Greeting (See 2 Cor 5:18)
It was God who reconciled us to himself in Christ and gave us the work of handing on this reconciliation. May the forgiving Lord be with you. R/ And also with you.
Introduction by the Celebrant
If we are capable of doing it by the grace of God, there is perhaps nothing that brings us closer to God and makes us most like him than the readiness to forgive and the aptitude to love even enemies. These are so contrary to our feelings of not wanting to be anyone’s fool or doormat. And yet, the gospel insists: You who were God’s enemies, you who have been forgiven, forgive, be reconciled, be merciful as your heavenly Father is merciful.
Penitential Act
God is patient with us. We can always go to him and be forgiven. Now we ask him and one another to forgive us. (pause)
-Lord Jesus, you reassure us that the Father has forgotten our sins. We cannot forget that others have hurt us: Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
-Jesus Christ, through you the Father turned us, people who acted as his enemies, into friends he loves For us it is hard to be reconciled: Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy.
-Lord Jesus, you came not to condemn but to save what was lost. We easily judge and condemn: Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Have mercy on us, Lord, and keep forgiving us all our sins. Make us grateful and merciful, and lead us to everlasting life. R/ Amen.
Opening Prayer
Let us pray to the Father in heaven to give us a bit of his goodness and loving mercy (pause)
Lord God, merciful Father, you let your Son ask of us by his word and example not to render evil for evil and to become available to anyone who makes demands on us. Make us fully aware that this is what you and Jesus have done for us. Let your Holy Spirit inspire us with a strong trust in your merciful love and help us to become a bit like you, who are always better to us than we can be to others. Grant us this through Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
First Reading (1 Sam 26:2,7-9,12-13,22-23): A Man with a Great Heart
David is a fugitive from Saul’s revenge. When he has Saul in his power, he spares his life, for the king’s life is sacred. God’s mercy becomes visible in David.
Reading 1: 1 Sm 26:2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-23
Second Reading: We Have to Become Like Christ
We tend to follow merely our natural human inclinations. Christ is our model; he shows us in himself the kind of spiritual persons we are called to become and he gives us the strength to do so.
Reading 2: 1 Cor 15:45-49
Gospel: Be Compassionate as Your Father Is Compassionate
Jesus and his gospel are a constant challenge to go beyond a merely human code in dealing with other people. He calls us to follow him on his radical way, with the merciful love of God for us as our model.
Gospel Lk: 6:27-38
Intercessions
Our Father in heaven has been very good to us. Let us pray that his merciful love may mark our relationships toward everyone and let us say: R/ Lord, let us share in your mercy.
– For all Christians, that our readiness to forgive and our constant quest for tolerance and peace may point to Christ and his gospel, let us pray: R/ Lord, let us share in your mercy.
– For all those who can hardly believe in forgiveness, for those who give others no new opportunities, for those who keep holding grudges, for those blinded and hardened by hatred, that God may bring them mercy, let us pray: R/ Lord, let us share in your mercy.
– For all the nations of the world, that their goal may not be political or economic domination but universal solidarity and friendship, with respect for each other’s rights and interests, let us pray: R/ Lord, let us share in your mercy.
– For persecutors and enemies of those who believe, that the merciful God may forgive them and open their eyes to the creative love of God’s plans for every human being, let us pray: R/ Lord, let us share in your mercy.
– For our Christian communities, that we may hear the call of Jesus to do away with our division and selfishness, and that we may overcome evil by goodness, let us pray : R/ Lord, let us share in your mercy.
Merciful Father, you still love those who have been thankless and disloyal to you—and that includes us. Help us to give ourselves as you do, that you may be our Father now and forever. R/ Amen.
Prayer over the Gifts
Lord God, merciful Father, you set for us the table of your Son as a sign of your love open to all in a world without pity. As we have accepted your invitation, may we also accept all its consequences, that your compassionate love may become flesh and blood in us, weak and fallible people, and benefit friend and foe alike by the strength of Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
Introduction to the Eucharistic Prayer
We join Jesus in his sacrifice by which he brought us God’s forgiving mercy. May this sacrifice fill us with God’s pardon and dispose us to forgive others.
Invitation to the Lord’s Prayer
Let us pray to our Father in heaven that we may forgive as we have been forgiven and give as we have received from him. Let us say with Jesus: R/ Our Father...
Invitation to the Rite of Peace
In answer to the call of Jesus, let us forget our differences and our selfishness and wish each other peace, joy and friendship.
The peace of the Lord be always with you. R/ And also with you.
Invitation to Communion
This is Jesus our Lord,
who is the model
of all that we are called to be
and who leads us to our merciful Father.
Happy are we to be invited to his supper.
R/ Lord, I am not worthy...
Prayer after Communion
Lord God, loving Father, you have given us here in your Son the full measure of your love. Let your Son be our strength helping us to learn to give and to forgive one another with your own extravagant measure, that we may be your sons and daughters through Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
Blessing
In this Eucharistic celebration Jesus has spoken to us a demanding message. Let us not take his words as oratorical exaggerations but as a challenge demanding an answer. If we call on a merciful God, we are obliged to be merciful. And if we are afraid this is above our forces, be assured that we can do it with the strength and blessing of almighty God, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.
Let us go with one another
the Lord’s road of peace.
R/ Thanks be to God
****
Commentary
Read:
David gets yet another opportunity to eliminate the enemy, King Saul. But David lets him live, acknowledging that Saul’s consecration came from God, even when Saul did not live up to its billing. Paul contrasts the two Adams but reminds us that we carry both of them within us. Jesus defines love as going beyond the mere call of duty and being generous without distinction between friend or foe.
Reflect:
In his play No Exit (Huis Clos), Jean-Paul Sartre famously remarked: “Hell is other people.” The opposite could also be true: “Heaven is other people.” It all depends upon what you want to see and experience in the other. As David saw, we could see God’s anointing in the other, even when the life of the other seems to contradict it. As Paul suggests, we could look into the other and see the image of the New Adam even when the Old Adam seems to run amok. Such perspective will help us do what Jesus wants us to do: Love even our enemies, be generous with everyone, do not judge but forgive, and share our life generously.
Pray:
“Lord, teach us to love as you love us.”
Act:
Reach out and reconcile with someone who has hurt you deeply.
