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Liturgy of Interdependence
Welcome: Today’s liturgy is one of interdependence. We need each other, we need all of creation. The sacred and the secular are one. If we can find a balance, a both/and way of living our world will be at peace.
Opening Prayer: Holy One, you created everything and everyone to be holy and sacred. We recognize and know you in every experience. Amen
Opening Song: Canticle of the Sun by Marty Haugen
LITURGY OF THE WORD
First Reading: A reading from Ilia Delio- Incarnation God’s life is our Life
Francis of Assisi was a radical follower of Christ - unlettered and unfettered by abstract thinking. For him, divine life did not exist outside of human experience but was fully realized within it. Like Jesus, Francis embodied divine presence while embracing the complete human condition. He knew hunger and exhaustion, experienced joy and grief, deep friendships and failures, and faced death itself. Rather than viewing the sacred and secular as separate realms, Francis possessed an incarnational spirit. He shows that divine life emerges through the very depts of human experience. Everything and everyone spoke to Francis of Christ.
Our community affirms these words with AMEN!
Gospel Acclamation: Celtic Alleluia by Christopher Walker
Gospel: A reading from the gospel according to the disciple known as John (Jn 1:29-34)
John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him and said,
“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.
He is the one of whom I said,
‘A man is coming after me who ranks ahead of me
because he existed before me.’
I did not know him,
but the reason why I came baptizing with water
was that he might be made known to Israel.”
John testified further, saying,
“I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from heaven
and she came to rest on him.
I did not recognize him,
but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me,
‘On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain,
he is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’
Now I have seen and testified that this is the Child of God.”
Shared Homily
40 plus years ago someone said to me as I walked into a Catholic church on a rainy morning - what is more holy the water I was dipping my hand in to bless myself or the rain that was falling? Back then I was inclined to believe the Holy Water in the fount was more holy.
Today we have two readings with three main characters - Francis, John the Baptist and of course Jesus. John the Baptist is a holy man doing God’s work but as we know John points away from himself and says Jesus is coming and ‘he ranks ahead of me’, declaring Jesus to be the Beloved of God. John is a very holy man searching and watching for signs of the “Messiah”. Many peoples are still searching and watching for signs of the Messiah.
More than one thousand years later Francis, a very holy man experienced the Holy One in all creation. Francis experienced God in everything and everyone. Today I think Francis would have said the holy water and the rain were one and the same, both equally holy.
From John to Francis to the present here in the Upper Room there has been and continues to be growth, insight and understanding of who God is and what was Jesus’ message.
You and I and many others of different faith traditions can get caught up in the many doctrines, rituals, and interpretations of who Jesus is and why Jesus lived and died. Unfortunately, all those doctrines, and interpretations, no matter the faith tradition, have separated us from one another. We know that Jesus did not come to review doctrine. Jesus came to bring us together in peace and love.
Each week we pray our statement of faith in one voice. This section about Jesus says so much about his message, our call, our mission.
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.
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
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, with “I bring to the table”
We bring these and all our intentions held in our hearts. Amen
LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST
With open hands and hearts let us pray our Eucharistic prayer together (Diarmuid O’Murchu)
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.
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 by 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 and 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.
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 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.
Lifting the plate:
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; go and share my love with one another.
Lifting the cup:
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 will become communion
Both Love’s nourishment and Love’s challenge.
Please consume the bread and drink the cup with the words: Everyone and everything is holy
Communion song: Spirit of the Living God by Michael Crawford sung by Dennis McDonald - 1 verse
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.
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 love and care for one another and all creation,
At this time and in all ways.
We say yes to You!
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
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.
Closing Song: Everything is Holy Now, Peter Mayer
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