https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82512159155
phone-in for (audio only).Phone Number: (646) 558-8656
Meeting ID: 825 1215 9155
Margaret: Introduction of Theme:
We welcome you to our final celebration of seasons of creation. It is so fitting to honor St. Francis of Assisi today. Francis teaches us that the divine is as close as the forest we walk in, the animals we love and the hands we hold. Today we sit with one another in reverence and with awe of this simple message of love.
This morning our opening song is our opening prayer. As we listen with the ears of our hearts may we be touched by the spirit of the Holy One.
Opening Song: Everything is Holy Now
https://youtu.be/s_SgAmljIJc
LITURGY OF THE WORD
First Reading: (Kim)
A reading from Compassion: Living in the Spirit of St. Francis by Ilia Delio
As Francis came to know God more deeply through prayer, meditation, and long periods of solitude, he came to see that he was not alone in this world; he was created by God and in God his life had meaning and purpose. Coming to this knowledge allowed him to loosen the reigns of control on his life; he was at home in his own skin and being at home within himself he could open himself up to love. Compassion blossomed in Francis’ life like a seed on newly tilled soil. Love softened his heart to feel the pain of others whose pain became his own, in the same way that our pain belongs to God. He showed patience and kindness to those suffering because he felt something of his own suffering in theirs. Compassion is realized when we know ourselves related to one another, a deep relatedness of our humanity despite our limitations. It goes beyond the differences that separate us and enters the shared space of created being. To enter this space is to have space within ourselves, to welcome into our lives the stranger, the outcast, and the poor. Love is stronger than death and the heart that no longer fears death is truly free. Compassion flourishes when we have nothing to protect and everything to share. We have the capacity to heal this earth of its divisions, its wars, its violence, and its hatreds. This capacity is the love within us to suffer with another and to love the other without reward. Love that transcends the ego is love that heals. When we lose ourselves for the sake of love, we shall find ourselves capable of real love.
Compassion flows best from a heart open, free, and deeply in love with life. It rises above the individual and yearns for oneness of heart. Compassion knows no other language than the language of love.
These are the inspired words of Ilia Delio and the community affirms them by saying: Amen
Responsorial: Canticle of Creation (Margaret and Ed)
Gospel Acclamation: Alleluia (Dennis)
Gospel: (Ginny)
A reading from the gospel writer known as Luke
There was a scholar of the law who stood up to test Jesus and said,
“Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Jesus said to him, “What is written in the law?
How do you read it?”
He said in reply,
“You shall love the Lord, your God,
with all your heart,
with all your being,
with all your strength,
and with all your mind,
and your neighbor as yourself.”
He replied to him, “You have answered correctly;
do this and you will live.”
These are the inspired words from the gospel of Luke and the community affirms them by saying: Amen
Shared Homily: (Donna)
Do This and Live
Today we celebrate our final Sunday in our month-long celebration of the season of creation. It is fitting that we celebrate Francis of Asissi as he is an iconic figure in earth centered Christian spirituality. Brother Francis’ life is an example of the richness found in simplicity, beauty, art, music, poetry, awe of nature and love of neighbor. Instead of idolizing Francis, we should admire him and emulate him. If we want what he had, we should do what he did. His life of gospel poverty and service may seem very frightening and too radical to our 21st century sensibilities. Our culture teaches individualism which fosters greed and protective territorialism. Still authentic spirituality that follows the two greatest laws of compassion is accessible to all of us today.
Francis viewed the world and everything in it as God’s glorious creation. The beauty of Franciscan spirituality is that it teaches us how to live in harmony with the flow of life. Fullness of life comes about when we are creative and in awe of beauty, nature and mystery. These attributes can open our hearts to compassion.
The gospel writer says, “Do this and live.” I think this speaks of living with the freedom that Francis grew to know. In our first reading, Delio says we have fullness of life when we no longer fear death. This is how Francis opened space in his heart for compassion. When we spend time and energy protecting ourselves from physical, emotional, or spiritual death we cannot love freely. We like Francis must transcend fear in order to have more space within ourselves to love and live with fullness.
The more we open our hearts to love from God and from others the more we can transcend our fear of death. When we move from seeing holy as happening only in church to seeing that everything is holy, as our opening song said, we are opening to a fuller life. Beauty and the act of creating can be channels of opening our hearts to love. When we experience awe and wonder our hearts become more open. When we create a garden, write a poem, take photographs, we tap into something bigger than us which also creates space in our hearts to love. We, like Francis can eventually let go of the need to protect which gives us the capacity to lose ourselves to love. This is the key to living with the deep compassion found in following the two greatest commandments . This is fullness of life. It takes courage to embrace life in the face of fear but doing this will unlock the door to our hearts. We are then free to love and live as compassionate people. “Do this and live.”
Statement of Faith – (Julie)
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.
Margaret: As we prepare for this sacred meal, we are aware of our call to serve, and just as Jesus is anointed, so is each of us. We bring to this table our blessings, cares and concerns.
Intentions read- (Dennis)
We bring these and all deeply held blessings, cares, and concerns to the table of friendship and peace.
LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST
Donna: Please join us, with arms raised, in the praying of the Eucharistic Prayer.
Great Mystery surrounding us, we lift up 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 into the oneness of creation, attune ourselves to join in the harmony, let ourselves 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: Here in This Place by Christopher Grundy
Margaret: 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, 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, this is my very self.
Pause
Donna: Then he took the cup of blessing, spoke the grace, and offered it to them saying:
Take and drink.
Whenever you remember me like this,
I am among you.
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 am a steward of Creation”.
Communion Meditation: Canticle of the Feathered Ones
https://youtu.be/YmvOW4wzcpg
Donna: 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.
Lindy: Let us pray the 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 on this Creation Sunday. 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. Written by Lynn Kinlan
BLESSING
Margaret: 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 this animal.
By the power of your love,
enable [him or her] 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.
Closing Song: Being Kind by Empty Hands Music
https://youtu.be/mJhZ64BvvFU
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