1. It Is Me You Welcome
2. Come In, Feel At Home
Greeting: (See Second Reading)
Consider yourselves dead to sin but alive in Christ Jesus. May Jesus, the Lord of life, be always with you. R/ And also with you.
Introduction by the Celebrant
1. It Is Me You Welcome
Are we aware that when we receive strangers, we receive the Lord himself? We have Jesus’ own words for this. In the stranger God visits us. This applies not only to us in our families, but also in our Church communities. How do we welcome “outsiders” in our churches, and people who have moved from other parishes? Do we welcome the Lord in them? Remember how the Lord welcomes us here.
2. Come In, Feel At Home
Unless you are an exception to the rule, most people feel very happy when they are made to feel welcome, especially in homes and communities where they are new. In our times, certainly in urban settings, the sense of hospitality is disappearing at a very alarming rate. Christians in their communities, even in their own parish churches, are becoming strangers to one another. Let us listen to Jesus in this Eucharist how he expects us to welcome one another as he welcomes us.
Penitential Act
The Lord welcomes even with joy those estranged from him through sin. Let us accept his pardon with gratitude and learn from him to forgive others. (PAUSE)
Lord Jesus, we welcome you when we welcome those who speak in your name: Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy. Jesus Christ, we give a cool drink to you when we quench the thirst of a disciple of yours: Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy.
Lord Jesus, we welcome you when we receive the least of our brothers and sisters: Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy. Have mercy on us, Lord, and heal in us the wounds of sin. Lead us to everlasting life. R/ Amen.
Opening Prayer Let us pray God to make us welcome people, as he is hospitable to us (PAUSE)
Our kind and caring God, your Son Jesus welcomes us in your house, speaks to us his message of hope and nourishes us with his own body. Let him dispose us to welcome in his name those he sends to us, known or unknown, who ask for justice and love, for integrity or a mere glass of water. Make us an open and hospitable Church, that one day you may welcome us with joy in your eternal home. We ask this through Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
First Reading:
The Woman Urged the Man of God to Stay With a great and gratuitous sense of hospitality, the woman from Shunem offered shelter and food to the prophet Elisha. As she was childless, God rewarded her with a son.
Second Reading:
Dead to Sin and Alive in Christ In baptism we have encountered Christ. From then on we journey with him from death to sin to new life in him.
Gospel: Whoever Welcomes You is Hospitable to Me Jesus briefs his apostles on their vocation and mission. They must follow Christ and be ready to sacrifice themselves for him. Those who are hospitable to them or to anyone are hospitable to God.
General Intercessions God has placed people along our way. Let us pray to our Father who welcomes us in Christ that we may always encounter other people as persons whom he loves and wants us to love. Let us say: R/ Listen to your people, Lord.
– For the Church that it may preach the Gospel without compromise and yet be sensitive to the aspirations and the needs of our time and see them in the light of Christ, let us pray: R/ Listen to your people, Lord.
– For those in the Church who bear the burden of authority, that they may be open to all without favouritism and make everyone co-responsible for the whole People of God, let us pray: R/ Listen to your people, Lord.
– For our missionaries, that they may welcome the cultural values of the people to whom they are sent and be open to their mentality, let us pray: R/ Listen to your people, Lord.
– For those who live on the edge of society, for loners and strangers, the poor and old people, or the sick and the misunderstood, that they may encounter warm-hearted people who understand and welcome them, let us pray: R/ Listen to your people, Lord.
– For this and all other Christian communities, that we may not tolerate among us any form of prejudice or discrimination but open our hearts and doors to one another, Let us pray: R/ Listen to your people, Lord.
Lord our God, help us to welcome one another, that you may welcome us and stay with us for ever. R/ Amen.
Prayer Over the Gifts
Lord our God, loving Father, your Son Jesus Christ invites us to share his table and to be his guests. As he is hospitable to us now, may we learn from him to be hospitable to people with discretion and generosity. Make us thankful when the guest cannot repay us for the good we have done, for this is how you accept us in Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
Introduction to the Eucharistic Prayer
However we come, the Lord Jesus invites us to join him in his offering to the Father. With him, let us give thanks and praise to God.
Introduction to the Lord’s Prayer
One with Christ our Lord through baptism, we pray with him to our Father in heaven. R/ Our Father...
Prayer for Peace
Lord Jesus Christ, as the grains of wheat once scattered have been gathered to become one bread, you bring us together in your Church notwithstanding our faults. Look not on our sins but give to all who will eat your body to remain in peace and unity with you and one another, that the world may know that you save those who err and that you are our Lord for ever. R/ Amen.
Invitation to Communion
This is Jesus the Lord who invites us to his table. Happy are we to accept his invitation to be his guests. R/ Lord, I am not worthy...
Prayer after Communion
Our God and Father, today we have been the guests of your Son; he wants to stay among people in human form—through us. Help us to be to those around us his helping hand, his smile of welcome, his voice of encouragement and pardon, the face of his love. May this be his way and ours of leading people to you, our God. We ask this through Christ our Lord. R/ Amen. Blessing In this Eucharist the Lord Jesus has been hospitable to us. He has spoken to us from heart to heart and has given us the food and drink of himself. He has told us to welcome people in his name and to treat them as we would treat him. In his name, then, may we accept and receive one another. May almighty God bless you: the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.
Go and accept one another in the Lord’s name. R/ Thanks be to God.
