Liturgy Alive Saturday 16th Week in Ordinary Time Year 1
Opening Prayer
Almighty and inaccessible God,
you have made yourself our God
and placed yourself into our hands.
Make us conscious of all the tender love
that prompts you to take the risk
of entering our life and death,
of sharing our fleeting hopes and destiny,
of being with us all the way.
Give us the faith to take the risk
of seeking you with all our hearts,
that you may indeed be our God
and we your kinfolk and people
through our brother, Jesus Christ, our Lord.
First Reading Introduction: This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you.
Today’s first reading describes the rite of the covenant, by which Israel became God’s chosen people with whom God made a blood compact, whereby they became his blood relations. “I am the Lord your God” (in the singular, “thy” term of intimacy). The tremendous, inaccessible God of Sinai is the God who is present to every person and who accepts to go along with people in their adventures of hope and love, of life and death. He is the God of his people. By taking the risk to be with us, he obliges us to take the risk of faith to seek him and to be near to him. Christ will raise this covenant to a deeper level and make it everlasting. At the heart of every Eucharist, in the consecration, he tells us: “You are my blood brothers and sisters. This is the blood of the new and everlasting covenant.”
Gospel Reading Introduction: Let them grow together until harvest.
All around us, but in our hearts as well, weeds are growing together with the wheat—the bad with the good. This is life, and it is not easy to take. We see first of all the weeds growing in the garden of our neighbor, and we want him to pull them out. But we should look into our own hearts as well. What to do? To pluck out the bad as best as we can. And not to be upset that, after all, we are not entirely good. We have to live with it in faith and hope and leave it all in the hands of God.
General Intercessions
– That the Gospel of the Lord may keep striking priests, catechists and all other ministers of the Word as a message of good news for our day and that they may proclaim it with conviction and warmth, we pray:
– That those who promised fidelity to one another in marriage may keep growing in love and reflecting God’s love for his Church, we pray:
– That among us here and in all Christian communities, there may be committed love and loyalty to God and one another, we pray:
Prayer over the Gifts
Remember your covenant, Lord our God,
which you renewed and made everlasting
in the blood of Jesus, your Son.
Allow us to celebrate in this bread and wine
your permanent union of life and love with us.
Through your Son, stay with us
in the laughter of young people
and in the tears of those who mourn,
in our fumbling attempts at justice and peace
and in our sharing of a piece of bread.
Be our God for ever
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Prayer after Communion
Faithful God of the covenant,
you know that we are too small to grasp you
and so you want us to discover you
in what you do for us
and what we can do for one another
through Jesus, your Son among us.
All we can do is stand before you,
empty of our own little gods,
and try to be more and more with your help
your community of faith, hope, and love,
through the creative presence among us
of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Blessing
Here is the covenant that the Lord has made with you. If only we were more aware of how near to us God wanted to be. May God keep you in his love and bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
