Mary Mother of Jesus Inclusive Catholic Community: Mary Mother of Jesus Inclusive Catholic Community Liturgy Season of Creation Week 2 September 12, 2026 Liturgy Team: Jim Brandi, Elena Garcia, Jane Shugrue, Cathy Alexander, Jeanne Schmidt I Team: Beth Ponce, Cheryl Brandi

Mary Mother of Jesus Inclusive Catholic Community Liturgy

Season of Creation Week 2 September 12, 2026

Liturgy Team: Jim Brandi, Elena Garcia, Jane Shugrue,

Cathy Alexander, Jeanne Schmidt

I Team: Beth Ponce, Cheryl Brandi

Theme: The Stream Deepens, The Current Gathers And Moves

WELCOME AND Theme

(Jim B) We welcome everyone to our Zoom liturgy at Mary Mother of Jesus, an inclusive Catholic Community, where all are welcome:

Whoever you are, Wherever you are, Just as you are, you are welcome here.

We ask you to please have bread/crackers and wine/juice near you so that you may conveniently consecrate them for your Communion during the service. All are welcomed to participate as inspired by Holy Spirit during the homily sharing and again at the prayer of the Community. Remember to un-mute before, and re-mute after you have shared.

(Elena) We welcome everyone to our liturgical celebration on the second week of this Season of Creation. The focus shifts from the initial trickling source to a moving, deepening current of water that vitalizes ecosystems and calls us deeper into participation. The theme for this week is a reminder that the stream deepens and the current gathers and moves. We are reminded that as water heals, restores, and makes creation flourish, it also challenges us to increased consciousness, to address global ecological damage, to embrace our interconnectedness, and to immerse ourselves in the responsibility of caring for and restoring our Common Home.

And so we begin this and every liturgy In the name of God our Creator, Jesus our Brother and Holy Spirit Sophia, our Wisdom. All: Alleluia

(POPE LEO XIV)

https://youtu.be/5LhsgE7-AJQ?si=q7_dDWEbfytPd7U1

CALL TO WORSHIP (Jim)

~Come, all who thirst! Step away from the shallow, parched places of the world.
All: We come to the edge, checking the waters, looking for life.

~Look out upon the horizon! God is measuring out a new path. The stream is beginning to flow, rising first to our ankles, then warming to our knees.
All: The current is gathering strength. We feel the tug of the Living Spirit.

~Do not stand on the banks! Step out further, where the river is too deep to walk across—where we must trust the buoyancy of God's grace.
All: There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God. We dive into the deep.

~Christ promises that out of our hearts will flow rivers of living water.

Let us plunge into worship and move with the current of love!
All: Let us swim in the deep waters of God's creation and praise the Fountain of Life!

Inspired by Ezekiel 47:3–5, Psalm 46:4, and John 7:37–38

GATHERING SONG: “What on Earth” by Joyce Johnson Rouse (Earth Mama)

https://youtu.be/hML0C2gSGbA

OPENING PRAYER (Jeanne)

Holy God, whose Spirit hovered over the waters at the beginning, we gather as part

of your community of all creation, thirsty for your grace. We give thanks for the gift

of water, the veins of our common home, that sustains the cedar and the whale, the

pasture and the city. We are grateful for the local waters that nourish our

homelands and our fellow creatures. We give thanks that in your well-watered

garden, every drop is a sacred testament to your love. AMEN

TRANSFORMATION RITE

( Jim ) We confess that we have treated this gift of living water as a mere commodity. We have choked the seas with our waste and watched the warming tides rise in judgment.

We lament the cracked earth of the drought-stricken and the salty tears of the

climate refugee. Melt our frozen hearts, O God, and let the waters of repentance flow.

Let us pray together.

(All) Creator of all Life, you promised that wherever the river flows, everything shall live.

Stir in us a calling to care for the waters, to protect the watershed, defend the

rights of water, and honor the dignity of the thirsty.

