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.

In this season of Advent, we pray to you:
Give us the gift of an existence unified by the expectation of what you have promised and which, we believe, will come,
will come. Not magically, but because your Spirit awakens the desire for it,
a desire for peace, benevolence and justice.
Maranatha! Come, Jesus, universal brother, Messiah of God!

Lord our God,
the joy of Advent brings us together. But how many of us still know what Advent is?
In a world driven by speed and immediacy, do we still know how to wait?
Yet waiting makes life good. It brings a thrill of joy to the present.
But to savour waiting, perhaps we also need to know what’s missing,
the hollow of an unfulfilled desire.
This evening we offer you our Advent prayer, a prayer of expectation that comes to us from the mists of time…
so vast is your Promise…
Receive, Lord, our expectation, which is already illuminated by a mysterious Presence:
He who has come, who is coming and who will come.

Isn’t our greatest desire to live and see in order to believe?
Lord God, who calls us to grow continually in hope.
To live and believe in order to love, whatever our strengths and weaknesses,
to become and become again this Church in which the fruits of the Gospel ripen.
You who give us desire and assurance, bring about growth again and again,
that we may be instruments of justice and peace, as you hope we will be, God of the living,
in the work of creation in the Spirit of Jesus Christ for all ages and all times.

Dear Lord,
our world trembles before an uncertain future. With a whole people moving forward with difficulty,
our faith raises questions, sometimes destabilises, and sets hearts on fire.
In our midst, it inspires witnesses to a living faith and encourages us to persevere in Hope.
When we feel out of breath, when we can no longer see the signs and the fire flickers within us and around us, may your look of tenderness, Father, make us lift our eyes to the promised Peace.
When we feel poor, empty, with nothing to share, awaken in us the memory of the gift received and renewed every day.
When we become aware that we are full of ourselves and that our selfishness is overflowing,
come and rekindle in us that flame of happiness that comes from elsewhere and that nothing and no one can take away from us.

Spirit of God,
You whom a long tradition before us invokes as the Father of the poor,
the Defender, the Comforter,
you heal the wounded, you straighten the bent.
Putting people on their feet, again and again, stronger than fate,
that’s what you’ve been doing since the beginning!
You are the Wind that blows where we least expect it,
subversive and free,
you displace and dispossess,
you fill empty hands,
you who prepare the Day of God, we’re waiting for you!

At the beginning of this Advent season, we want to keep watch, with all those who are waiting and also and above all
and especially with those who are no longer waiting.
We know that keeping watch is not a natural attitude, but a spiritual one that opens us up to the memory of the One who is coming. Strengthen the Spirit of fidelity within us!
We know that keeping watch is an attitude of solidarity by which we express the fact that no one lives and dies alone. Strengthen in us the Spirit of brotherhood!
We know that keeping watch is an attitude of hope, through which we anticipate the joy of the arrival of the One who will tear the darkness apart. Strengthen in us the Spirit of trust!
We know that watching is the love that crosses all distances to welcome the other. Strengthen in us the Spirit of communion!

God who loves us,
we stand before you on this new day,
hands open, outstretched like beggars, thirsting for true life,
And if together we can be simple witnesses to your love, we can be witnesses to your love.
And if together we can be simple witnesses of your goodness on the road to our neighbour,
then, Lord, be blessed!

Jesus, Lord, thank you for being present where two or three are gathered in your Name.
Teach us to live in the unity of your Spirit so that we can work to build a world of peace.
Lord, give us roots to remind us of where we come from,
so that we can draw on our deepest strength and hold on in the storm…
Lord, give us a trunk so that we can soar towards the light, standing tall and reaching out towards you,
to carry the sap, to transmit life…
Lord, give us branches to offer shelter, to support with love, to carry far and wide
and sow to the four winds in a united hope…
Lord, give us fruit to give you glory, to nourish others,
to offer the joy and taste of your love in unshakeable faith…

Lord, we have endangered your creation.
Infuse in us, day after day, the grace of your Spirit
to have the courage to repair and care for what is damaged;
to have the courage to resist everything that violates animals and plants;
to have the courage to work for a city where we are all one.
Make us friends of the earth, allies of your creation, now, tomorrow, always.

