Our Sunday Supplication
Sunday, April 26, 2020
Third Sunday of Easter
Holy Mass is at the very core of our worship as a Catholic community. Nothing can ever be substituted for the celebration of the Eucharist. But in this exceptional time of difficulty for our communities, our nation, and even the whole world, this order of prayer can be offered by individuals and families and engages us in our Sunday celebration of the Word of God. We can pray this prayer in our homes—the “domestic churches” which help build up the Body of Christ on earth—and thus be connected to the entire Church at prayer.
During this time of prayer, we include the opportunity to make a Spiritual Communion, since we are presently unable to receive Holy Communion. Making a Spiritual Communion is a worthy practice, recommended by innumerable saints throughout the ages, which unites our whole selves to God and his Church. For, despite not being able to celebrate Mass together, this is certainly not a time to abandon the praise and supplication of almighty God, for he never abandons us! Now is the time to love and serve the Lord as best we can in our limited capacities.
Order of Prayer
Taken from the Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours
Introduction
Leader: God, ✠ come to my assistance.
Response: Lord, make haste to help me.
Leader: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
Response: as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
Hymn
I know that my Redeemer lives!
What joy the blest assurance gives!
He lives, he lives, who once was dead;
He lives, my ever-living head!
He lives triumphant from the grave;
He lives eternally to save;
He lives in majesty above;
He lives to guide his Church in love.
He lives to silence all my fears;
He lives to wipe away my tears;
He lives to calm my troubled heart;
He lives all blessings to impart.
He lives, all glory to his name!
He lives, my Savior, still the same;
What joy this blest assurance gives:
I know that my Redeemer lives!
Act of Contrition
Leader: Let us acknowledge our sins, and seek the Lord’s pardon and peace.
Together: I confess to almighty God
and to you, my brothers and sisters,
that I have greatly sinned,
in my thoughts and in my words,
in what I have done and in what I have failed to do,
through my fault, through my fault,
through my most grievous fault;
therefore I ask blessed Mary ever-Virgin,
all the Angels and Saints,
and you, my brothers and sisters,
to pray for me to the Lord our God.
Leader: God our Father, by raising Christ your Son, you conquered the power of death and opened for us the way to eternal life. Let our celebration today
raise us up and renew our lives by the Spirit that is within us. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Together: Amen.
The Sunday Readings
A reading from the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 2:14, 22-23)
Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice, and proclaimed: “You who are Jews, indeed all of you staying in Jerusalem. Let this be known to you, and listen to my words. You who are Israelites, hear these words. Jesus the Nazarene was a man commended to you by God with mighty deeds, wonders, and signs, which God worked through him in your midst, as you yourselves know. This man, delivered up by the set plan and foreknowledge of God, you killed, using lawless men to crucify him. But God raised him up, releasing him from the throes of death, because it was impossible for him to be held by it. For David says of him: I saw the Lord ever before me, with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed. Therefore my heart has been glad and my tongue has exulted; my flesh, too, will dwell in hope, because you will not abandon my soul to the netherworld, nor will you suffer your holy one to see corruption. You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence. “My brothers, one can confidently say to you about the patriarch David that he died and was buried, and his tomb is in our midst to this day. But since he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants upon his throne, he foresaw and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that neither was he abandoned to the netherworld nor did his flesh see corruption. God raised this Jesus; of this we are all witnesses. Exalted at the right hand of God, he received the promise of the Holy Spirit from the Father and poured him forth, as you see and hear.”
The Word of the Lord.
―Thanks be to God.
Responsorial Psalm (Psalm 16:1-2, 5, 7-11)
Reader: Lord, you will show us the path of life.
Together: Lord, you will show us the path of life.
Reader: Keep me, O God, for in you I take refuge; I say to the LORD, “My Lord are you.” O LORD, my allotted portion and my cup, you it is who hold fast my lot.
Together: Lord, you will show us the path of life.
Reader: I bless the LORD who counsels me; even in the night my heart exhorts me. I set the LORD ever before me; with him at my right hand I shall not be disturbed.
Together: Lord, you will show us the path of life.
Reader: Therefore my heart is glad and my soul rejoices, my body, too, abides in confidence; because you will not abandon my soul to the netherworld, nor will you suffer your faithful one to undergo corruption.
Together: Lord, you will show us the path of life.
Reader: You will show me the path to life, abounding joy in your presence, the delights at your right hand forever.
Together: Lord, you will show us the path of life.
