Lord Jesus, your Church needs love, because it comes from you.
It is not, first and foremost, an institution.
It is a transmission, a transmission of love, a transmission of the Spirit.
Without it, what would we know of you today?
Beyond its grave sin and its worldliness,
grant us the grace to love it and to help others love it in its depth,
to bear witness to it in such a way that You may be recognised in it
and that the multitude of those
whose daily lives radiate an undeniable love—Yours—may be recognised in it…

We pray to you, Father of Jesus Christ and our Father:
may the joyful news of the Resurrection burn brightly within us.
May it accompany us like a persistent word and melody,
so that, as it renews our lives,
it may reach all our brothers and sisters on the journey
and encourage them in their patient pilgrimage
through each day.
We pray this through Jesus Christ,
who, by his passage through death, directs our human paths
towards the life that is eternal.

towards the Life that is eternal.

We praise you, Lord Jesus, you are the Way!
The way by which God came to us,
the way that leads us to the Father.
You are the Way through your life given,
through your love never withdrawn,
through the hope that your Spirit places within us.
You do not leave us to walk in darkness,
you accompany us even in our wanderings
and you set our paths afresh towards the Light.

God, who is so generous in love and grace,
do not abandon us as we slowly come to embrace our freedom. So many forms of bondage keep us
on our knees. We ask you to walk with us, that we may come to cherish the freedom of heart
and speech, following the example of the free Man of Nazareth, your Son Jesus.

Where, then, are you, God of our faith?
Where, then, must we stand so that your Word may be spoken to us
and so that we may live in your Presence?
And here it is:
in the hand that comforts, in the gaze of tenderness, in the welcoming smile,
God, we recognise your Face.
And here it is:
in the words of love, in the words of forgiveness, in the words of kindness,
God, we recognise your Word.
And behold:
in the silence of prayer, in the music and the songs, in the gathered community,
God, we sense your Presence.
And behold:
You stand where the living stan

Come, Holy Spirit, visit us!
We are breathless, Lord.
In the confines of our homes, amidst our barricades, let your Pentecost burst forth,
that it may give us a new lease of life.
Help us to discern your radiant presence in the face of the stranger,
who comes to shake up our routines.
Help us to welcome the other in their truth, in their language, in their darkness and in their faith
which broadens our horizons.
Teach us how to let this inner fire burn, which comes to us from on high,
how to let the trust blossom that drives us to the greatest deeds.

Ask in my name’
To dare to ask
to dare to acknowledge that we are not self-sufficient
that there is a lack within us and things left undone
To dare to ask, to dare to trust that we will be heard.
Lord, if you have told us to ask, is it not because you love us
and because love delights in giving?
But is it not also to love that to dare to ask?
With the whole Church, and far beyond it, we ask for the Spirit.
He who is the Life of our life
and in faith we repeat: Come, Lord, come!

Christ,
as you leave us, you leave us a treasure: your Gospel.
Will we know how to receive it with empty hands, as a gift, as a promise?
Will the revelation of the mystery of the Kingdom, of the Father’s infinite love, revealed to the little ones, cause us too to tremble with joy?
Lead us to the simple source of trust,
let us be reborn from above, by your Spirit.
Christ, guide us along this path which you were the first to tread,
so that, unburdened by ourselves, we may have no other recourse,
no other certainty and no other risk,
than to believe in Love and to build our lives upon it.
Yes, grant that we may welcome the Love of God,
your Father and our Father, with our whole lives.

Blessed be you, Breath of God, for whispering to every human being
that they are God’s beloved,
called by name, raised up to life.
We stand before you with the diversity of our stories,
yet all filled with that ‘something’ that binds us to hope.
There are those whom your fire consumes, those who shield a modest glimmer with their hands,
those who have nothing left but the memory of it. Those whom you enlighten
and those who have no hearth left, those whose hearts are in tatters,
and in their innermost being a great abyss. But there is not one,
Breath of Love, to whom, through the night, you have not spoken the Good News
and who does not know his soul shaped by your infinite tenderness.
It is bearing this inexpressible gratitude that we come to prayer,
to say to you for all, with all: Be blessed forever!

You are leaving without leaving us, you say,
but we are left to believe it;
we are always left to believe
that what passes does not leave us,
but becomes engraved within us more deeply.
You are leaving to prepare a place for us, you say,
and we, this evening, would like to prepare a place for you,
a place within us.
To make room for you amongst us and in this world that so utterly ignores you.
You are leaving, but we want to keep a place for you
so that on the day you return
you will still find faith alive on earth,
that faith which you bring to life,
by leaving us.
Your Passover continues, in this Ascension, we believe,
Jesus our Lord.

Lord our God,
when your Word frightens us because it demands everything of us,
grant that it may also be the strength that sets us free from ourselves
and enables us to do more than we ever dared to imagine.
Grant that, moment by moment, we may grow towards true freedom,
for which Christ has shown the way,
He who goes before us as our universal brother,
drawing us through his Easter towards the Life that has no end.

