Embracing a Common Future

 

 

Edmund Rice Christian Brothers

North America

Thursday, 09 August 2007

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THE PROPHETIC CALL TO A QUEST FOR JUSTICE

Magnificat: A Charter for Justice

OPENING PRAYER

God, the Creator of all life, help us to realize that: If children live with criticism, they learn to condemn. If children live with hostility, they learn to fight . . . If children live with equity, they learn to be just. If children live with security, they learn to have faith. If children live with approval, they learn to love themselves. If children live with acceptance and friendship, they learn to find love in the world. May we be a source of equity, security, approval, acceptance and friendship for our students today, in order that they may learn justice, have faith in themselves, and find love in their world. Amen!

A PRAYERFUL REFLECTION ON     A Meditation on the Magnificat

My soul trembles in the presence of the loving Creator

 

And my spirit prepares itself to walk hand in hand

With the God who saves

Because I have been accepted by God as a helpmate.

 

Yes, forever in the life of the humankind

People will sing of this loving encounter;

Through remembering this movement, the faithful will know

All things are possible in God.

 

The hungry children will be fed of your ennobling life.

In places where there are needs,

people will give to others from their abundance.

 

God, you will empower all of us to sisterhood and brotherhood,

and expose to us our insensitivities to hurting women

and children around the world.

 

God, gentle one, you will reach out in tenderness

to caress the heads of all battered people,

with powerful arms you will embrace them.

 

God, you have shown us the freeing power of an inner answer.

To one who asks in genuine yearning,

"What shall I do in this moment, Yahweh?"

 

"Listen to my cry for help in the voices

of the young people enslaved by elders.

Remember, these are the loved little children

that came to Jesus.

Recall the promise made in that simple

Live-filled stable room so long ago."

 

My longing to be a healing

and reconciling person

to your most abandoned people

is affirmed within the daily comings

and goings of my life.

 

Come, O God, celebrate with your people,

Mindful of your love of dancing, of music,

Of garlands of flowers and incense

With any instruments that we can

Beat in your praise.

 

We celebrate in psalm and canticle

And in our hearts.

 

        Maranatha

 

                Maranatha

 

                        Maranatha

 

PAUSE FOR SEVERAL MINUTES OVER A WORD OR PHRASE

FROM THE MAGNIFICAT ABOVE

AT THE END OF THE TIME,

USE THE WORD OR PHRASE IN A PRAYER ALOUD

 

RESPONSE

LITANY OF JUSTICE

Leader

Let us name what is evil in our world, and in the name of Jesus proclaim its defeat.

In a world where the rich are protected from understanding the lives of the poor, let us believe in the words of Jesus:

All I have come to bring the good news to the poor and marginalized.

 

Leader

In a world where the demands of international debt are more important than the health of children, let us believe in the words of Jesus:

 

All Suffer the little children to come to me.

 

Leader

In a world where unjust laws and practices privilege white people over others, let us believe the words of Jesus:

All He/she who hears my word and keeps it is my brother, my sister.

 

Leader

In a world where women are silenced and exploited let us believe the words of Jesus:

All Come to me all who labor and are heavy burdened, and I will give you rest.

 

Leader

In a world where the lives of ordinary workers are violated by the military, let us believe the words of Jesus:

All What profit is there for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?

 

Leader

In a world where the earth and its forests are plundered and destroyed let us believe the words of Jesus:

All I will be with you always, even until the end of the world.

 

Leader

God of vision, we long to see your face and are afraid to see it;

we long to break the grip of suffering, and we cannot cast it out.

Uncover our faces and expose us to your glory,

that we may comprehend the poor in their suffering and insight,

and the world may be transformed in you. Amen.

    Adapted from Janet Morley, Bread of Tomorrow

 

All

Our brothers and sisters in our world are hungry, not just for bread,

but also for affection, esteem and love.

They sometimes die because they do not have a reason to live;

they lack hope.

We would like, O Lord, to give strength back to wearied hands

and steadiness to knees that tremble in fear.

We would like to tell the broken-hearted

to take courage and be brave.

We would like to do all this in your name, O Lord,

and to share with all the hope that is ours. Amen!