Jesus Lord,
two thousand years ago you stood up
and nothing has been able to stop the freedom of your Word.
For the life you awakened,
for the energies you inspired,
for the hope that has shattered destiny,
may your Church be a proud heir in word and deed
to continue what your Spirit awakens in her
for the great glory of your Father and our Father.
Praise and glory to the Creator,
praise to you, Lord, for all that lives and breathes!
Blessed are you for this autumn, which remembers its fragile growth in spring
and now shines with the summer sun that nourished its fruit.
Blessed are you for the air we breathe, for the firm ground beneath our feet.
Blessed are you for the rising and setting sun
and the knots that sometimes hide them from our eyes.
Blessed are you for Jesus Christ and all those who put respect for creatures before efficiency,
love before the law.
Blessed are you for Hope, unshakeable as our surrounding mountains.
Blessed are you for the day that passes and gives us joy like the flower of the field
and the bird that flies and sings and flies away.
And bless you for your Spirit who hovers over this world in the making
and reconciles all life with Jesus Christ, at all times and into eternity.
Lord, you provoke our voice, your word frees our prayer,
you draw us to the spring waters where your path leads,
in your most intimate footsteps, towards the waters of life.
Just as a tree bears witness in the sky to the light invested in the earth,
our human voice bears witness to the weight of the great secret of creation,
your Word awakens our memory and inspires our praise.
It crosses our possessions to our poor calling,
the call of our birth…
Every morning, to repeat your Name,
Unique and yet inscribed in the heart of every being.
To repeat your Name as a seed placed in our humanity,
so that it may grow and bear fruit of justice and peace.
To repeat your Name as a breath of hope for those who are bending under the burden of their broken dreams.
To repeat your Name as a living fountain from which to draw sustenance, even in precarious times.
To repeat your Name in the breath of the Spirit that never ceases to whisper in us: Our Father…
Lord God of the universe, God of life,
how we long for you to pour out your Spirit on all flesh,
old and young,
free men and slaves,
that we may all be able to welcome your Spirit into our lives
and in the depths of our fears,
so that our hearts, renewed by your grace, may begin to hope and sing.
This world to build, this world to console, awaits us.
Send us, Lord, to follow Christ today…
Lord, eternal God,
light without beginning or end,
maker of all creation,
principle of all relationships between beings,
teach us to respect the Living,
help us to be guardians of one another.
Raise your breath of hope over the world,
like a wind that makes everything new.
Raise your breath of hope over the hurrying, indifferent, worried crowds,
your breath of hope like the call of a promised land.
Lift up your breath of hope on the exiled and hungry crowds,
like bread to be shared.
Lift up your breath of hope on the crowds oppressed by injustice, abused by violence, thirsting for freedom,
your breath of hope like the sun of justice.
Lord, a burning certainty has brought us together: Christ is alive!
Give your Church the power to bear witness to the resurrection, to know how to walk with those who are following the long path of rebirth and who are already facing the question of the meaning of their existence and of this irresistible call to serve life, in the name of Jesus Christ, who by his resurrection offers us the pledge of eternal life.
God of all grace,
In the hours of loneliness you give us to believe in your promise, which calls to life what does not exist
and frees from wandering those who are excluded.
In times of suffering, you give us to believe that Jesus Christ is your face turned towards humanity.
towards humanity ;
He came to save through love those who no longer believed, and to dwell with his presence in our crucified hope.
In days of confusion, you give us to believe that your Spirit dwells within us like an invincible force
that guides our words and actions towards unity.
On the last day, you give us to believe that human beings will live by your Life, because their name is written in the book of life from before they are born.
We praise you, living God, who raises us from the dead.
God Most High
Who is present in all the universe and in the smallest of your creatures,
You who surround all that exists with your tenderness,
pour out the strength of your love on us so that we may protect life and beauty.
Flood us with peace so that we may live as brothers and sisters without causing harm to anyone.
O God of the poor, help us to understand that the cause of the poor and the cause of the earth are ONE.
Heal our lives so that we become protectors rather than predators, so that we sow neither pollution nor destruction, but peace.
pollution or destruction, but beauty.
Give us the grace to feel intimately united with all that exists, with all the beings of this earth
because no one is forgotten by you.
Where is this kingdom, Lord, where the poor are kings,
where we hold only what we give up?
Where is this kingdom, Lord, where there is boundless joy in welcoming the lost son,
where the outcasts and strangers are invited to the feast table?
Where is this kingdom, where soldiers become poets,
where swords are forged together into ploughshares?
Where is this kingdom, where a widow’s penny is worth more than all the gold of the rich,
where he who works but an hour receives a day labourer’s wage?
