July 2025

Who are you, Jesus? We will never cease to seek to know you!

• You sought the echo of your being in those around you, saying that you did nothing of yourself,
  but received everything from God your Father. Who are you, Jesus?
• You went your way amid the anxiety of those who were weighed down by their heavy burdens, your
  gaze perceiving every distress, you marvelled at the faith of the marginalised and the despised. Who
  are you, Jesus?
• Irredeemable by the violent and the lovers of money, a free man before those in power,
  uncompromising with religious hypocrisy. Who are you, Jesus?
• You spoke of a Kingdom where the last have the first place, where we count backwards from
  common sense, where we celebrate the return of the delinquent. Who are you, Jesus?
• Recognised as always speaking the truth, even by your opponents, you allow yourself to be silenced
  and wiped off the face of the earth, rather than betray what you know about God. Who are you,
  Jesus?

Lord Jesus,
you whose works have done justice to God’s wisdom, be praised for the freedom that emanates from your
words and deeds.
For faith, everything is grace, but everything is also placed in our hands. Thank you for this adventure of life.
For faith, everything is mercy, but everything is also demanding and requires following. Thank you for this adventure of
life.
For faith, those who are passionate about charity take hold of the Kingdom, and it is given as an inheritance to the meek and
the humble. Thank you for this adventure of life.
For faith, you are the way to the Father, and no one can snatch anything out of the Father’s hand. Thank you for this
adventure of life.

Lord, we pray to you with gratitude, for the happiness of mankind is your joy.
Receive our praise at the beginning of this day.
It is your joy to fill us with your Spirit, strengthen us in the faith, comfort those who
fear the weight of the day, give everyone the peace that the world cannot give.
It is your joy to bring us together in Christ: grant to all our communities of life and faith the grace
of mutual forgiveness and unity.
It is your joy to see us come to you: come yourself to meet those who are searching
for truth, go in search of those who are lost.
You made us for life: welcome into the Joy of your Kingdom those who will cross over to
the other shore today.

Praise be to you, Lord, for all those who, sometimes even without knowing you, put your Word into practice
and in whom you dwell.
Praise be to you for all the men and women who bring joy and encouragement to others, who
devote time, attention and energy to helping those in need.
Praise be to all those whose names we do not know and to whom we owe a good and safe life
, all those men and women who serve us in thankless and sometimes dangerous tasks.
Praise be to you for all those who speak to us of you through music or images, all those who
create beauty, all those who penetrate the secrets of life and the universe for the good of their
brothers and sisters in humanity.
Praise be to you for our elders, for their fidelity, for their welcome, for all those who have been or are
still light on our path.

Jesus, Lord, you came to light a fire on earth, and sometimes we are afraid to burn. Your peace
is a fighting peace, and sometimes we long for a quiet peace. And yet we know very well
that the truth of love has a hard time making its way on the earth of men.
And first of all in our own hearts, so many obstacles!
We are gathered together this evening in prayer to receive from you the strength not to let go of this
truth, and to find in our communion a foretaste of the peace you promise. Bless you,
Lord!

n the evening of this day, Lord, we still have to offer you our joy. For you have filled us with
joy on this day. The joy of your passage from death to life, the joy of Easter, constantly renewed.
The joy of receiving from one another the call to love, to open our hearts ever wider, to
recognise you in every face, to seek your face always and beyond…
We want to offer you, Lord, the gift of our joy, for it is a sip of the great joy that comes
from you, your inexhaustible joy, the joy that you promise us every day by asking us to love one another
because you loved us first.
Blessed are you, Lord, now and for ever.

What do we know of your eternity, Lord our God, if not the promise of your presence and the Love you give us, renewed like manna every morning.
Blessed are you for this day, which whispers its song of hope as it passes. It invites us to keep nothing but the thirst for love that it leaves us.
Blessed are you for these moments of intensity buried in the heart of everyday life. Sometimes they fill us, sometimes they deepen us.
Lord, we entrust this day to you. As it passes by, it reminds us of the rhythm of life: a succession of times that you are always recreating and that we must learn to live as an unceasing passage towards you, Our Father…

Jesus Lord,
your Spirit brings us together this evening and we must break down all the boundaries that we have established
between us, out of fear, out of hardness of heart.
Our village is now the planet. And your Spirit is working on our fragmented humanity to
help us find that unity which is not uniformity but an exchange of gifts and reciprocity,
conviviality and a mosaic of differences.

Call us again this evening to raise our hands with a whole people in a thousand struggles so that the peace of your Kingdom may come, so that its justice may prevail over the forces of inertia and death. 
Keep us praying, day and night, open to so many sisters and brothers who are grafted onto it, beyond any belonging to a community of faith, witnesses to the dynamism of your Spirit, for which we will give thanks forever.