Greeting (See Second Reading)
Glory to God who is able to give you the strength to live
according to the Good News about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. This Good News
is now proclaimed to all. May you accept this Good News and may the Lord Jesus
be always with you. R/ And also with you.
Introduction by the Celebrant
Servant Of The Lord
To what extent are we available to God and do we see what he
wants to do in us and through us? Today we are shown the marvelous example of
Mary. Even if she did not see clearly all it implied, she accepted her mission
to become the mother of the Savior. Jesus wants to be born in our world through
us too, with our cooperation. We too have to say our Yes to God and to his
plans with us and with the world. Let us say our Yes with Jesus and Mary.
Reliable Words From God And Mary
How reliable are our words? How often do we keep our
promises? Many times in the past God had promised to bring joy and happiness
and freedom to his people. He kept his word and promise in a way surpassing by
far what people expected: he sent his own Son as one of us: God’s Son, yes, but
also the son of a human mother. A few days from now, on Christmas, we shall
celebrate how God gave us Jesus. Today we hear an angel announcing to Mary that
God would keep his word through her, and Mary gave her word that she would
cooperate with God's plan. Like her and with Jesus may we also say our Yes to
God here in this Eucharist.
Penitential Act
Our indifference and our refusals have been obstacles to
God’s plans. Let us ask the Lord to forgive us. (pause)
Lord Jesus, with you and with Mary we want to be open to the
Word of God: Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Jesus Christ, with you and with Mary we are willing to face
the risks of committing ourselves to God and to people: Christ, have mercy. R/
Christ, have mercy.
Lord Jesus, from you and from Mary we want to learn to
serve: Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
In your mercy, Lord, speak to us your word of forgiveness and
make us respond to your words of life. Lead us to everlasting life. R/ Amen.
Opening Prayer
Let us pray to our Father that we may be receptive to the
coming of his Son (pause)
God, who are the Most High Lord of all, you have a
surprising preference for people who are small and humble and who expect
everything from you. You chose Mary, the unassuming virgin from Nazareth, to
become the mother of your Son Jesus. Through your Holy Spirit make us aware of
the poverty of our hearts, that we may be open to you and welcome you, be
ready, like Mary, to serve you and your plans, and expect everything from you. Come
to us and give yourself to us through Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
First Reading • 2 Sam 7:1-5, 8b—12,14a,16: A House That
Will Stand Forever
David proposes to build for God the house of a temple.
But God chooses the house of the dynasty of David, from which a Savior would be
born for his people.
Second Reading • Rom 16:25-27: God Shows Himself In Jesus
Christ
With Paul, let us praise God, who remained hidden for a long
time, but now, in his wisdom, has shown himself in Jesus Christ This is the
Good News to be preached to all. Gospel • Lk 1:26-38:
Your Will For Me Be Done God’s plans are fulfilled
where people, in all humility like Mary, receive God on his own terms.
Intercessions
Let us open our hearts to the Lord Jesus that he may live in
us and stay with us. Let us say: R/ Lord, make your home in us.
-Lord, feel at home in your Church, that it may be open to
you in the poor and that those who seek you may find in it your forgiveness,
your life, and truth and joy, we pray: R/ Lord, make your home in us.
-Lord, feel at home with priests and religious, that they
may live up to the word once given to you and that they render you humble
service in the people you have entrusted to their care, we pray: R/ Lord, make
your home in us.
-Lord, feel at home in our world, that peoples and cultures
may understand one another, seek peace together and promote justice and love,
we pray: R/ Lord, make your home in us.
-Lord, feel at home in our families, unite them in fidelity
and tenderness, guide parents to raise their children toward your own mature
adulthood, we pray: R/ Lord, make your home in us.
–Lord, feel at home in our communities, where we welcome
everyone in need, where we serve one another with joy and make you visible by
our untiring love, we pray: R/ Lord, make your home in us.
Lord, it is good to be with you, to be aware that you live
among us. Like Mary, may we not keep you for ourselves but take you to others,
that they may know and love you, now and for ever.
R/ Amen,
Prayer Over the Gifts
Faithful God, we are aware of our limitations and the
insufficiency of these gifts we bring before you. May our very poverty dispose
you to fill our empty hearts with the wisdom of your Holy Spirit and with the
presence of him whom we expect with great longing, your Son Jesus Christ, our
Lord for ever. R/ Amen.
Introduction to the Eucharistic Prayer
Soon we will pray in the Eucharistic prayer that by the
power of the Holy Spirit bread and wine may become Jesus himself. By the same
Holy Spirit, may Jesus be born also in our hearts and in our world.
Introduction to the Lord’s Prayer
By the power of the Holy Spirit Jesus was born of the Virgin
Mary and we have become God’s children. Let us pray with him the prayer of
Jesus to our Father in heaven: R/ Our Father...
Deliver Us
Deliver us Lord, from our pride in our own achievements which
closes us to your gifts. Keep us from building for you splendid buildings in
which to confine you, that you may choose us, your people, rather than a
building of stone as your home in which you want to live through him whom we
expect with joy and hope, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. R/ For the
kingdom...
Invitation to Communion
This is Jesus Christ, the Son of the Most High born by the power
of the Holy Spirit of the virgin-mother Mary. Happy are we to receive him. R/
Lord, lam not worthy...
Prayer after Communion
God our Father, you fill the hungry with good things and
send the self-satisfied away empty. In this Eucharist you have filled us with
the Word and the Bread of Life of your Son Jesus Christ. Make us hunger now for
his coming in the hearts and the homes of all. Fill us with his spirit of
service and self-forgetting love, that through us he may become near to people.
We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord. R/ Amen,
Blessing Christmas is now very near. With the Blessed
Virgin Mary we wait for the Lord’s coming. With her we say: We are the Lord’s
servants; we want to do his will and to give his Son for all to share. May
Almighty God bless you: the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.
Go in peace and live in the joy of knowing that the
Lord is near. R/ Thanks be to God.
