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Welcome. Lee
Welcome to Mary Mother of Jesus Inclusive Catholic Community!
Whoever you are, Wherever you are,
Just as you are, You are welcome at this table.
Theme. On this feast of All Saints,
we celebrate our MMOJ saints who have gone before us (pause), as well as all of us who are saints in the making.
🎶 Opening, Hymn of Promise,
https://youtu.be/sDpByzZqeQ4?si=-L_sEs7IZb35PLJi (Stop at 2:08)
Sign of Peace. Andrea. Let us begin our liturgy by welcoming each other with a sign of peace. All: Namasté, Namasté, Namasté!
Prayer of Transformation. Michael.
We pray together for forgiveness
for times we failed to trust your Spirit
speaking within us and through others in our world.
Raise hands in a gesture of mutual forgiveness and blessing,
and sing together:
All: Ubi caritas, et amor, ubi caritas, Deusibi est. (Sing 3 times, refrain from Taize. Where charity and love prevail, there is God.)
Gloria. Michael & All sing:
Glory to God, glory, oh praise God, alleluia!
Glory to God, glory, oh praise the name of our God. (x3)
Opening Prayer. Jim
Today, we celebrate the saints in our families,
among our friends,
among our teachers,
the saints with whom we especially identify,
and the saints we are becoming.
Liturgy of the Word
Jane. A reading from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians.
The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church:
every part dependent on every other part,
the parts we mention and the parts we don't,
the parts we see and the parts we don't.
If one part hurts, every other part is involved
in the hurt, and in the healing.
If one part flourishes,
every other part enters into the exuberance.
You are Christ's body—
that's who you are!
You must never forget this.
Only as you accept your part of that body
does your "part" mean anything.
These are the inspired words of St Paul, and we affirm our belief by saying, “Thanks be to God!”
Excerpt From The Message by Eugene H Peterson
🎶 One bread, one body, (Stop at 4:10)
The Body of Christ on the table, at the table, & around the table.
https://youtu.be/OshpSD0z1ts?si=3fKisrXwaQQpjJ3p
Andrea. The second reading is from The Universal Christ by Richard Rohr.
The full Christian story is saying that Jesus died, and Christ “arose”—yes, still as Jesus, but now also as the Corporate Personality who includes and reveals all of creation in its full purpose and goal. Or, as the “Father of Orthodoxy,” St. Athanasius (296–373), wrote when the church had a more social, historical, and revolutionary sense of itself: “God was consistent in working through one man to reveal himself everywhere, as well as through the other parts of His creation, so that nothing was left devoid of his Divinity and his self-knowledge…so that ‘the whole universe was filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters fill the sea.’ ” This whole book (The Universal Christ) could be considered nothing more than a footnote to these words of Athanasius!
The Eastern church has a sacred word for this process, which we in the West call “incarnation” or “salvation.” They call it “divinization” (theosis). If that sounds provocative, know that they are only building on 2 Peter 1:4, where the author says, “He has given us something very great and wonderful... you are able to share the divine nature!” Most Catholics and Protestants still think of the incarnation as a one-time and one-person event having to do only with the person of Jesus of Nazareth, instead of a cosmic event that has soaked all of history in the Divine Presence from the very beginning.
These are the inspired words of Richard Rohr, and we affirm our acceptance by saying, All: Thanks be to God.
🎶 Alle, Alle, Alleluia.
https://youtu.be/gIHnZn3JjcM
Jim. A reading from chapter five of the Good News according to Matthew.
When Jesus saw his ministry drawing huge crowds, he climbed a hillside. Those who were apprenticed to him, the committed, climbed with him. Arriving at a quiet place, he sat down and taught his climbing companions. This is what he said:
“You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.
“You’re blessed when you feel you've lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.
“You're blessed when you're content with just who you are—no more, no less. That's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought.
"You're blessed when you've worked up a good appetite for God. He's food and drink in the best meal you'll ever eat.
“You're blessed when you care. At the moment of being 'care-full,' you find yourselves cared for.
"You're blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.
“You're blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That's when you discover who you really are, and your place in God's family.
"You're blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God's kingdom.
"Not only that—count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens—give a cheer, even!—for though they don't like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble.”
This is the word of Jesus written for us by Matthew and we proclaim our acceptance by saying, Thanks be to God!
Excerpt from The Message by Eugene H Peterson
Shared Homily
Profession of Faith. Lee & All:
We believe in God, who creates all things,
who embraces all things, who celebrates all things,
who is present in every part of the fabric of creation.
We believe in God as the source of all life,
who baptizes this planet with living water.
We believe in Jesus Christ, the suffering one, the poor one,
the malnourished one, the climate refugee,
who loves and cares for this world and who suffers with it.
And we believe in Jesus Christ, the seed of life,
who came to reconcile and renew this world and everything in it. We believe in the Holy Spirit, the breath of God,
who moves with God and who moves among and with us today. We believe in everlasting life in God.
And we believe in the hope that one day
God will put an end to death and all destructive forces.
