Author name: admin8206

Jesus, Lord,
you gave your life so that ours might be possible.
So that the Gospel may become the leaven of a new humanity,
strengthen us in the Hope of this world to be built with you.
Whoever is not against you is with you: grant us to see the good that is accomplished in silence and selflessness, all the initiatives that prevent us from giving up and sustain our Hope for the world to come.
Bless all human solidarity, bring to fruition the actions of so many men and women who tenaciously strive to overcome poverty, disease and ignorance. Justify their hope in the world to come.
Send your Spirit upon the Church, that she may have the courage to reform herself in the light of the Word she proclaims and which never ceases to work within her. Strengthen her in the hope of the world to come.

Blessed are you, Jesus, who was not ashamed to call us your brothers and sisters,
and who welcomes us into your Presence again this morning.
Blessed are you, who comes to dwell in our daily lives with your light,
clothing our hearts with your tenderness.
Blessed are you, Jesus, who invites all human beings to your table,
the nameless, the lowly, and even the loveless
that we sometimes are.
Blessed are you, who gives us your Holy Spirit to keep us in your invisible Presence
and strengthen the energies of life within us.

God our Father,
when the fullness of time had come, you sent your Son, born of a woman, born into the heart of our history.
From him we receive the full measure of our humanity. May his Spirit bear fruit in us!
He revealed to us that happiness is found only in love and service. He overturned the scale of
values of all the powerful. May his Spirit produce in us the fruits of humanity!
He restored dignity to those who counted for nothing,
and a zest for life to those who were captive to the forces of death.
May his Spirit produce in us the fruits of humanity!
He broke the cycle of selfishness and fear of lack,
by breaking not the bread of superfluity, but the bread of necessity.
May his Spirit produce in us the fruits of humanity!
He revealed to us the right way to be connected to you, by offering you a prayer that is not separated from
solidarity with our neighbour.
May his Spirit produce in us the fruits of humanity!

God our Father,
your Spirit cries out within us, attesting that we are your sons and daughters.
But it is also He who kindles in us the desire for that hour
when all people, all nations, will see the manifestation of their divine sonship,
the hour of deliverance from all chains,
when, through brotherhood and sharing,
those who are bent under the burden of oppression and misery will rise again.
And may our slow journey towards the full light
reveal your Face of goodness, turned towards us
in Jesus, the Emmanuel of all times.

Lord our God,
it is good for us to discover in Scripture
that you are a God who reveals himself,
a God who speaks,
a God who acts ceaselessly
and waits for us in the reciprocity of gift.
We give you thanks for this marvellous exchange
through which our nature is united with yours,
for this Son of Man whom you recognise as your Only Begotten Son
and through whom we become your beloved children.
May the Spirit revive in us the call to achieve a brotherhood without exclusion and without borders,
which alone is able to bear witness that you are the God of Love, Father of all,
from this time and for all eternity.

Today, we continue to follow the path of listening, which is also the path of our quest.
A quest for your Word and the revelation of your Face, God!
We take the path of listening to hear what alone can give meaning to our journey:
the hope that there is a course of righteousness, goodness and justice,
which responds to the most constant and true aspirations in each of us.
We take the path of listening to be open to your Spirit,
to let ourselves be led to that point of no return where Jesus went before us, on the day when he
gave his life into your hands, leaving us with the one commandment of Love
for this time and for eternity.

Blessed be the Lord for the water of our springs, joyful and humble messengers of your living creation.
Blessed be You, Lord, for the waters of the Jordan, which tell the long story of our exodus
and of Your covenant with humanity in the baptism of Jesus.
Blessed be You, Lord, for the waters of Cana, transformed into wine,
which announce the endless Joy of the wedding feast of the Kingdom.
Blessed be you, Lord, for the water that flowed from the heart of your crucified Son, from which the Church was born.
Blessed be you, Lord, for the waters of our baptism,
in which you immersed us in the death of Jesus Christ so that we might be born with Him.

As Jesus descended into the waters of the Jordan, we await your Breath, God our Father.
The Breath that recreates, that makes new things out of our weariness, our brokenness,
the Breath that regenerates in us the desire to be in your image: living beings,
capable of creating fraternal relationships in turn,
the Breath that constantly heralds the new world
and gives us the energy to build it,
through Jesus, the Firstborn, our brother…

We are all born in prayer.
We are all born with a cry on our lips,
a cry that begs for air, for help, for a little tenderness.
We are born with a cry that expresses our thirst, our hunger, our need for others
in order to live, to simply be.
What if we let this native cry spring forth from deep within us…
this very simple cry of prayer to the Other, to others,
in order to be!

Jesus,
you are the One awaited since the dawn of time,
you are the One awaited by Israel’s long patience,
but also by all our wisdom,
by all the lights of art,
by our most beautiful intuitions.
You are the One awaited,
the human heart is hollowed out
by an irrepressible longing,
and we believe that it is for a beyond, for infinity…
But you, you are the One awaited already – since the beginning of time…
You are born in humanity, in the emergence of love,
in the flash of gratuitousness,
in astonishing goodness and enduring truth.
You have always been born in us,
you ask only for a little space
so that we may let you grow
and that from Christmas to Easter, Life may prevail,
the Life of God in our humanity, against all odds,
through time – for Eternity.