Please join us between 9:30 and 9:55 am via Zoom
Here is the Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82512159155
phone-in for (audio only).Phone Number: (646) 558-8656
Meeting ID: 825 1215 9155
Opening Prayer: by John Philip Newell
Clear our heart, O God,
that we may see you.
Clear our heart, O God,
that we may truly see ourselves.
Clear our heart, O God,
that we may know the sacredness of this moment
and in every moment
seek you
serve you
strengthen you
as the Living Presence in every presence.
Clear our heart, O God,
that we may see.
Opening Song: Rhymes and Reasons by John Denver
https://youtu.be/EbwXwR3ETm0?si=4CiURNgIJ49hLD_c
LITURGY OF THE WORD
First Reading: Excerpts from The Time is Now by Joan Chittister
To be a prophet today is to see clearly the wrongs of the world and to stand in solidarity with those who suffer injustice, even when it is uncomfortable or dangerous.
Prophecy demands courage; it demands immediacy. The function of a prophet is to hold the world in one hand and the dream of God in the other.
The question, “What will you do?” is at the core of spiritual maturity, of spiritual commitment. To follow Jesus means that we, too, must each do something to redeem our battered beaten world. Our task is to be obedient all our lives to the Will of God for the world. It is living in alignment with the values you proclaim, even when costly. And therein lies the difference between being good for nothing and good for something. Between religion for show and religion of real. Christianity requires, as well, that we each be so much of a prophetic presence that our corner of the world becomes a better place because we have been there.
These are the inspired words of Joan Chittister and the community affirms them by saying: Amen.
Second Reading: Starfish Story
The sun was just rising, painting the horizon in soft pinks and golds. The tide had gone out, leaving behind long stretches of wet sand. Along that shore, thousands of starfish lay stranded, their tiny arms slowly curling in the morning fight.
An old man walked along the beach, taking in the beauty of the morning. As he strolled, he noticed something moving ahead of him-a small figure bending and straightening, again and again. Curious, he walked closer. It was a young girl. She was picking up starfish, one at a time, and with great care, tossing them back into the sea.
The man chuckled gently.
“What are you doing, little one?” he asked.
The girl looked up at him, her eyes bright. “I’m saving the starfish,” she said. “The sun is climbing higher, and if they stay on the beach, they’ll dry out and die.”
The old man shook his head. “But child, look around you,” he said, sweeping his arm across the shore. “There are miles of beach and countless starfish. You cannot possibly save them all. What difference could you possibly make?” The girl bent down, picked up another starfish, and tossed it into the ocean with all the strength her little arms could muster. She turned back to the old man and smiled.
“I made a difference to that one.”
The man stood silently for a moment, watching the waves carry the starfish safely back into the deep. Then he bent slowly, picked up a starfish of his own, and tossed it into the sea. And the girl smiled again- because now she wasn’t alone.
This is the inspired story of the starfish and the community affirms it by saying: Amen
Gospel Reading: A reading from the anonymous gospel writer known as Luke (Lk 13:22-30
Jesus went through cities and towns teaching all the while making his way to Jerusalem.
Someone asked, “Will only a few people be saved?” Jesus replied: “Try to come in through the narrow door. Many, I tell you, will try to enter and won’t succeed. Once the head of the household gets up and locks the door, you may find yourselves standing outside, knocking and saying, ‘Please open the door! It’s us!’ but the answer will come, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’ Then you’ll begin to say, ‘But we ate and drank in your company. You taught in our streets.’ But you’ll hear, ‘I tell you, I don’t know where you come from. Get away from me, you evildoers!’
There will be wailing and grinding of teeth when you see Sarah and Abraham, Rebecca and Isaac, Leah and Rachel and Jacob and all the prophets, safe in the kindom of God, and you yourselves rejected. People will come from the East and the West, from the North and the South, and will take their places at the feast in the kindom of God. Some who are last will be first, and some who are first will be last.”
These are the inspired words of the anonymous gospel writer known as Luke and the community affirms them by saying: Amen.
Shared Homily
As we reflect on the readings today, I invite you to ponder what it could mean to come through a narrow door into the kindom of God. The Starfish Story provides a great way to think about this. The little girl was exhibiting compassionate care to the starfish. Her joyful willingness to help one starfish at a time is a small tender act that illustrates what the narrow gate images. First century people living in Palestine who would have heard the gospel story were taught that to receive God’s favor one must follow religious laws to the letter. They would hear this strict fidelity to rules as the necessary way of going through the narrow gate. Jesus has a different paradoxical understanding. Jesus is teaching that the narrow gate is inclusive love that requires much more than rule following. It requires connecting with and helping others for the sake of the whole. The narrowness of the gate could be a symbol for what it takes for people to choose loving actions. Otherness, humility, vulnerability, trust, are necessary aspects of compassion. These aspects of love require a courageous letting go of our tribal and rule driven false sense of security. The love leads one into a much more unpredictable and sometimes daunting opening of our hearts letting Divine Wisdom lead us to become part of the kindom of God.
The man who talked to the girl, in the Starfish Story, represents us when we become overwhelmed with the enormous challenges of our personal and communal lives. It is easy to relate to his feelings of distress about the magnitude of needs. This ultimately deters him from opening himself to act from a compassionate stance. When I relate to the man in the story, I think about the growing needs of vulnerable people who are sick, poor, mentally ill, lonely, displaced by war, homeless, jobless, and unjustly exiled. Any kind of dehumanization causes me to shudder. When I think about the scary demise of our planet my heart sinks. These things can easily weigh me down with despair.
