phone-in for (audio only) Phone Number: (646) 558-8656
Meeting ID: 825 1215 9155
Upper Room Inclusive Catholic Community
August 3, 2024, Liturgy
Bread of Life
Mary Southard, CSJ
Julie Corron, Presider
Welcome: Welcome! We are happy you are here with us today. All are welcome at this friendship table!
Opening Prayer: Let us pray. Holy One, you know all the different things we hunger for. Help us to remember that you feed our spirits when we slow down and listen. AMEN
Opening Song: Peace Like a River by Dionne Warwick and Dolly Parton
https://youtu.be/AlWWmCKrTu4?si=VtueapXrfb4mk5bG
LITURGY OF THE WORD
FIRST READING
A Reading from the Book of Exodus (16:2-4, 12-18)
The whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron in the desert. The Israelites said to them, “If only God's hand had killed us in the land of Egypt, when we sat by meaty stews at night and ate our fill of bread. You've brought us out into this desert to kill this whole assembly with hunger!”
Then God said to Moses, “I am going to rain bread from heaven for you. Each day, the people will go out and gather enough for that day. In that way I will test them, whether they will trust in My ways or not… For I have heard their grumbling. Tell them: In the evening twilight, you will eat meat. In the morning, you will have your fill of bread. Then you will know that I am your God.”
In the evening, quail came up and covered the camp. In the morning, there was a layer of dew all about the camp. When the layer of dew evaporated, fine flakes were on the surface of the desert floor, like frost. On seeing it, the Israelites asked one another, “What is this?” They did not know what it was, but Moses told them, “It's the bread which God, our God, has given you to eat.”
“And this is what God has commanded you: Gather as much of it as each needs to eat, an omer for each person for as many of you as there are, each of you providing for those in your own tent.” The Israelites did so. Some gathered a large and some a small amount. But when they measured it out by the omer, the one who had gathered a large amount did not have too much, and the one who had gathered a small amount did not have too little. They gathered as much as each needed to eat.
These are the inspired words of a Writer known as the Yahwist and the community affirms them by saying AMEN.
PSALM
Psalm 78:2-4, 23-25, 29+54
Our Psalm Response is: May bread be abundant for all.
R: May bread be abundant for all.
I will open my mouth and speak in parables.
I will utter ancient words that hold secrets.
We have heard and known them.
Our parents have told them to us.
We will not hide them from our children.
We will tell the generation to come.
We will speak of the wonderful works that God has done.
R: May bread be abundant for all.
God commanded the clouds above
and opened the doors of heaven.
God rained down manna for the people to eat,
giving them the bread from heaven.
Human beings ate the bread of angels,
and were given food in abundance.
R: May bread be abundant for all.
And they ate and were well filled.
God gave them what they craved.
God brought them through the desert to a holy hill,
to their home, to the mountain of God.
R: May bread be abundant for all.
SECOND READING
A Reading from the Book of Acts (20:6ab, 4-5, 6c-10, 12, 11)
After the feast of Unleavened Bread, we sailed from Philippi to Troas, which took 5 days. Upon arrival, we rejoined Sopater...from Beroea, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, Timothy and Tychicus and Trophimus from Asia, all who had gone ahead of us and waited for us in Troas, where we spent a week.
On the first day of the week, when we gathered to break bread, Paul spoke to them because he was going to leave the next day. He spoke at great length, even until midnight! There were many lamps in the upstairs room where we were gathered. A young man named Eutychus, who was sitting on the windowsill, was sinking into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on. When overcome by sleep, Eutychus fell out the window from the third story. When he was picked up, he was dead. Paul went down. He threw himself upon Eutychus, embraced him, and said to the others, “Don’t be alarmed. There is life in him.” The boy lived, and those gathered were greatly comforted. Then Paul returned upstairs, broke the bread, and they ate. Paul departed after a long conversation that lasted until daybreak.
These are the inspired words of an Unknown Traveling Companion of Paul and we affirm them by saying AMEN.
Alleluia by Jan Phillips
GOSPEL
A reading from the Gospel attributed to John (6:24-35)
When the people saw that neither Jesus nor the disciples were there, they got into those boats and crossed to Capernaum looking for Jesus. When they found Jesus on the other side of the lake they said, "Rabbi, when did you get here?"
Jesus answered them, "The truth of the matter is, you're not looking for me because you've seen signs, but because you've eaten your fill of the bread. You shouldn't be working for perishable food, but for life-giving food that lasts for all eternity; this the Chosen One can give you, for the Chosen One bears the seal of Abba God."
At this they said, "What must we do to perform the works of God?" Jesus replied, "This is the work of God: to believe in the one whom God has sent."
So they asked Jesus, "What sign are you going to give to show us that we should believe in you? What will you do? Our ancestors had manna to eat in the desert; as scripture says:
'God gave them bread from heaven to eat.' "
Jesus said to them, "The truth of the matter is, Moses hasn't given you bread from heaven; yet my Abba God gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."
"Teacher," they said, "give us this bread from now on."
Jesus explained to them, "I am the bread of life. No one who comes to me will ever be hungry; no one who believes in me will be thirsty."
