smallest of your creatures,

embrace with tenderness all that exists. May the power of divine love rain down upon us,

that we may protect life and beauty. Help us to rescue the abandoned and forgotten of

this earth, so precious in your eyes. Bring healing to our lives, that we may protect the

world and not prey on it, that we may sow beauty, not pollution and destruction. Touch

the hearts of those who look only for gain at the expense of the poor and the earth. Teach

us to discover the worth of each thing, to be filled with awe and contemplation, to

recognize that we are profoundly united with every creature as we journey towards divine

light and love. We are thankful for the pulse of life that fills us each day. May we be

encouraged and strengthened for our struggle for justice, love and peace in the world.

Amen.                                                                         (adapted from Laudato Si Prayer by Pope Francis I)

 

Prayer of Jesus

 

Let us pray as Jesus taught us:

 

Our Father, Holy Mother,

Creator of the Cosmos, source of life.

You are in my mind, in my garden, in my

cup of wine and loaf of bread.

Blessed be your names:

Mother, Allah, Goddess, Beloved, Great Spirit, Radiant One,

Yahweh, HaShem, Sophia

Your presence has come, your will be done

On earth as it is in the cosmos.

 

May we give each other strength, mercy

Tenderness and joy

And forgive each other’s failures,

Silence, pettiness, and forgetfulness

As we ask to be forgiven 

By those we’ve hurt.

 

Lead us home to ourselves and each other,

To clarity, to oneness

And deliver us from the darkness

Of our ignorance and fear.

So, we pray and so we receive.  Amen

                                                                         By Jan Phillips

 

 

BLESSING

 

Let us raise our hands and pray our closing blessing:

 

Blessed are you, Lord God,

maker of all living creatures.

On the fifth and sixth days of creation,

you called forth fish in the sea,

birds in the air, and animals on the land.

You inspired St. Francis to call all animals

his brothers and sisters.

We ask you to bless each of us,

By the power of your love,

enable us to live according to your plan.

May we always praise you

for all your beauty in creation.

Blessed are you, Lord our God, in all your creatures! Amen.

(Blessing in honor of St. Francis of Assisi)

 

Closing Song: Peace Train written by Yusaf/Cat Stevens, performed by Playing for Change (Featuring Yusaf!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QpjR6-Uuks&list=RD0QpjR6-Uuks&start_radio=1