There is good news for us when we relate to the man. Our awareness of the vast needs in the world is part of what it means to be a prophet according to Joan Chittister in our first reading. In one hand I am holding the gigantic needs in the world that have the potential of weighing me down. I can regain balance and hope by holding the dream of God in my other hand. I think the dream of God is that we stay open to giving and receiving Love. I must start with myself by returning to love quickly when I notice hate creeping into my heart. I must bring my highest self into each moment. I must correct my course when I see that I am not choosing actions that agree with my values. I am then equipped to improve my “corner of the world.” I am like the little girl putting one starfish at a time back into the ocean. Not with gloom and despair about not being able to do enough, but with joy in helping “this one.”
Integrity of actions is much easier when we are spending time with prophets or when we are experiencing great loving connections with others. The challenge comes when we are facing difficult circumstances like sickness, conflict, grief, and negativity. Being true to our values becomes more difficult when it is costly, risky or puts us in the minority. This is what Martin Luther King Jr. points to when he said, “The ultimate measure of a (hu)man is not where one stands in moments of convenience and comfort, but where one stands at time of challenge and controversy.”
The gospel reading uses an image of a locked door with the head of the household saying to the person who wants to come in, “I don’t know you.” I think we are the head of the household of our hearts and when we do not act according to our values the door to our own heart begins to close. We don’t know ourselves when we become filled with hate. To use the title of Chittister’s book, The Time is Now. We must not let the door to our heart become closed and then locked. We do not deny our anger, fear and sadness but we feel in and through them into action. We must be the prophetic presence that makes our corner of the world a better place.
The interdependence of creation is an amazing and beautiful aspect of living and choosing to enter through the narrow gate into the kindom of God. The man in the story was inspired by the little girl to open his heart, and his other hand. In one hand he was holding the magnitude of need in the world. The little girl inspired him to hold the dream of God in the other hand so that he could regain his balance. This helped the man open the door to his heart. The two people in this story stepped into the kindom of God together. The time is now for each one of us to enter through the narrow gate into the kindom of God.
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
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
Presider: 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 shared
We bring these and all deeply held blessings, cares, and concerns to the table of friendship and peace.
LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST
Presider: Please join in praying the Eucharistic prayer together:
(Eucharistic prayer taken from the work of Diarmuid O’Murchu and Jay Murnane)
O Holy One, you have been called by many names by many people in the centuries of our planet’s life. Yet, no name truly defines you or describes you. We celebrate you as the marvelous, loving energy of life who caused us and our world to be. We celebrate you as the Source of light and life and love, and we celebrate your presence and all-ways care.
All: O Holy One, we stand at a critical moment in Earth’s history – a time when humanity must choose its future.
As the world becomes increasingly interdependent and fragile, the future holds both peril and great promise.
May we recognize that, in the midst of a magnificent diversity of cultures and life forms, we are one human family and one Earth community with a common destiny.
United with our vast universe, with our Mother-Planet and her people everywhere, with one another and You, Holy One, our spirits dance and sing this song of praise:
Holy Holy Holy: Here in this Place – Christopher Grundy
We give grateful thanks for those who came before us, for all those who gave from their hearts, who gave from their lives, that there might be a better world, a safer world, a kinder world, we pray for peace in their name.
And for the children, that they may live, that they may have children of their own and that it will go on - this great blossoming that is meant to go on and on – we pray for peace, in their name.
And for all peoples of this earth who have no voice in this,
For the animals that have no voice in this,
For the plants, the trees, the flowers that have no voice in this,
For all who share this earth with us, we pray for peace in their name.
We thank you for our brother, Jesus. He 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.
Presider: Please extend your hands in blessing.
All: Your Spirit is here in us and in the gifts of this Eucharistic table. May we 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 and for the sake of living fully, 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 within them, he bent down and washed their feet.
All lift their plate and pray the following:
When he returned to his place at the table, he lifted the Passover bread, spoke the blessing, broke the bread and offered it to them saying:
Take and eat of the Bread of Life given to strengthen you.
Whenever you remember me like this, I am among you.
Pause
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.
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 consume the bread and drink the cup with the words: We can make a difference.
Communion Song: A Million Dreams – One Voice Children’s Choir
Music & Lyrics by Benj Pasek & Justin Paul
https://youtu.be/v49-3Xp5fPg?si=Xg8geQ4RuZnnWXjI
Prayer After Communion
Loving Source of All, we have looked for others to save us and to save our world. Yet, we are called and consecrated and sent into the world to establish justice and show the blessed fulfillment that comes with simplicity and the giving of ourselves in love. We will make new our commitment to the harmony of the original vision of creation.
We will open up wide all that has been closed about us, and our small circles. Like Jesus, in all openness, we will be filled with your own Spirit and renew the face of the earth.
For it is through learning to live as he lived,
And why he lived,
And for whom he lived,
That 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.
And we say yes to You!
Presider: Let us pray together the prayer of Jesus:
All: O Holy One, who is 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 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
(Miriam Therese Winter)
BLESSING
Presider: Let us pray together our blessing:
May wonder and thanksgiving fill us, may compassion penetrate us, that we may penetrate the numbness that continues our society’s injustices. May we know that we are loved.
May we continue to be the face of the Holy One to each other and may we be a blessing in our time! Amen.
Presider: Please join in singing our Closing Song
Closing Song: We are the World (Stop at 4:36)
Written by Lionel Ritchie & Michael Jackson
https://youtu.be/pbGoLJVScCY?si=uPawLElaHP1pbLrJ
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