EUCHARISTIC ADORATION
THROUGH THE LITURGICAL YEAR (# 2)
A Weekly Pastoral Tool for the YEAR OF THE EUCHARIST
Second Week of Advent, Year A
December 5-11, 2004
“Repent! The Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand!”
(+) In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
(A moment of silence)
SONG: Any suitable Eucharistic hymn or Advent song may be sung.
WORDS OF POPE JOHN PAUL II
(From the Apostolic Letter, Mane Nobiscum Domine n. 24-26)
The dismissal at the end of each Mass is a charge given to Christians, inviting them to work for the spread of the Gospel and the imbuing of society with Christian values. The Eucharist not only provides the interior strength needed for this mission, but is also – in some sense – its plan. For the Eucharist is a mode of being, which passes from Jesus into each Christian, through whose testimony it is meant to spread throughout society and culture. For this to happen, each member of the faithful must assimilate, through personal and communal meditation, the values which the Eucharist expresses, the attitudes it inspires, the resolutions to which it gives rise. Can we not see here a special charge which could emerge from this Year of the Eucharist? … In this Year of the Eucharist Christians ought to be committed to bearing more forceful witness to God’s presence in the world.
SILENT ADORATION AND PRAYER
OPENING PRAYER
Leader: Let us pray that in the Year of the Eucharist
we may bear more forceful witness to God’s presence in the world.
(Brief silence)
Father, you give us food from heaven. Strengthened by the Eucharistic Mystery, help us to work for the spread of the Gospel and to imbue today’s society with Christian values in view of a life-transformation. Like John the Baptist, the courageous forerunner of Christ, help us, especially in this Year of the Eucharist, to be more forceful witnesses to your saving presence and the advent of your kingdom on earth. This we ask through Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Assembly: Amen.
Part I
JESUS MASTER TRUTH
Listening To the Word
GOSPEL READING: Mt 3:1-12
PERSONAL REFLECTION
(As a tool for personal reflection, please visit the PDDM Website: www.pddm.org // www.pddm.us for the BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (# 2): A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday Liturgy . The Biblico-Liturgical Reflections are an aid for a deeper understanding of the Gospel reading.)
SONG: Any Advent hymn or suitable song of praise may be sung.
Part II
JESUS MASTER WAY
Confrontation with the Word
POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART
Leader: Today’s Gospel reading presents a powerfully evocative Advent figure in this season of grace: John the Baptist, the precursor of the Messiah. He will be constantly summoning us to conversion. In light of the Gospel we have heard, let us make a revision of life.
1. Do we hear the prophetic cry of John the Baptist in the wilderness of our hearts: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” (Mt 3:2)? What is our response to this challenge?
2. How is our life influenced and shaped by the imminent eschatological judgment that comes with the advent of the Messiah?
3. How do we live out our life of baptismal consecration? Are we truly converted in word and in deed? How is our daily life an actualization of our conversion and the new life signified by sacramental baptism?
PRAYER
Leader: Loving Father,
in this Advent season help us to respond
to the prophetic cry of John the Baptist in the wilderness,
place of encounter with judgment and grace.
Let his fiery appeal,
“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” (Mt 3:2)
resound in our hearts.
May our lives be marked with true repentance
as we prepare the way of the Lord.
Immersed into the waters of baptism
and fired with the energy of the Holy Spirit,
may we always let Christ be the center of our lives.
May the grace of the Advent season shape and transform us
so that we may look forward with joy to Christ’s coming in glory.
In today’s wounded world,
strengthen us for the task of prophecy, service and witnessing.
As precursors of Christ,
help us to work zealously
for the advent of your kingdom of justice, peace and love.
He lives and reigns forever and ever.
Assembly: Amen.
SONG: Any suitable song may be sung.
Part III
JESUS LIFE
Acting upon the Word
PERSONAL PRAYER
CONTEMPLATING WITH MARY THE FACE OF CHRIST: The Mysteries of the Rosary may be prayed in part or in full.
THE WAY OF SOLIDARITY: PRAYER OF INTERCESSION
Leader: Pope John Paul II, in his Apostolic Letter, “Mane Nobiscum Domine” exhorts us: “Can we not make this Year of the Eucharist an occasion for diocesan and parish communities to commit themselves in a particular way to responding with fraternal solicitude to one of the many forms of poverty present in our world? I think for example of the tragedy of hunger which plagues hundreds of millions of human beings, the diseases which afflict developing countries, the loneliness of the elderly, the hardships faced by the unemployed, the struggles of immigrants. These are evils which are present – albeit to a different degree – even in areas of immense wealth. We cannot delude ourselves: by our mutual love and, in particular, by our concern for those in need we will be recognized as true followers of Christ. This will be the criterion by which the authenticity of our Eucharistic celebrations is judged.”
In the spirit of solidarity with all of humanity and with the use of news briefs, let us now make our prayers of intercession for the world.
1. IRAQI CHILDREN PAY THE PRICE FOR COUNTRY’S INSTABILITY: Acute malnutrition among young children in Iraq has nearly doubled since the United States led an invasion of the country 20 months ago. Iraq’s child malnutrition rate now equals that of Burundi, a central African nation torn by more than a decade of war. It is far worse than rates in Uganda and Haiti. The surveys suggest the silent human cost being paid across a country convulsed by instability and mismanagement. (SILENT PRAYER)
2. DEVELOPING COUNTRIES STRUGGLE WITH DOCTOR SHORTAGES: Efforts to combat diseases such as malaria, AIDS, tuberculosis and polio in the developing world are being thwarted by a critical shortage of 4 million health-care workers, researchers have found. (SILENT PRAYER)
3. FLORIDA STRUGGLES AFTER STORMS: Hurricanes force 252,000 residents to ask for federal help with housing. (SILENT PRAYER)
4. RELICS WILL BE RETURNED TO ORTHODOX CHURCH: Pope John Paul II will give the relics of Patriarchs John Chrysostom and Gregory Nazianzen to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I at a ceremony in St. Peter’s Basilica, in a gesture aimed at reconciliation between the two churches. (SILENT PRAYER)
5. PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES: The Holy See is actively engaged in the current work to draft a Comprehensive and Integral International Convention on Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities. What is at stake is nothing less than the right of those individuals to be full members of society. (SILENT PRAYER)
6. A MINISTRY OF TOUCH: Nuns focus on massage and other healing arts in their special ministry. Sr. Shiela McGinnis is one of many nuns who see the “healing arts” - such as massage - as ministry. For them, the laying on of hands is nourishing for the soul and therapeutic for the body, a perfect complement to Western medicine. (SILENT PRAYER)
(Other prayers may be added.)
THE LORD’S PRAYER
CONCLUDING PRAYER
Leader: Father in heaven,
the day draws near when the glory of your Son
will make radiant the night of the waiting world.
May the lure of greed not impede us from the joy
which moves the hearts of those who seek him.
May the darkness not blind us
to the vision of wisdom
which fills the minds of those who find him.
Assembly: Amen.
FINAL SONG: Any suitable Eucharistic hymn or Advent song may be sung.
Prepared by Sr. Mary Margaret Tapang PDDM
PIAE DISCIPULAE DIVINI MAGISTRI
SISTER DISCIPLES OF THE DIVINE MASTER
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