Thank you, Lord, for your Word, which tells us of the joy of service, the joy of giving to make others happy, which comes back to us a hundredfold, like ripe fruit that is good to share.
Keep us throughout the day in the dynamic of giving, in recognition of the first gift that comes to us from You, God of goodness.
We pray this through Jesus, who offers us his Gospel as a path to happiness,
for today and for the rest of our days.
With the men and women in the Church who ensure that we live the Gospel, we turn to You, Lord: sharpen in us the vigilance of the prophets!
With the researchers and artists who are inventing the world of the future, we turn to You,
Lord: share with us the wisdom that builds the universe according to your plan!
With those whose job it is to look after the health and safety of their sisters and brothers,
we turn to you, Lord: give us the awareness
that makes all work a service of love!
With the men and women who no longer keep watch, who no longer plan ahead, out of weariness or discouragement,
we turn to You, Lord: grant us the faith that opens the way to the impossible.
God of Life, tonight we listen, we contemplate the Life of origins,
light in the depths of our nights.
Your Life visits us, venturing onto human soil, slipping into our clay vessels.
It entrusts itself to the tenderness of the poor; in the vigilance of the humble,
in the vigilance of the humble and the rejected.
This evening we listen and we see, God, your Life exposed in a land of pain and violence,
Your Life offered, given, abandoned.
We listen, we contemplate, from the split trunk, it revives, it re-emerges, ardent sap,
it crosses the world.
Your Life, God, opens a passageway, it is a tiny child who carries it.
Jesus, Lord, came into this world to give us a full share in life:
Open our hearts to accept the signs you offer us!
You offer us the sign of the weakness of a newborn baby lying in a manger.
You offer us the sign of being below, washing the feet of your friends.
You offer us the sign of water turned into wine for the feast!
You offer us the sign of the cross, the sign of a love lived to the end.
You offer us the sign of the fraternal community: a reconciled church with open doors.
Open our hearts to your action!
Lord, teach us silence, full silence sometimes, but also the painful fasting of words,
an admission of not knowing, respect for listening, the humility of waiting.
Lord, teach us rest, withdrawal from our need to act, time left to time, serenity of gaze and heart.
Lord, teach us patience, the slow succession of ploughing and sowing, burying ourselves in the long term, trusting in others and in your grace, refusing to despair.
Lord, teach us faith, to risk life without looking back, to walk humbly in trust, to hope without proof.
Father of us all, benevolent Creator, make us grateful for what we are.
Teach us to trust in life’s daring, in hope’s blossoming, in risky words…
Father of a people born in the desert, teach us to walk together, to pace our steps with the weakest, to believe in what is possible for everyone…
Prince of Peace, Light of the world, teach us to love those you have placed on our path, as you love them, so that each of us can reach our full human potential…
Jesus of Nazareth, our brother, open our eyes to the extraordinary in our common everyday life, to the discreet signs, to the present moment with its fleeting and full grace…
Bless you, Lord, for the Beatitudes: they are the future that is born for a dying world.
Blessed are you for the Beatitudes, for they are a struggle, the bare feet of hope.
Blessed are you for the Beatitudes, for they have nothing to defend, all they have to do is love.
Blessed are you for the Beatitudes: they are not a sign of glory, but of the cross.
Bless you for the Beatitudes; they raise cries of expectation and awaken deserts,
they give God the face of a child.
Lord, you say to us: ‘Believe in what you ask for in prayer’.
So fill our prayer with confidence for all those who are deeply longing.
For those who are waiting for the return of a child or a spouse, and for those who are waiting to return to their land or their homes. We pray to you.
For those who are waiting for a cure, or simply a reprieve from their battle against the progression of their illness. We pray to you.
For those who are waiting for work, housing, papers, more decent living conditions for their loved ones. We pray to you.
For those who no longer dare to wait, who need you to surprise them in their resignation or despair. We pray to you.
Night spreads over the world. Many people seem to have lost their way.
What can we do if we can no longer orient ourselves by the stars?
Jesus, our light, come Lord, come!
Fear builds walls, between peoples, between people.
It also closes the door to hearts.
Jesus, our Master of love, come Lord, come!
Hope is dying out in our countries, overflowing with goods.
It rises like a living flame in so many others struggling to emerge from poverty.
Jesus our freedom, come Lord, come!
Modestly, peacemakers are working to weave new relationships,
of dialogue, of acceptance of otherness.
Jesus our Peace, come Lord, come!
We know almost nothing about you,
a few words, thrown into the wind from the lake, in Galilee long ago, a breath that has since continued to blow myriads of beautiful living creatures into the deep.
We know almost nothing about you,
gestures that continue to bear fruit,
paths that unfold an unknown hope,
the depth of a spring that nothing dries up.
We know almost nothing about you,
and yet, along with many others, we live from this almost nothing.