Praise be to you Lord our God, for the mountains and all the hills,
to see your heaven, the work of your fingers, what is man that you have given into his hands
your creation, planet earth, our common home…
Praised be you through Jesus Christ, He has reconciled the world with your Fatherly heart
and he attracts all those who put their trust in him.
Praise be to you through the Spirit of his Passover. We walk in faith to move from the predation of the living to the
to repairing its integrity.
Praise be to you for humanity, at once one and many, and too often disfigured by the blind violence
of war, when it was created capable of offering an open hand, the provider of peace…

God our Father,
with Jesus in our midst, the leaven of communion,
we want to hold together: thanksgiving and intercession,
praise and solidarity,
joy and compassion.
We want to stand on the rampart of Hope
watching for your Day: the Day of great Shalom for all peoples.

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 a world to be built with you.
Those who are not against you are with you: help us to see the good
that is accomplished in silence and selflessness,
all the initiatives that prevent us from giving up
and keep our hope alive for the world to come.
Bless all human solidarity,
bring fruit to the actions of so many men and women
who tenaciously try to fight poverty, disease and ignorance.
Give reason to their hope in a world yet to be born.
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 in her.
Strengthen her in the hope of the world to come.

God our Father,
who is this man after your own heart who has inspired so many men and women to follow him
to the point of leaving everything behind?
Who is He, the One who spoke with such authority the astonishingly new words of the Beatitudes, demanding and liberating at the same time?
Who is He who gives new hope to the unloved and the wounded along the way?
Who is He, the One who takes so much liberty with the prescriptions of the law, in the name of respect for God and love for others?
Who is He, the One who accepts rejection, misunderstanding, contempt and even death, out of love?
May our lives give Him thanks!

God of many calls, we give you thanks for your unique word
addressed to each one of us,
and we bless you for this moment when you share your Spirit with us
so that he may bring us together in Christ.
Bless you for Jesus, the Son of Man who has no stone on which to lay his head,
and sends his disciples without staff or bag
to bring peace from house to house.
Bless you for this prophet who goes fearlessly to proclaim your Kingdom
where the least are first, where sinners are invited.
Bless you for this worker for the Kingdom who ploughs his furrow without looking back.
Bless you for Jesus Christ, who helps us today to take the path of faith,
Bless you for his Easter light, which challenges our resignation…

Lord,
you have entrusted us with your Good News,
you entrusted it to us for the poor, for those left behind;
Lord,
you have entrusted us with your Good News
you have entrusted it to us for those who weep and cannot be consoled,
whose silence we can only perhaps share;
Lord,
you have entrusted us with your Good News,
You have entrusted it to us for those who hunger for justice, for the peacemakers
who persevere despite so many defeats;
Lord
you have entrusted us with your Good News,
You have also entrusted it to us for the powerful, those who dominate, those who enrich themselves.
For them and for us, may your life, Christ, be Good News!

Lord our God, to guide us on the path where you yourself come to meet us, you give us a single word that contains all the others: ‘You will love! Let it be the lamp of our steps.
Your Word is like bread. Let us savour it, share it and draw strength from it for the journey ahead.
Your Word is like water. May it irrigate everything in us that is barren or dried up and draw us towards its source.
Your Word is like fire. May it enlighten us and warm us, burning us with the desire for communion.
Your Word is like the earth. Root us in it so that we may experience the solidity and constancy of all that you give, demand and promise…

Father, give us strength every day to believe that life is stronger than evil.
May there be a way out and light beyond every dead end, every night.
May love deliver us from death.
May we listen to the source of true happiness,
to the disconcerting and inexhaustible calls of life,
of what rises up from the immense interior spaces within us.
Give us the ability to recognise the new that is happening,
to marvel at it, to help it grow,
with that passion for love that never lets us rest.
Give us the ability to believe in what we are doing together,
by welcoming others in all their differences,
by becoming freer of ourselves every day.

Lord, we have tried again today to repeat your gestures in memory of you,
But what did you do that you didn’t borrow from us?
But we wanted to repeat your words to ourselves,
But what words did you use that we didn’t teach you?
Blessed are you for having said of God what comes to you from man!
May your ideal remain constantly present in our actions and our words, so that they never lose the unique dimension that, in your name, they have forged.
unique dimension they have found in your name.
Lord, take us into your praise!

Lord, may the wind of the Spirit blow over us and the world to open up new paths
of humanity. May our life together have a taste of the Gospel and radiate its joy. We pray
through Jesus who walks before us, who wants everyone to know the love with which you love us,
today and until the day of our never-ending gathering.

Beginning is always a wound, because we are tearing day from the swamps of night, but the Spirit
watches over the dawn of the first morning…
Beginning is always a birth, because something new bursts into the closed field of the familiar.
familiar, but the Spirit takes on the cries of the world in need of birth …
Beginning is always courageous, because we build with ardour, even if the storm threatens and
the Spirit is a bulwark of fire all around the house …
Beginning is always hopeful, because a tree is planted even if the earth is parched, and the Spirit
is the source from which the roots flow: with you, Lord, today we begin.