Holy One, You who brought water from the rock sustain us in the desert.

May your Word be a spring within us, gushing forth for the healing of the nations.

May Christ who is Living Water refresh us for the work of restoration.

Holy Spirit, carry us on currents of grace until justice rolls down like waters and

righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. Amen.

(Jeanne)

Friends...we are forgiven before we have fixed things.

We can be healers before we are fit.

And though we know with honest certainty there’s worse to come

It’s Jesus who says: “do not fear tomorrow -you’re up to your eyes in today!” [Matt 6:25]

And Jesus who says: “you’re forgiven, you’re free...” [e.g. Luke 7:48] ...to Change.

For God will be with us on hard paths ahead; protesting with Francis, and Patrick and Brigid, Columba, and creatures who taught them.

Sustainer, Beloved, and Wild-Wind of life, show us our place and purpose; set us free to heal.

(All) Let It Be So: AMEN

GLORIA (Jeanne) Glory to God, who has made a covenant with all living creatures, and has promised never to forsake the creation She loves!

“Glory To The Lamb” by Fernando Ortega (STOP AT 2:41)

https://youtu.be/9gaFm-MpxBw?si=zUiZyNsGTRmHtXN9

LITURGY OF THE WORD

First Reading Article by Robert Sluka (2018) What will it take for all to live an abundant life?

(Jane)

Jesus said “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10) When I was younger, few churches I knew seemed to consider that ‘abundant life’ for all was an important issue for Christians, and if it was discussed, it was framed only in terms of ‘spiritual life’. By and large, we now see that we cannot extricate God’s concern for humanity’s abundant spiritual life from physical, mental, and emotional life. We are called to love God with our body, mind, heart and soul after all. Theologically, churches are increasingly becoming aware that God’s kingdom plan extends not only to this holistic vision for Homo sapiens, but also to the myriad other species which inhabit our planet. Scientifically, we understand better how the health of our planet’s ecosystems and non-human creatures is intimately linked to human flourishing. In other words, we cannot truly tend to human well-being – living the abundant life – without tending to the health of the rest of the created world.

Where do we start? What can we do if we want to take seriously God’s commands to care for the poor, steward the planet, and participate in bringing His kingdom on earth as it is in heaven? We need science! Scripture tells us what needs to happen and why it needs to happen. However, the aspects of where, when and how are time and space dependent. Each specific location will have a particularity to its problems and solutions. And yet, part of what science teaches us is also that there are patterns, laws, and generalizations which can help us to build bigger sets of solutions to global problems. We have to act both locally and globally.

(Cathy) One set of global solutions which can help us to move towards our world flourishing is the Sustainable Development Goals. All nations in the world have already agreed to work towards these 17 goals and their many targets and indicators. These include such ideas as ending poverty and hunger, providing quality education to all, and promoting peaceful and just societies. The SDGs recognize the holism written about above with goals focusing on the health of terrestrial and ocean ecosystems. In order for all to live a sustainable and abundant life, we have to care about both people and place. The health of our lands and seas is integrally related to the flourishing of human well-being.

“A Rocha” is committed to doing our part to achieve these SDGs. We recently contributed to a booklet called “God’s Global Goals“ produced by the UK organization ‘End Poverty 2030’. Our focus was on SDG 14 which relates to the oceans. The booklet was just released at a meeting at the Houses of Parliament in London, highlighting that we need both top-down and bottom-up solutions to end poverty. Our contribution focuses on the issue of marine plastic pollution and its detrimental impacts both to ocean creatures and to people. This was highlighted so vividly in the recent BBC TV series Blue Planet 2. Subsequently, many UK Christian organizations focusing on poverty reduction, notably Tearfund, have been highlighting the link between marine plastic pollution and poverty. We cannot eliminate poverty with an unhealthy, polluted ocean.

