Greeting: (See Second Reading)
God loves us, even though we sin. By dying for us, Jesus brought us reconciliation and filled us with joyful trust in God. May the Lord Jesus be always with you. R/ And also with you
Introduction by the Celebrant
Many in our society and our communities are in need of healing. We too need the healing of forgiveness, maybe also of illness and pain and suffering. Jesus came to bring us healing from sin and he sends out his disciples, in the past and today, to bring healing to a world so often afflicted and yet often harsh and pitiless. Let us ask the Lord that we may pass on to others the mercy he is showing to us.
Penitential Act
Let us ask forgiveness from the Lord because we have often been hard and merciless. (pause)
-Lord Jesus, you are our Good Shepherd who laid down your life for people: Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
-Jesus Christ, you went around doing good, healing the people from all their ills: Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy.
-Lord Jesus, you want us to pass on to others what we have received for free from you: Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Take pity on us too, Lord, and forgive us all our sins. Heal us and restore us and lead us to everlasting life. R/ Amen.
Opening Prayer
Let us pray to God that we may be to everyone the sign of his healing love (pause)
Lord God, source of all love you showed through your Son Jesus Christ how you take pity on people in their helplessness. You have made yourself our God and have bound us closely to yourself in a lasting covenant of life and love. Mold us into a real people set free by Jesus your Son. Make us responsible together for one another and let us be to all a living sign of your tender love and compassion. We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord. R/ Amen.
First Reading (Ex 19:2-6a): Chosen by God As His Holy People
God chose Israel as his people, liberated them and bound himself to them in a covenant union of permanent life and love. The priestly mission of this people was to reflect the holiness of God and to make it known to all.
Second Reading (Rom 5:6-11): We Are What We Are by God’s Love
God made us what we are by his love. The proof of the depth of his love is that his Son Jesus Christ died for us to reconcile us with God and to let us share in his life.
Gospel (Mt 9:36—10:8): Sent to Proclaim the Good News
Jesus sends out his apostles on a mission that will be the mission of the whole People of God: to bring to everyone God’s compassionate love which we ourselves have experienced.
Intercessions
Let us pray to our Lord Jesus Christ that with him we may take compassion on people and heal their wounds by God’s power. Let us say: R/ Lord, fill us with your mercy.
– Lord Jesus, make your Church treat its erring members with deep compassion and endless patience, in the way you are lenient with us. And so we pray: R/ Lord, fill us with your mercy.
– Lord Jesus, make political leaders aware of the many poor in society: the homeless, refugees, the jobless, those abandoned by parents or spouses. We pray: R/ Lord, fill us with your mercy.
– Lord Jesus, look with pity on those of your faithful who have no shepherds to lead them, on parishes without priests or with inadequate shepherds, on discouraged and bungling priests. We pray: R/ Lord, fill us with your mercy.
– Lord Jesus, make us look with pity for young people without ideals or guidance, for sad old people in their loneliness, for broken families and couples in irregular marriages. We pray: R/ Lord, fill us with your mercy.
– Lord Jesus, look with pity on our communities. Unite them when they are divided, make them welcome those who have erred, let them be hospitable to all. We pray: R/ Lord, fill us with your mercy.
Jesus, our Good Shepherd, by your free gifts you have been very good to us. Dispose us to be equally kind and good to all people in need. Lead us, Lord, now and for ever. R/ Amen.
Prayer over the Gifts
God our Father, you have given us without charge this bread and wine. Turn them by the power of the Holy Spirit into your best free gift to us, your Son Jesus Christ. Dispose us not to keep him to ourselves but to share him freely with all those around us, without any other preference than his own: the poor, the needy, and the little people. May this be the sign that your kingdom has come among us, that we are your people and you our God for ever and ever. R/ Amen.
Introduction to the Eucharistic Prayer
Through the death and resurrection of Jesus, God has made us his chosen people. We, that “holy people,” offer ourselves with Jesus to bring God’s compassion and healing to all.
Introduction to the Lord’s Prayer
Our Lord Jesus Christ has filled us with joyful trust in God. With him we pray to our Father in heaven. R/ Our Father...
Invitation to Communion
This is Jesus, the Lamb of God, who died for us while we were still sinners. He has made us into God’s new people. Happy are we to receive him and to live through him in the Father’s love.
R/ Lord, I am not worthy...
Prayer after Communion
Lord God, Father of all, again we ask of you to make us more the people of the covenant. Through Jesus, your Son-with-us, make us all one, praying and working together to build up your kingdom among people. Let none of us be an uncommitted spectator but make each of us fully aware that weak and fallible as we are, you need us and want us to be a holy people, the sign to all of your lasting goodness. We ask you this through Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
Blessing
In his love, God chose us and made us his own people. Now he sends us out to make his love known to all. May we be his heart that beats for others, his hands that lighten burdens, his word of encouragement and hope. And on all our ways may he go with you and bless you: the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.
The Lord guides us to one another; let us go in his peace. R/ Thanks be to God.