These are the inspired words of the one we call John and the community affirms by saying AMEN.
Homily Starter: Julie:
Oh Paul. After his conversion, he was so enthusiastic about Jesus that he talked and preached and wrote letters and talked about nothing else. Today’s reading from my fave Inclusive Catholic Lectionary is about Paul actually talking someone to death. I’m guessing that it’s all tongue in cheek on the part of the “Unknown Traveling Companion of Paul” seeing as Paul immediately resurrects poor Eutychus and then proceeds to talk at him until morning. Oof. I’ll try to keep things shorter than that!
Bread. Food. It’s vital to life. So vital that in our first reading, the Israelites found themselves nostalgic about being enslaved in Egypt and a bit whiney about wandering the desert without enough to eat. How hungry would you have to be to miss being a slave?? God heard them and sent them manna (bread) from heaven and quail too. I never imagined quail in the desert, but I digress.
It's that kind of handout that the crowd was looking for when they followed Jesus to Capernaum in today’s gospel. Instead, he offers them “life-giving food that lasts for all eternity.” Jesus as the bread of life satisfies a different kind of hunger. In our secular society, people often don’t know what they’re hungry for. If your heart and soul are what are hungry, the all-you-can-eat shrimp special isn’t going to help any more than binge watching tv shows or running from one activity to another in a tornado of busyness. Not only do these things not feed us spiritually, but they can enslave us in their own ways. Are we so in love with our distractions that we can no longer get quiet and let the Holy One feed us? This week I invite you to take a moment of quiet in the midst of life and open to what the Holy One is offering you in this moment.
My friends, what did you hear? We’d love to hear your insights. So that everyone has a chance to share, please remember to keep your comments focused on the readings and under two minutes.
Shared Homily
Please join in proclaiming our 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.
Prayers of the Community
Julie: As we prepare for this sacred meal, we remember that just as Jesus is anointed, so is each of us. We bring to this table our blessings, cares and concerns. Please feel free to share your blessings, cares, and concerns beginning with the words, “I bring to the table. …”
We pray for these and all the unspoken concerns held in the silence of our hearts. AMEN.
LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST
With open hands and hearts, please join in praying the Eucharist prayer together:
Ever gentle God, as co-creators of our planet, we offer you the gifts of bread, wine and our lives. May we celebrate our oneness with all creatures great and small in your precious family.
As one with You, we gather as a community to celebrate your gift of life pulsating within and around us and in the glories of nature everywhere.
O Birthing God, you stirred the waters of creation; you dwell on earth, and in every living being. We lift up our hearts to you and with thanks and praise we sing:
Holy, Holy, Holy (Denise) – Karen Drucker
Christ of the Cosmos, we thank you that there are 18 galaxies for every person, that our bodies are made of stardust. Every place we turn, you are present, loving us. You call us, “beloved” and invite us to join the dance of creation in a mystical celebration of our oneness with all living things in your divine love.
Christ of the Cosmos, we rejoice that You, who are more than we can imagine or dream of dwell in mystery beyond all comprehension. We remember that it was you, who said: “Anything I have done in the name of the Holy One, you can do, too…and even more.”
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.
We thank you for our brother, Jesus, who showed us so simply, so tenderly, how the world is in our hands. He had nothing in this world but your love, companions on the journey, and his very self. Together, that was more than enough, and that remains our clarity in the midst of confusion: the miracle of healing, new hope, nurturance, nourishment, liberation and life.
All lift their bread and pray the following:
On the night before he died, while at supper with his friends, Jesus took bread, said the blessing, broke the bread and gave it to them saying,
Take and eat; this is my very self.
All lift their cup and pray the following:
He then raised high the cup of the covenant, spoke the grace, and offered it to them saying: Take and drink.
Whenever you remember me like this, I am among you.
What we have heard with our ears, we will live with our lives,
As we share communion, we become communion
Both Love’s nourishment and Love’s challenge.
Please receive communion with the words: I am the bread of life.
Communion Meditation: Break Open the Bread of Your Life by Gregory Norbet and the Monks of Weston Priory
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtoRijxtrWo
Christ of the Cosmos, we remember Mary, mother of Jesus, faithful disciple and St. Francis who sang canticles to brother sun and sister moon. We remember our sisters and brothers, the great cloud of witnesses who have cared for earth’s creatures and have blessed our world with their loving service to God’s people.
We praise you in union with them
we awaken to your Spirit within,
Moving us to worship you truly,
O Holy One,
At this time and all time and in all ways.
Amen.
Let us pray as Jesus taught us:
Holy One, you are within, around and among us.
We celebrate your many names.
Your wisdom come; your will be done,
unfolding from the depths within us.
Each day you give us all that we need.
You remind us of our limits and we let go.
You support us in our power, and we act with courage.
For you are the dwelling place within us,
the empowerment around us,
and the celebration among us,
now and forever, AMEN.
Adapted by Miriam Therese Winter
CONCLUDING RITE
Please raise your hands as we bless each other:
May abundance feed our hungry hearts and souls today and every day. May we follow Jesus and care for those around us. And may our name be a blessing in our time. AMEN
Closing Song: Hungry Heart by Bruce Springsteen
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.