Jesus was asked to sum up our duties as followers of God. His well-known response is summarized as to love God and neighbor. Science helps us to love God better by using our minds to see how, when and where we need to act locally and globally to participate in bringing his kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. This is an act of love for God. Science is also helping us to better understand how our actions impact our neighbors both near and far. We can learn how to love them better through such actions as reducing plastic pollution. What will it take for all to live an abundant life? Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals is one part of the answer to that question. “A Rocha” is committed to both people and places. And The Community responds to these words with, AMEN “A Rocha” International, arocha.org, is credited as the original source.

Responsorial Psalm 65: 5-13 ( Elena ) RES: The Whole Earth Is Filled With Awe At Your Wonders! Holy One, You answer us with awesome and righteous deeds, the hope of all the ends of the Earth and of the farthest seas, Who stilled the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, and the turmoil of the nations. RES: The Whole Earth Is Filled With Awe At Your Wonders!

You care for the land and water it; you enrich it abundantly. Your streams O God are filled with water to provide the people with grain, for so you have ordained it. RES: The Whole Earth Is Filled With Awe At Your Wonders! You drench its furrows and level its ridges; you soften it with showers and bless its crops. You crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance. RES: The Whole Earth Is Filled With Awe At Your Wonders! The grasslands of the wilderness overflow; the hills are clothed with gladness. The meadows are covered with flocks and the valleys are mantled with grain; they shout for joy and sing. RES: The Whole Earth Is Filled With Awe At Your Wonders!

2nd Reading

(Jane) In this reading, the author describes the commodified view of water that leads to pollution, diversion, and privatization of water, and presents an alternate view of water articulated in the narratives of Genesis and Psalms. She uses tools from within the Catholic tradition to create a set of guidelines for protecting water, and turns to ecofeminism, to address the undue burden women face in light of water challenges. Both human rights and the responsibility to protect all of God's creation are taken seriously and new solutions based on a Catholic, ecofeminist perspective on justice are provided.

(Cathy) Just Water: A Feminist Catholic Response to the Commodification of Water

Any Catholic ecological ethic today that does not focus sustained attention to our worldwide water crisis is inadequate, for it fails to engage one of today's core social justice violations and neglects to offer any moral guidance for one of the human family's most pressing challenges. A responsible Catholic approach to water justice that addresses the problems stemming from a commodified view of water must be informed by ecofeminist concerns and by the Catholic social justice tradition of moral reasoning. As populations grow and water sources run dry, access to water has become a pressing ethical issue. Today, nearly one billion people, almost one-sixth of the world's population, struggle to survive without access to clean water, while

millions more are affected indirectly. It is crucial to articulate an adequate value system for water, which affirms water as more than another commodity and safeguards `just water' for all.

Rachel Noelle Hart Winter, Loyola University Chicago 2014

"Just Water: A Feminist Catholic Response to the Commodification of Water" (2014). Dissertations. 897

🎵 🎶 Alle, Alle, Alléluia.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ID5UGWcS6Ws

Gospel (Jim)

The most appropriate Gospel full text that aligns perfectly with this week’s focus on ecosystems, immersion, and deeper participation in the care of water is the account of Jesus and the Samaritan Woman at the Well (John 4:5–14). In a Catholic ecological context, this passage highlights our spiritual need to "immerse ourselves" in God's life-giving waters, transforming our relationship with the natural world from exploitation to sacred care.

~Jesus arrived at Sychar in Samaria near Jacob's well and asked a Samaritan woman for a drink, prompting her surprise because Jews and Samaritans did not share things in common.

Jesus told her that if she knew the gift of God, she would have asked him for "living water" that quenches spiritual thirst forever instead of physical water from the deep well.

The Community responds: Amen

Homily Starter: Elena

Community Statement of Faith

(Jeanne) Let us together pray 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.

( Cathy)

PRAYERS FOR OUR GLOBAL FAMILY AWAKENING IN THE LIVING WATERS

Res: Loving God, you hear our prayer.

For healing, wash away the pain of division and sickness. Pour fresh, clean life into every broken place and hurting heart.