Community Prayers
Jane. Please share your spontaneous prayers.
Begin your prayer “I bring to the table.”
Response to each prayer is: Amen
Joan shares prayers from MMOJ community prayer book.
Jane. We give thanks for all whom we hold in the circle of grace and will continue to pray for and serve. Amen.
Preparation of the Gifts. Lee
Blessed are you, God of all Life. Through your goodness we offer these gifts: bread, wine, our lives and the lives of those we love. All: Blessed be God forever.
Eucharistic Prayer. Andrea
We thank you, Holy One, for the saintly women and men of old, the cloud of witnesses who have gone before us, andwho accompany us on our journey. We pause now to remember our beloved MMOJ members, and our beloved family members and friends who have loved us tenderly and revealed your goodness to us.
All: Holy, holy, holy,
Lover of all saints and saints in the making,
blessed are all who have lived and
continue now to live the Christ Presence.
Jane & All. We thank you for the courage and fidelity of all the ones you sent to prepare a path for us to follow—the holy women and men of every age, race and culture.
Jim & All. We especially thank you, Nurturing God, for Jesus, who accompanies us on our journey. He energizes us to live the Beatitudes in our world today.
(Extend hands to bless the bread and wine & to invoke the Holy Spirit)
Lee & All: Now, as we share the bread of life and lift the cup of joy, we pray, come divine Spirit, deepen your Presence within us and in these gifts of bread and wine.
On the night before he died, Jesus gathered with his friends and washed their feet, so that they would follow his example.
Andrea & All. (Lift bread & pray)
When he returned to his place at the table, he spoke the blessing, broke the bread and shared it with them saying:
Take and eat of the Bread of Life
Whenever you remember me like this
I am among you. (pause)
Jane & All. (Lift cup and pray)
Jesus then raised a cup of blessing, spoke the grace saying:
Take and drink of the covenant
Made new again through my life in you.
Whenever you remember me like this,
I am among you.
As we share this bread and cup, we proclaim:
Christ dies, Christ rises.
Christ comes again and again.
Litany for the Breaking of the Bread
Jim. O God of Courage, you call us to live the Gospel of peace and justice. We will live justly.
O God of Compassion, you call us to be Your presence in the world. We will love tenderly.
O God of Truth, you call us to speak truth to power. We will walk with integrity in your presence.
Lee. This is the Bread of Life and the Cup of Blessing. Through it we are nourished and we nourish each other. All are welcome to the feast.
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.
(As you receive, say: This is the Bread of Life. This is the Cup of Blessing.)
🎶 Life Is Eternal, Love Is Immortal, Carly Simon,
https://youtu.be/t2jm9h-x4K8?si=bp2Rb6cm1OLeKK6m
The Prayer of Jesus
Andrea. We pray our common prayer that Jesus taught us:
All: Eternal Spirit, Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,
Source of all that is and that shall be,
Father and Mother of us all,
Loving God, in whom is heaven:
The hallowing of your name echoes through the universe!
The way of your justice be followed by the peoples of the world!
Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!
May your beloved community of peace and freedom sustain our hope and come on earth.
With the bread we need for today, feed us.
In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.
In times of temptation and test, strengthen us.
From trials too great to endure, spare us.
From the grip of all that is evil, free us.
For you reign in the glory of the power that is love, now and forever. Amen.
(Adapted from The New Zealand Book of Prayer | He Karakia Mihinare o Aotearoa.
This version of the Lord’s prayer was influenced by Maori theologians)
Prayer after Communion
Jane. Holy One, we praise your glory reflected in our saints. May we who share at this table be filled with your love and celebrate with joyful hearts our communion with all the saints especially our beloved MMOJ saints. All: Amen.
Introductions. Thanksgiving. Announcement. Michael
Final Blessing
Jim. The Holy One dwells within you and illuminates our world through all our saints. All: The Holy One is also within you and within all saints in the making!
(Extend your hands in blessing)
All: May the God of Sarah and Abraham bless us;
may the God of Jesus and Mary Magdalene bless us;
may the God of all our MMOJ saints bless us;
and may we always celebrate our oneness
in the communion of the saints. Amen
Dismissal
Lee. Go in peace, let the celebration continue!
All: Thanks be to God! Alleluia!
🎶Final Song. When the Saints Go Marching In,
https://youtu.be/xvIHW-UbtgA?si=b_4x3SlT3wxp1wbj
____________________________________________
Adapted from liturgy by Bridget Mary Meehan
Association of Roman Catholic Woman Priests, 2019
To add an intercession to our MMOJ Community Prayer book, please send an email to Joan Meehan: jmeehan515@aol.com
If you want to invite someone to attend, please refer them to the day’s liturgy atMaryMotherOfJesus.net
To support our community, please send your check to:
Mary Mother of Jesus Inclusive Catholic Community
5342 Clark Road #3079, Sarasota, FL 34238
Kerani, Sunset Lake
https://youtu.be/ykEAlMPzEw0?si=kVWgdh4AMALrUcZw