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?

To your question, ‘Who am I for you?’, how can I answer but with a song of praise,
Jesus, Lord!
You are the One who speaks of God as a Father who is full of tenderness for all, praise be to you!
You are the One who wept at the death of your friend Lazarus and brought him back to life, praise be to you!
You are the One who prefers the company of sinners to that of the well-meaning, because you want us to be merciful, praise be to you!
merciful, praise be to you!
You are the One who frees the Law from its burden and speaks to us of the freedom and joy of God’s children.
of the children of God, praise be to you!
You are the One who allows Himself to be nailed to a cross among evildoers, living to the end the logic
of God’s weakness, praise be to you!

Lord, you call us to work in your vineyard because you do us the honour of needing us.
Lord, you are always at the crossroads of our lives, always hiring,
because it’s never too late to love.
Lord, you give us a fair and full reward, which is your Love that sustains us all,
without distinction, and no one is short-changed.
Lord, the faithful love that perseveres despite the trials of time and the love that burns for a few moments, intensely, are all the same.
moments, intensely, are both the gates to Eternity.
Lord, your Love does not calculate or envy, and you never stop inviting people to work together
on the construction site of your creation, blessed art thou!

Give us, Lord, your Spirit of wisdom and understanding
so that the life of the world may receive new lifeblood,
so that we can discern the serious crises and the surface turmoil,
deep distress and fleeting troubles.
so that we can discern the real injustices and the just price to be paid,
so that we resist the fear of necessary change.
so that our eyes can detect the smallest glimmers of life,
so that we become signs for others of a better future,
give us your Spirit!

Lord, you know our land, made up of darkness and light,
of night and fog, of light, sunny mornings and serene evenings,
a land of blood and compassion, of fanaticism and fraternal reunion.
We bless you, Father, for the steps that people know how to take towards one another,
these discoveries beyond borders of brothers and sisters in humanity, these spiritual riches
with which you have filled us. Everything sings of the generosity of your gifts, and of the joy of those who know how to respond to them.
to them. Blessed art thou forever!

Lord, after your resurrection, your disciples recognised you in the breaking of bread.
This gesture opened them to the understanding of your mystery as Son of God and Son of Man.
May all those who seek you today recognise you in their turn,
to break with them the bread of sharing and gratitude.

Jesus Lord, thank you for the grace of walking together,
thank you for the gift of community life,
for supporting and stimulating us on this pilgrimage of faith.
Renew our courage and our strength.
Show us that you are close to each one of us.
And for all men, who without you know not what to do,
be the faithful God, you who were, who are and who will be,
until eternity.

Lord our God, we have come together in your Name.
we come with our distractions, our failures, our joys and our sorrows,
our desires and our good will.
And we believe that in this gathering you are there, in our midst.
We have only one prayer to utter:
grant us the simplest and most wonderful of gifts,
touch our hearts with your grace, grant us your Love,
that we may live it to the full, so that one day all our days
will lead to the one day of your eternal life.

When you give us a prayer that does not hesitate in its heart and that holds fast to what it asks of you,
blessed are you!
When you give us a prayer that embraces much more than just our personal projects and interests, blessed are you!
and personal interests, blessed are you!
When you inspire us to pray in a way that already gives thanks, sure, with that of Jesus,
that you always answer, blessed are you!
When you nurture in us the perseverance of prayer in the day when words grow stale,
and breath, and desire, blessed are you!
When you fill us with astonishment and gratitude for having been welcomed, heard and loved, blessed are you!

Jesus, the leaven of God buried in our human dough, be praised, Lord!
Jesus, light in our darkness, leaven of the Spirit’s freedom in our paralysis, be praised, Lord!
Jesus, hope of the poor, leaven of their expectation of another possible world, be praised, Lord!
Jesus, face of all faces, leaven of eternity in our fragile loves, be praised, Lord!
Jesus, leaven of our prayer, be praised, for with you we can name God our Father!

Blessed are you, Lord, for the peace you offer is like this tree
that grows and spreads its branches wide,
under whose shade multitudes find shelter.
Blessed are you Lord, for the call you offer is like the wind
and no one knows where it comes from
or how far it carries.
It brings forth from on high all those it visits;
Blessed are you Lord, for the love you offer
is like a house built on rock.
Though storms and torrents come, it stands firm.