2. Come In, Feel At Home
Greeting: (See Second Reading)
Consider yourselves dead to sin but alive in Christ Jesus. May
Jesus, the Lord of life, be always with you. R/ And also with you.
Introduction by the Celebrant
1. It Is Me You Welcome
Are we aware that when we receive strangers, we receive the
Lord himself? We have Jesus’ own words for this. In the stranger God visits us.
This applies not only to us in our families, but also in our Church
communities. How do we welcome “outsiders” in our churches, and people who have
moved from other parishes? Do we welcome the Lord in them? Remember how the
Lord welcomes us here.
2. Come In, Feel
At Home
Unless you are an exception to the rule, most people feel
very happy when they are made to feel welcome, especially in homes and
communities where they are new. In our times, certainly in urban settings, the
sense of hospitality is disappearing at a very alarming rate. Christians in
their communities, even in their own parish churches, are becoming strangers to
one another. Let us listen to Jesus in this Eucharist how he expects us to
welcome one another as he welcomes us.
Penitential Act
The Lord welcomes even with joy those estranged from him
through sin. Let us accept his pardon with gratitude and learn from him to
forgive others. (PAUSE)
Lord Jesus, we welcome you when we welcome those who speak
in your name: Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy. Jesus Christ, we give a cool drink to you when
we quench the thirst of a disciple of yours: Christ, have mercy. R/
Christ, have mercy.
Lord Jesus, we welcome you when we receive the least of our
brothers and sisters: Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy. Have mercy on us, Lord, and heal in us the
wounds of sin. Lead us to everlasting life. R/ Amen.
Opening Prayer Let us pray God to make us welcome
people, as he is hospitable to us (PAUSE)
Our kind and caring God, your Son Jesus welcomes us in your
house, speaks to us his message of hope and nourishes us with his own body. Let
him dispose us to welcome in his name those he sends to us, known or unknown, who
ask for justice and love, for integrity or a mere glass of water. Make us an
open and hospitable Church, that one day you may welcome us with joy in your
eternal home. We ask this through Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
First Reading:
The Woman Urged the Man of God to Stay With a great
and gratuitous sense of hospitality, the woman from Shunem offered shelter and
food to the prophet Elisha. As she was childless, God rewarded her with a son.
Second Reading:
Dead to Sin and Alive in Christ In baptism we have
encountered Christ. From then on we journey with him from death to sin to new
life in him.
Gospel: Whoever Welcomes You is Hospitable to Me Jesus
briefs his apostles on their vocation and mission. They must follow Christ and
be ready to sacrifice themselves for him. Those who are hospitable to them or
to anyone are hospitable to God.
General Intercessions God has placed people along our
way. Let us pray to our Father who welcomes us in Christ that we may always
encounter other people as persons whom he loves and wants us to love. Let us
say: R/ Listen to your people, Lord.
– For the Church that it may preach the Gospel without
compromise and yet be sensitive to the aspirations and the needs of our time
and see them in the light of Christ, let us pray: R/ Listen to your
people, Lord.
– For those in the Church who bear the burden of authority,
that they may be open to all without favouritism and make everyone
co-responsible for the whole People of God, let us pray: R/ Listen to
your people, Lord.
– For our missionaries, that they may welcome the cultural
values of the people to whom they are sent and be open to their mentality, let
us pray: R/ Listen to your people, Lord.
– For those who live on the edge of society, for loners and
strangers, the poor and old people, or the sick and the misunderstood, that
they may encounter warm-hearted people who understand and welcome them, let us
pray: R/ Listen to your people, Lord.
– For this and all other Christian communities, that we may
not tolerate among us any form of prejudice or discrimination but open our
hearts and doors to one another, Let us pray: R/ Listen to your people,
Lord.
Lord our God, help us to welcome one another, that you may
welcome us and stay with us for ever. R/ Amen.
Prayer Over the Gifts
Lord our God, loving Father, your Son Jesus Christ invites
us to share his table and to be his guests. As he is hospitable to us now, may
we learn from him to be hospitable to people with discretion and generosity. Make
us thankful when the guest cannot repay us for the good we have done, for this
is how you accept us in Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
Introduction to the Eucharistic Prayer
However we come, the Lord Jesus invites us to join him in
his offering to the Father. With him, let us give thanks and praise to God.
Introduction to the Lord’s Prayer
One with Christ our Lord through baptism, we pray with him
to our Father in heaven. R/ Our Father...
Prayer for Peace
Lord Jesus Christ, as the grains of wheat once scattered have
been gathered to become one bread, you bring us together in your Church notwithstanding
our faults. Look not on our sins but give to all who will eat your body to
remain in peace and unity with you and one another, that the world may know that
you save those who err and that you are our Lord for ever. R/ Amen.
Invitation to Communion
This is Jesus the Lord who invites us to his table. Happy
are we to accept his invitation to be his guests. R/ Lord, I am not
worthy...
Prayer after Communion
Our God and Father, today we have been the guests of your
Son; he wants to stay among people in human form—through us. Help us to be to
those around us his helping hand, his smile of welcome, his voice of
encouragement and pardon, the face of his love. May this be his way and ours of
leading people to you, our God. We ask
this through Christ our Lord. R/ Amen. Blessing In this Eucharist the Lord
Jesus has been hospitable to us. He has spoken to us from heart to heart and
has given us the food and drink of himself. He has told us to welcome people in
his name and to treat them as we would treat him. In his name, then, may we
accept and receive one another. May almighty God bless you: the Father, and the
Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.
Go and accept one another in the Lord’s name. R/ Thanks
be to God.
