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.
Lord Jesus,
this evening, at the invitation of Pope Leo XIV, from East to West,
all those who look to you, the Crucified and Risen One, have gathered together.
To ask you to shower us all with your great Easter blessing,
a blessing of PEACE.
Did you not offer it one day, once and for all?
God’s gifts know no bounds of space or time.
We gather to place ourselves under this blessing, with our world in the grip of
conflicts of unprecedented violence, which rob millions of innocent people of their lives.
You are among them; you are one of them.
And you are also praying fervently with us
that a rainbow of reconciliation may rise once more,
between peoples, between continents, between cultures and between religions.
May your Peace finally prevail, Jesus, the Risen One!
But above all, grant us the Spirit
so that we may know how to welcome it within us,
this unarmed and disarming peace.
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…’
