Greeting
May the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead be alive in you. May we live Jesus’ life to the full now, that we may be raised up on the last day. May Jesus, the Lord of life, be always with you.
Introduction by the Celebrant (Two Options)
A. I Am the Resurrection And The Life
How can some Christians answer in surveys that they don’t believe in the resurrection? The resurrection is central for a believer. Today’s liturgy is a strong statement of our faith in the resurrection, not only of that of Jesus but also our own. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead; Jesus himself rose from death to life. Our own risen life began at baptism, and this eternal life has to grow and keep rising until after we have died. God raises us up. Jesus asks us today: Do you believe this? And we answer: Yes, Lord, I do. Let the Eucharist be the food of that risen life in you. (or)
B. Come Out Of Your Graves
Is it not true that at times we do not live a full life because we are afraid and selfish, we dare not to commit ourselves to one another, and we do not live according to the Gospel? If so, are we not more dead than alive? The Gospel calls us today to come out of the tombs of our hardened hearts, out of the graves of our fears and selfishness, of everything that keeps us imprisoned. Let us heed the Lord’s call to life, to rise with him to joy and love and freedom. Let us eat with the Lord his bread of life. Penitential Act
We do not let life grow in us when we mar it by sin and indifference. We ask the Lord of life to forgive us. (PAUSE)
-Lord Jesus, our resurrection and life, forgive us our hesitant and weak faith and our timid and wavering hope. Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
-Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, forgive us that your life in us has grown so little since we were baptized: Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy.
-Lord Jesus, our food of life, forgive us that we have not let the Eucharist raise us up from the grave of sin: Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Have mercy on us, Lord, and forgive us all our sins. Make us live your life to the full, that it may blossom into eternal life. R/ Amen.
Opening Prayer
Let us pray that we may lead the risen life of Jesus our Lord (PAUSE) Our God of life, you want us to live and to be happy. Your Son Jesus assures us: ”I am the resurrection and the life.” Do not let your life die in us. Make us come out of our graves of sin and mediocrity and fears. Let life triumph in us even in our uncertainties and trials and make our hope contagious for others. You have destined us for life without end through the firstborn from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
First Reading Introduction: God Is The Life Of His People
To his disheartened people in exile in a foreign land, God tells through the prophet: I want you to live. I will bring you back to the land of the promise and give you my spirit of life and strength.
Second Reading Introduction: The Holy Spirit Gives Us God’s Life
Christians do not escape from the reality of their human nature, from evil and suffering. Yet they may not capitulate to the death of sin. Through the Holy Spirit living in them, they are called to share in God’s unending life.
Gospel Introduction: Lazarus, Come Out!
Jesus is the resurrection and the life. As he raised Lazarus from the dead, so he gives us a share in his risen life now and will raise us up on the day of judgment. It is our task too, to bring people to the fullness of life.
General Intercessions
“Lord, if you had been here,” said Martha. “my brother would not have died.” Lord, make us aware of your presence and of your call to live your life, as we pray to you:
R/ Son of the living God, give us life.
• Lord, give new life to your Church and give it courage, that a better Church be born through the testing pains of renewal, we pray: R/ Son of the living God, give us life.
• Lord, pour out your life richly and deeply in adults and children preparing for baptism, that they may live close to you, we pray: R/ Son of the living God, give us life.
• Lord, sustain old people and the dying in the hope that they will rise in you, that they may entrust themselves to you in all serenity and with deep faith, we pray: R/ Son of the living God, give us life.
• Lord, keep inspiring those who suffer, the victims of injustice and misfortune, with the value and the dignity of life, that they may not give up on life, we pray: R/ Son of the living God, give us life.
• Lord, look on our Christian community. Make us appreciate life as a gift and a task so that we can use all our potentials to make it rich and full for ourselves and for others, we pray: R/ Son of the living God, give us life.
Lord Jesus, raise us up above our petty self-sufficiency to a hope stronger than death. Stay with us now and for ever. R/ Amen.
Prayer over the Gifts
God our Father, your Son Jesus has given meaning to death as well as to life. In his own body he experienced our sufferings with our joys and died our death as an offering to you and to us. As we join him in his sacrifice, help us to bear with him the burdens of our brothers and sisters, that with him and with you we may live for ever. R/ Amen.
Introduction to the Eucharistic Prayer
Let us join in Jesus’ prayer of thanksgiving to the Father, the God of Life, for his goodness and the hope of resurrection. Introduction to the Lord’s Prayer
With hope and trust we pray to the Father of all life the prayer of Jesus our Lord.
Deliver Us
Deliver us Lord, from every evil and let the peace we ask from you not be a guilty peace of complicity in the injustices of this world. Let it be a liberating peace that cannot find rest until all our brothers and sisters are free with the freedom you have brought us through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Invitation to Communion
This is Jesus the Lord, who says to us: I am the bread of life. All those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life. They live in me and I in them, and I shall raise them up on the last day.
Prayer after Communion
God of all that lives, your Son Jesus has reassured us in this Eucharist that he is the resurrection and the life and that we have eternal life already now if we believe in him. May his body and blood nourish this life in us and make it grow day after day that we may live his life to the full and with him make it a gift to brighten the lives of others. Let him lead us to your life of unending joy. We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord. R/ Amen.
Blessing
Bow your heads and pray for God’s blessing God our Father wants us to live.
May we gratefully accept life from him as a gift and an assignment. R/ Amen. Our Lord Jesus Christ died for us that we might live.
May we live with him a life worthy of the sons and daughters of God. R/ Amen.
The life-giving Spirit inspires us to follow the way of Christ as people living for others. May he make us always available and open to anyone in need. R/ Amen.
And may the God of life, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, bless you and keep you in his love. R/ Amen.
Let Us Go In The Peace Of Christ. R/ Thanks Be To God.