Lord our God, who came into this world to share with us the fullness of your life,
open our hearts to receive the signs you offer us.
You offer us the sign of weakness: a newborn baby lying in a manger.
Open our hearts to this presence of fragility.
You offer us the sign of humility, by washing the feet of your friends.
Open our hearts to service.
You offer us the sign of bread.
Open our hearts to sharing.
You offer us the sign of the cross, a crucified God who dies outside the city between two criminals.
Open our hearts to your friendship with all.
You offer us the sign of fraternal community,
open our hearts to gathering together without exclusion.

Living God,

we believe in the life that leads to eternal life,

but help our lack of faith.

May your Word, in the Scriptures, in others, and in your many signs,

illuminate our paths, which are still so dark…

until the day begins to dawn

and the Morning Star rises in every heart.

We pray this through Him, your Son, Jesus Christ,

who lives with you in the communion of the Spirit.

for ever and ever.

Jesus, standing on our shores in the early morning,
when the night has been long and fruitless,
we dare not ask you,
but we know it is You!
Jesus, speaking suddenly from the open Book,
when questions have remained unanswered for so long,
we dare not ask you,
but we know it is You!
Jesus, present in the brotherly word and hand,
when loneliness weighed heavily on our shoulders,
we dare not ask you,
but we know it is You!
Jesus, sharing bread, aid and care,
through so many lives given,
when endless wars overwhelm so many peoples,
we dare not ask you,
but we know it is You!
Jesus, bringing peace, standing as the architect of reconciliation,
when the cycle of violence seemed hopeless,
we dare not ask you,
but we know it is You!

Risen Christ,
the tomb is empty, the stone has been rolled away,
yet our gaze remains fixed on the past, prisoners of memory.
We seek You among the dead, You, the Living One!
Christ, come and roll away the stone from our hearts,
free us from the false security of knowledge that seeks to control everything,
unleash within us the desire to create a new world,
in joy, in dance, in acts of brotherhood…
Open us to the surprises of your grace, Risen Lord!

Stay with us, Lord, just as you chose to stay,
as evening fell, with those two pilgrims who longed for your presence to linger.
Stay with us to guide us through the light and shadow of our journeys,
and do not abandon us in the face of our world’s troubling realities.
Stay with us, open the Book once more to enlighten us with this Word,
inexhaustible, so rich in humanity.
Stay with us, for we live through relationships and from them receive meaning,
hope, light,
just as you, you live only through the Father’s Love
given without measure by the Spirit.

God our Father,
at the brand-new dawn of your Promise,
Mary, in faith, though she could see nothing, sang her Magnificat.
In you, she rejoiced with joy.
Standing at Cana, standing at the foot of the cross,
she watched for the signs of the Kingdom to come.
Inspired by her example, may we become people of praise,
delighted to serve You by serving our sisters and brothers,
through Jesus, the Firstborn of the new creation.

Lord Christ, may your call to life still ring in our ears and in our hearts.

May our eyes be opened to your light,

and may the power of your Resurrection permeate our very being,

so that we may already live that eternal life which you promise

and bring comfort and hope to the world.

All things may be reborn through the Breath of your Spirit,

in communion with the Father, in You, the Resurrection for ever and ever.

Since the day you gave us your peace… what have we done with it, Jesus?
Your peace is not neutral.
It does not turn a blind eye to injustice.
It does not stand idly by when action is needed.
Never let us forget that your peace is a struggle,
the fruit of your Paschal struggle.
We implore it for those who today face violence.
Be their strength, their light, their inner resilience.
Prepare, through all the humble, all those who suffer,
the turning of hearts?
and make us, in our humble place, participants in this conversion
Until your Kingdom comes, Jesus, our PEACE.

Lord Jesus,
every day we ask you for bread, our daily bread,
but every day we must also ask you for faith,
day-to-day faith, step by step along our journey.
You say, ‘If you believe, you will see.’
You know our blindness; give us the eyes of faith
that enable us to walk as though we could see the unseen.
Lord, it is not just about us.
It is about this world hurtling blindly along in a mad race
that crushes the stars.
This light buried deep within the hearts of your children,
do not let it be extinguished in them, in us,
this light of hope
that believes and sees – beyond.
This is our prayer this evening, and it gives you thanks.

God our Father,
grant that we may learn to bring our lives together,
to strike a balance between times of listening and speaking,
between times of praise and action,
so that our lives may become salt and light, bread and clothing,
an oasis in the desert where passers-by may find refreshment.
We pray this through Jesus, through whom your Life is given to us in abundance.

When we feel poor and empty, with nothing to share,
awaken within us the spirit of giving.

When we are disillusioned with life and our relationships are filled with bitterness,
awaken within us trust.

When we are full of ourselves and pride blinds us to the face
of our sister, of our brother, awaken within us brotherly love.

When we are sated with possessions and the fear of losing them arises,
awaken in us the joy of sharing.

