FEAST OF THE BODY & BLOOD OF CHRIST (‘Corpus Christi’)
PRIEST: Today we lift our voices in thanksgiving and praise for the ‘inestimable gift’ of the Eucharist; we lift our eyes to gaze upon the awesome presence of our Lord and Saviour in the poverty of bread and wine; we lift up our hearts to embrace the love whereby God touches the depths of our being. In the Eucharist we taste the redeeming Blood of Christ, we enter into the Sacrifice of Christ upon the Cross that saves the whole world. The Body and Blood of Christ we share gives us life, shaping and renewing our lives and our communities: let us repent the ways we are not the love of Christ…
READER: The Eucharist is the Sacrament of Unity and Love:
for all divisions among Christians,
for every denial of love in our own hearts
LORD HAVE MERCY …
The Eucharist is the Sacrament of Healing:
for the ways that our touch and words hurt rather than heal;
for the ways our Church excludes rather than welcomes
CHRIST HAVE MERCY …
The Eucharist is the Sacrament of Christ’s Redeeming Sacrifice:
for the ways we do not love with a sacrificial love;
do not forgive with a divine generosity of mercy;
excluding others from our love, friendship and community
LORD HAVE MERCY …
PRIEST: May God rain down upon us the Bread of Forgiveness;
may Jesus pour out His redeeming Blood that heals our brokenness
and liberates freedom and love;
may the Spirit draw us into the Unity that reconciles;
and bring us all to everlasting life…
AMEN!