Liturgy Alive Monday of Holy Week

Introduction

Holy Week is for us the time when we meditate on the saving death of our Lord. The days of his suffering are approaching. The first reading gives us the first of the famous songs about the Servant of Yahweh. The liturgy of the Holy Week characterizes Jesus as the Servant of Yahweh. This first song speaks, perhaps directly, about the attitude and role of God’s people, but we find these exemplified fully in Jesus, the perfect servant of God and of people. He is shown here to us as God’s servant who came to serve the poor and the suffering by bringing them justice and freedom, and light in darkness to all; he will be the covenant for us, the people, by uniting us with God and one another. All of these, he did for us by his saving death.

Opening Prayer

Lord, our God,
you have called your people
to be the servant of one another
in the cause of justice and mercy.
You showed us in Jesus, your Son,
what it means to serve
and how much this may cost us.
Fill us with the Spirit of Jesus,
that we too, may not break those who are weak
nor repel those groping in the dark.
Let him teach us to serve and to love
with compassion for the helpless
and respect for the least and the poorest,
together with Jesus Christ, our Lord.

General Intercessions

Indifference and routine are perhaps more deadening and corrosive to the Christian life than calamities and acute sufferings, for we are often not aware of them. Let us pray to our Father in heaven that we may struggle to regain our freedom, which Christ redeemed for us with his life, and let us say: Lord, set your people free.
–    For the Church, that like the Lord, Jesus Christ, it may shun positions of power to share the life and miseries of the faithful and to lift them up to the joys and life of the risen Lord, we pray:
–    For those who are resigned to a life of boredom and routine, that they may answer Christ’s challenge to grow to his full maturity, we pray:
–    For those who have handed over their inner freedom to publicity, social pressure and conformism, that they may dare again to be themselves and to take their lives into their own hands, we pray:
–    For those who fight injustice and oppression, that they may not be moved by hatred, but that they may be driven by a genuine love and concern for their neighbor, we pray:
–    For those who are afraid of death, that they may rely on Christ, who overcame death by the cross and turned it into a gift of life, we pray:
Lord, our God, the loyal death of your Son made it possible for us to become free people and to discover joy in its fullness. Through his death and resurrection, may the pains and storms of life become instruments of the freedom, joy, and happiness promised to us in Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Prayer over the Gifts

Lord, our God,
with your Son in our midst,
we your people ask of you today:
To bring us sinners
the justice of your forgiving love
and help us to establish
true justice on earth,
that we the people of your lasting love,
may never be a scandal to our neighbor
but servants and signs of hope and joy.
Let this be our offering to you
through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Prayer after Communion

Lord our God,
by the body and blood of your Son,
you call us to serve the cause of right.
Breathe into us, your people,
the Spirit of justice of your Son.
Let him take us by the hand
and make us with him
the source of unity and light
to the poor and the blind of our day,
to the seekers of love and truth.
Be with us, your people,
through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Blessing

We know that these days of the Holy Week, the Lord Jesus will lead us from death to life if we learn from him to love and serve one another, and to live for one another, even at the cost of sacrificing ourselves. May God give you this courage and bless you: the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.