When we lose sight of your faithfulness of yesterday and tomorrow leaves us without strength,
awaken in us trust in the small steps of today.

When we are out of breath,
awaken in us the prayer of God’s children: ‘Our Father…’

God our Father,
grant that we may learn to bring our lives together,
to strike a balance between times of listening and speaking,
between times of praise and action,
so that our lives may become salt and light, bread and clothing,
an oasis in the desert where passers-by may find refreshment.
We pray this through Jesus, through whom your Life is given to us in abundance.

Lord,
that the inner person may be strengthened within us and that we may ground every action,
every word, in love, teach us to pray!
To pray is to plough, and it is also to allow oneself to be turned over.
Lord, teach us to pray!
To pray is to bury seed in the furrow, so that others may reap,
and it is also to gather with open hands what others have sown.
Lord, teach us to pray!
To pray is to discern the weeds from the good grain that is sprouting?
and it is also to refuse to judge, to decide;
it is to choose patience with you.
Lord, teach us to pray!
To pray is to put one’s whole heart, one’s whole weight into it, so that the ear of corn may bear fruit?
and it is also to lighten oneself, to let the breath carry everything away like chaff in the wind.
Lord, teach us to pray!

God our Father,
bless humanity on its journey,
bless its longing, heal its wounds, and come to meet it through Jesus, your Son, our Brother.
May his Word and his deeds stir within us a greater sense of humanity, and may we know how to share his
Hope with our sisters and brothers on the journey. We pray this through him, Jesus, our Liberator.

Lord,
every morning you stand at the door,
place in my heart the treasure of patience,
place in my heart the spirit of hope,
place in my heart a love that endures to the very end,
for this day and until the day when all shall know
that you love them infinitely…

Prayer for the Friends of “Lutte et contemplation”

It is your Word that has set them in motion.
It is the Gospel that leads them into resistance
and sometimes also into dissent.
But it is also in your Word
that they draw the strength of Hope.
You who said to Moses and to all the prophets
who shrank from the task:
I will be with you!
To each and every one, say it again, God,
as you did to all those whom the Gospel one day
set in motion – in resistance and in hope:
I will be with you!

God,
you said to Moses:
Go, free my people. And he shrank back:
‘Please, Lord, send someone else, but not me!’
Jeremiah also protested: ‘I cannot speak, I am only a child!’
And we too, when your Word touches our hearts, begin to tremble
and sometimes retreat.
Yet your Word is our joy,
yet your trust lifts us up,
the mission you entrust to us is beautiful,
deep within us it raises great hope.
Tonight, in our common prayer, we welcome your Holy Spirit.
In our weakness, he can accomplish more than we dare to think.
Together, one with another,
we offer you our desire to follow in your footsteps,
Jesus, our companion on the journey.

Lord Jesus, you say to us: come to me, all you who labour, and I will give you rest.
We pray to you, see the multitude of poor people who count for nothing in the eyes of our societies.
See those who cannot resist evil and who suffer because of it.
Lord, see those whom illness, age, and events have left powerless,
with empty hands.
Lord, you who welcome us as we are, may we in turn know how to
welcome one another and let your light shine through our shadows…

God, you loved the world, but does the world know it?
So often it searches for you in its darkness,
so often it denies all stars.
With those who, at the beginning of Lent,
renew their trust in you, we bless you.
With those who, despite war,
do not give up on a possible tomorrow,
we bless you.
With parents who, despite uncertainty and precariousness,
still choose to give life today,
we bless you.
With those who are committed to the most vulnerable
and who, despite multiple challenges and their powerlessness,
stand firm in their constant presence,
we bless you.

Lord Jesus,
you always precede us in prayer,
even before we gather together, you were waiting for us.
Blessed are you for your Presence that inspires ours.
You are there, without dwelling on our poverty, our distractions,
which so often have made us forget to put on our festive attire.
You are there before our words, more attentive to what we try to stammer out
than to the perfect harmony of our songs.
You lend us your Spirit so that He may breathe into us the Name above all Names,
the right Name, unspeakable without the Spirit, and which makes us sure and brothers.
Thanks be to you, Jesus, Lord, for being here again tonight to receive our prayer.

A long journey begins for us, Lord,
and we do not like what drags on,
we know too well how habits and weariness catch up with us.
Lighten us of all that weighs down our walk,
lead us towards that simplicity of heart,
that fallow ground of the soul that ‘pursues neither grand designs nor wonders beyond our reach’
(Ps 130) but unifies our desire and enables us to find our joy in You,
God, always waiting for our presence.

God of the impossible, you who freed your people from the yoke of slavery,
today, once again, come and open our lives to new possibilities.
From the hardest rock, bring forth water for our thirst,
and may gentleness and kindness once again irrigate our relationships.
God of the impossible, give us a new heart.
In the desert of daily life, when habit and monotony smooth the horizon and lull our vigilance,
come and bring forth something new, open our eyes to the signs of the times.
God of the impossible, reawaken our hope.