29 March 2020

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Family Liturgy for the 5^th Sunday of Lent

-Family gathers around the table.

-The mother (or other family member) lights the candle and prays:

MAY THE LIGHT OF CHRIST SHINE BRIGHTLY IN OUR LIVES AND DISPEL ALL DARKNESS.

-The leader (Ldr.) continues:

WE PRAY IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, AND OF THE SON AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

All:      Amen!

Ldr:         WE PRAY TOGETHER TODAY IN UNION WITH GOD’S PEOPLE THROUGHOUT THE WORLD PRAYING FOR MERCY AND LOVE, PATIENCE AND HOPE.  WE HOLD IN OUR PRAYERS ALL WHO ARE SICK, AFRAID OR LONELY THAT THEY MAY FIND COMFORT AND STRENGTH.  (pause)

LORD, HAVE MERCY.                 [all: Lord, have mercy.]

CHRIST, HAVE MERCY.             [all:  Christ, have mercy.]

LORD, HAVE MERCY.                 [all:  Lord, have mercy.]

LET US PRAY:

We thank you Creator god,

for the gift of life which you have given us.

For we know that you created us out of love

for the purpose of living our life well

and helping others to do so too.

Continue to give life to our mortal bodies

and save us from spiritual death.

Let your Holy Spirit direct our actions and thoughts

to be life-giving people to one another.

We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

First reader:

A reading from Paul’s Letter to the Romans        (8:8–11)

Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

But you, my brothers and sisters, are not in the flesh;

you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you.

Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin,

the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you,

he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also

through his Spirit that dwells in you.  

The word of the Lord.       [all: Thanks be to God.]

Second reader:

A reading from the Gospel of John      (11:3–7, 17, 20–27, 33–45)

Martha and Mary sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.”

But when Jesus heard it, he said,

“This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory,

so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus,

after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.”

When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days.

When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home.

Martha said to Jesus,

“Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.

But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.”

Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life.

Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live,

and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

She said to him,

“Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”

When Jesus saw her weeping, and those who came with her also weeping,

he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved.

He said, “Where have you laid him?”

They said to him, “Lord, come and see.”

Jesus began to weep. So the people said, “See how he loved him!”

But some of them said,

“Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”

Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb.

It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it.

Jesus said, “Take away the stone.”

Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him,

“Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.”

Jesus said to her,

“Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”

So they took away the stone.

And Jesus looked upward and said,

“Father, I thank you for having heard me.

I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here,

so that they may believe that you sent me.”

When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”

The dead man came out,

his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth.

Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

Many of the people therefore, who had come with Mary

and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.

The Gospel of the Lord.    [all: Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.]

(reflection:          Do you realize that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

                        Martha professed her faith in Jesus; how do/can you?

                        What darkness do you need to leave behind you and come out of?

What act/s of charity can you do this week that will give hope to others?)

Prayer leader:

As we offer our prayers to God our response will be, “Lord, have mercy.”

For the Church gathered here and throughout the world,

like Martha, may we boldly profess our faith in Jesus

who is the resurrection and the life… we pray: 

For those who are trapped in the grave of sinfulness,

may they hear the Lord’s call to leave the darkness

and embrace the new life Jesus offers us… we pray: 

Give your strength and hope to all who are struggling with anxiety

due to the coronavirus threat, due to loss of employment or any other hardship… we pray:

We pray for all doctors, nurses and scientists;

protect and inspire them so that we may all overcome

the dangers of the coronavirus and other diseases… we pray:

May all those who have died rejoice in the promise of Jesus,

who is the resurrection and the life… we pray:

(other prayers may be added)

We bind our prayers into one as we pray:  OUR FATHER…

Ldr:

O God of eternal life,

in the tears that Jesus shed for his friend Lazarus

we see your great tenderness and compassion. 

As the words of Jesus brought him out of the darkness of death,

so may we always hear the words of your Son

calling us forth to live in the fullness of life with you

now and forever.  Amen. 

May god bless us with peace

     and protect us from all harm.  Amen.