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(Portions of tonight’s prayer are taken from the Women’s Ordination Conference (WOC) Prayer Service celebrated in Rome on October 3, 2023, at the start of the Synod on Synodality)
Opening Song: Standing on the Shoulders by Earth Mama
https://youtu.be/8iu0ydjxe9A?si=-Zodi8WvSSZV3wAQ
Opening Prayer: Whenever Women Gather by Jay Murnane
Whenever women of thought gather
Thoughtful women
Horizons are stretched wider.
Whenever women of heart gather
Compassionate women
Tender-strong eyes open to injustices,
Making connections.
Whenever women of soul gather
Generous women
There is solidarity, and a wide embrace,
A fulcrum of possibility
Which can fell walls,
Set voices free,
Illuminate alternatives
And heal shattered hopes.
Whenever women of wisdom gather
Free women,
daring women,
ingenious women
there is a drumming
in cadence with the song
at the center of all:
a co-creativity
a rumbling
a crumbling
of business-as-usual
and powers that be.
Whenever women of spirit gather
Feisty women
Laboring women
There is a birthing.
There is life,
Sisters! Amen.
Reading 1: A reading from the Book of Wisdom 7:21-291
There is in her a spirit that is intelligent, holy,
unique, manifold, subtle,
mobile, clear, unpolluted,
distinct, invulnerable, loving the good, keen,
irresistible, beneficent, humane,
steadfast, sure, free from anxiety,
all-powerful, overseeing all,
and penetrating through all spirits
that are intelligent, pure, and altogether subtle.
For wisdom is more mobile than any motion;
because of her pureness she pervades and penetrates all things.
For she is a breath of the power of God,
and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty;
therefore nothing defiled gains entrance into her.
For she is a reflection of eternal light,
a spotless mirror of the working of God,
and an image of his goodness.
Although she is but one, she can do all things,
and while remaining in herself, she renews all things;
in every generation she passes into holy souls
and makes them friends of God, and prophets;
for God loves nothing so much as the person who lives with wisdom.
She is more beautiful than the sun,
and excels every constellation of the stars.
Reading 2: Words shared from the WOC Prayer Service in Rome
Steps away from the mosaic of Theodora epsicopa, we prayed together for courage, for persistence, and for the church to recognize the valid calls of women and people of all genders to ordained ministry. The Spirit-filled gathering marked our entrance into this time of synod as hopeful people, willing partners in dialogue, believing that the Holy Spirit can enlarge the tent to include our voices.
And then this morning, we recalled the words of Isaiah that inspired the theme of the Document for the Continental Stage of the synod:
“Enlarge the place of your tent,
stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back;
lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes.”
- Isaiah 54:2
WOC members gathered in the sight of the Vatican as the synod opened, bearing our symbolic “tent” as our encouragement to the hierarchy to “enlarge the tent” to include the voices of those who support opening all ordained ministries to all genders.
In the synod documents, the architects of the synod write that the “tent” that is to be enlarged is a “space of communion, a place of participation, and a foundation for mission.”
We say: Communion must include recognizing the equal dignity of women and all genders.
We say: Participation must include welcoming and nourishing the vocations of women called to priesthood.
We say: Mission must include the Gospel example of radical inclusion in order to make an impact.
The documents also say: "Enlarging the tent requires welcoming others into it, making room for their diversity."
And it encourages us to imagine the church as "the tent of meeting that accompanied people on their journey through the desert; Called to stretch out, therefore, but also to move."
So we have spread wide our tent, letting the message blow in the wind and carry to the doors of the synod hall. Those inside must be open to the wind of the Holy Spirit moving them, enlarging the tent.
Silent Reflection
Prayer of Intentions
All respond, “Let our voices carry.”
For solidarity and cooperation…
For perseverance and courage…
For intelligence and competence…
For faith and vision…
For hope and love…
For unity and diversity…
For equality and justice…
For truth telling…
For peace-making…
For tenacity and resistance…
In persistent hope…
Let our voices carry.
Closing Prayer: Prayer for the Synodal Path
Source, Sojourner, and Spirit,
to journey with You
is to walk with our gazes fixed upon a horizon of hope.
To journey with one another
is our challenge and our calling.
You call us to move with missionary urgency
to become a more vibrant living sign of Your love in the world.
Break us out of worn paths,
free us from the thickets of we’ve always done it this way,
and for those who may be frightened by the new vista revealed,
grant boldness of heart.
May we become a church where all vocations are welcomed,
celebrated, and nurtured,
where Your priests reflect the diversity of Your people,
and where our structures are at the service
of Your kin-dom of radically loving inclusion.
Cultivate in us a holy, healthy restlessness on this synodal path.
Make us unafraid of prophetic decisions
that take us along uncharted territory.
Give us the radical unity that is Your gift and promise.
Grant us generosity of trust and expansiveness of hope as we say,
Amen. May it be so.
Closing Song: Women of the Church-Song by Carey Landry-Video by MT Streck
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