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Opening Prayer
Almighty God, and Father,
in one of us, your Son Jesus Christ,
is found the fullness of what you are,
and which we can only stammer and surmise
in our inadequate human thoughts and words.
Root us and build us up in Christ;
liberate us from all forms of alienation
and let us share in his new humanity,
that we may live the life
of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Liturgy of the Word
First Reading Introduction
The community of the Christians of Colossae was threatened with deviations from pagan philosophies and Jewish practices. In the very dense and rich passage of today, Paul insists that all that counts is Christ; we live in him through baptism, and die and rise with him.
Gospel Introduction
As in other very important occasions in his life, Jesus prays before selecting twelve apostles from among his disciples. For this is a very important moment. He will train them and then will take the risk of entrusting his own work to fallible people. He knows they will not always do the best they can, as they will have moments of fear, discouragement, cowardice and compromises. Still, he trusts them enough and will help them to bring his work to a good end in God's own good time. In this eucharist we express our trust in the Church of Jesus Christ.
General Intercessions
- That Christ may be our model and our strength and life, we pray:
- That made one with Christ at our baptism, nothing may separate us from him, we pray:
- That we may always be joyful people, for God has chosen us to be his sons and daughters with our brother Jesus Christ, we pray:
Prayer over the Gifts
Loving God,
what made you stoop down to us
and raise us to new life in Christ?
With these gifts of bread and wine
we offer you our thanks and praise your name.
Help us to live his life to the full,
aware as we are of our own limitations
but relying on the power of your love
and on the presence among us
of him who is your image and fullness,
Jesus Christ our Lord.
Prayer after Communion
Lord our God,
in baptism you have implanted us
in your Son Jesus Christ;
you have spoken to us in this eucharist
of his greatness and his work of love,
by which he reconciled us with you.
Let us share in his life,
and fill us with his strength,
that we may learn from him
to be great by serving
and to live by dying to ourselves.
Grant this through Christ our Lord.
Blessing
"Continue to live your lives in Christ Jesus the Lord, rooted and built up in him. You were buried with him in baptism; you were raised with him through faith. God made you alive together with him." Stay in him with the blessing of almighty God, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
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