A Reading from the first Letter of Saint Peter (1 Peter 1:17-21)
Beloved: If you invoke as Father him who judges impartially according to each one’s works, conduct yourselves with reverence during the time of your sojourning, realizing that you were ransomed from your futile conduct, handed on by your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold but with the precious blood of Christ as of a spotless unblemished lamb. He was known before the foundation of the world but revealed in the final time for you, who through him believe in God who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
The word of the Lord.
―Thanks be to God.
Gospel Verse (Luke 24:32)
Reader: Lord Jesus, open the Scriptures to us;
Together: make our hearts burn while you speak to us.
A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke (Luke 24:13-35)
That very day, the first day of the week, two of Jesus’ disciples were going to a village seven miles from Jerusalem called Emmaus, and they were conversing about all the things that had occurred. And it happened that while they were conversing and debating, Jesus himself drew near and walked with them, but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him. He asked them, “What are you discussing as you walk along?” They stopped, looking downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, said to him in reply, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know of the things that have taken place there in these days?” And he replied to them, “What sort of things?” They said to him, “The things that happened to Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, how our chief priests and rulers both handed him over to a sentence of death and crucified him. But we were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel; and besides all this, it is now the third day since this took place. Some women from our group, however, have astounded us: they were at the tomb early in the morning and did not find his body; they came back and reported that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who announced that he was alive. Then some of those with us went to the tomb and found things just as the women had described, but him they did not see.” And he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are! How slow of heart to believe all that the prophets spoke! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them what referred to him in all the Scriptures. As they approached the village to which they were going, he gave the impression that he was going on farther. But they urged him, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them. And it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight. Then they said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?” So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem where they found gathered together the eleven and those with them who were saying, “The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!” Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way and how he was made known to them in the breaking of bread.
The Gospel of the Lord.
―Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ
For Reflection:
- Saint Peter was an awesome witness to the Lord. But not all of us are called to preach like him, with words. In what other ways, besides words, can we give witness to the Lord?
- What does it mean, that we are to “conduct ourselves with reverence”?
- The two disciples recognized Jesus in the Breaking of the Bread. Because of the pandemic, we cannot see him in this way since we cannot celebrate the Eucharist in person. But what are some ways we can still see him in our midst?
Response to the Word
Leader: Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on us, alleluia, alleluia.
Response: Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on us, alleluia, alleluia.
Leader: You have risen from the dead,
Response: alleluia, alleluia.
Leader: Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
Response: Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on us, alleluia, alleluia.
Prayer of the Faithful
Leader: Christ is the Lord of life, raised up by the Father; in his turn he will raise us up by his power. Let us pray to him, saying:
Response: Christ our life, save us.
Leader: Lord Jesus, light shining in the darkness, you lead your people into life, and give our mortal nature the gift of holiness; may we spend this day in praise of your glory.
Response: Christ our life, save us.
Leader: Lord, you walked the way of suffering and crucifixion; may we suffer and die with you, and rise again to share your glory.
Response: Christ our life, save us.
Leader: Son of the Father, our master and our brother, you have made us a kingdom of priests for our God; may we offer you our joyful sacrifice of praise.
Response: Christ our life, save us.
Leader: King of glory, we look forward to the great day of your coming in splendor, that we may see you face to face, and be transformed in your likeness.
Response: Christ our life, save us.
Leader: In your mercy, continue to sanctify all who are afflicted from the present pandemic, and draw us all closer to you in this time of suffering.
Response: Christ our life, save us.
The Lord's Prayer
Leader: Remember us, Lord, when you come into your kingdom, and teach us to pray:
Together: Our Father, who art in heaven …
Spiritual Communion
Leader: You have given us bread from heaven, alleluia, alleluia.
Response: Containing in itself all delight, alleluia, alleluia.
Together: My Jesus,
I believe that you are present
in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.
I love you above all things,
and I desire to receive you into my soul.
Since I cannot at this moment receive you sacramentally,
come at least spiritually into my heart.
I embrace you as if you were already there
and unite myself wholly to you.
Never permit me to be separated from you,
my Lord and my God!
Amen.
Canticle of Praise
Canticle of Zechariah (Luke 1:68-79)
Together: ✠ Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel;
he has come to his people and set them free.
He has raised up for us a mighty savior,
born of the house of his servant David.
Through his holy prophets he promised of old
that he would save us from our enemies,
from the hands of all who hate us.
He promised to show mercy to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant.
This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham:
to set us free from the hands of our enemies,
free to worship him without fear,
holy and righteous in his sight
all the days of our life.
You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,
to give his people knowledge of salvation
by the forgiveness of their sins.
In the tender compassion of our God
the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death,
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen.
Conclusion
Leader: ✠ May the Lord bless us, protect us from all evil,
and bring us to everlasting life.
Together: Amen.
