Greeting (see Second Reading)
Love comes
from God and everyone who loves is born from God and knows God. May Jesus, the
Son of God, who made God’s love known to us, be always with you. R/ And
also with you.
1.
A Love without Boundaries
We are
again reminded today that the heart of Christianity is love: love of God, love
of one another. Jesus tells us that we have to love one another as he has loved
us. This is a very demanding love, for it commits us to love not only those we
like and who love us or like-minded fellow Christians, but also the difficult
ones, the “unlovable,” people far from perfect, outsiders... That is not so
easy, and this is probably why he calls it a commandment. Let us ask our Lord
in this eucharist that we may grow in this openness of genuine love.
2.
As I Have Loved You
We are
often surprised how inventive love can be and to discover it where we had not
expected it. It makes a dour husband surprise his wife with an unpredictable
gesture of tenderness or a couple in the slums adopt a child found abandoned in
the street. God’s astonishing love is the source of it all. He shows it when he
gives up his own Son for us. Jesus kept giving a human shape to God’s love when
he cared for people and gave new chances even to outcasts, the unloved and the
unlovable. Today he calls us his friends and he tells us: “Love one another as
I have loved you.” With these words he challenges us in today's Eucharist.
Penitential
Act
We are
still far from loving people the way Jesus wants us to love them. We ask the
Lord and one another to forgive us. (pause)
Lord Jesus,
you have loved us as the Father has loved you. Keep us in your love: Lord, have
mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Jesus
Christ, the way you have loved us is that you laid down your life for us. Make
us live for one another: Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy.
Lord Jesus,
you loved the weak, sinners, those hard to love. Open our love and make it like
yours: Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
In your
goodness forgive us, Lord, and make committed love the characteristic of us,
your people. Lead us to everlasting life. R/ Amen.
Opening
Prayer
Let us ask
the Father that we may put no boundaries to our love (pause)
God, love
is your name and you have revealed all its depth when you sent your only Son
into the world and let him be the sacrifice that took our sins away. Through
Jesus, who calls us his friends, make our love as strong as life and death, let
it always have the last word in us and be given for free, like yours. May we
always remain in your love and love one another as Jesus has loved us, he who
is our Lord forever and ever. R/ Amen.
First
Reading: God’s Love Open to All
God’s sign
to Peter and the Church that believers from paganism are accepted and loved by
God is that the Holy Spirit comes down on pagans too.
Second
Reading: God Loves Us; So, We Love One Another
God loves
us so much that his love took a human form in Jesus Christ. Since that time our
love for one another is the sign of God’s love and of his presence among us.
Gospel:
Love One Another As I Have Loved You
Jesus loves
us and wants us to stay in his love and joy by keeping his commandments of
loving one another.
Intercessions
Since Jesus
is our friend, we can commend to him all those we love and the needs of all
those whom we should learn to love. Let us say: R/ Lord, give us the
gift of love.
–
Lord Jesus, let there be love and friendship and trust in the community of your
Church between its leaders and the faithful, we ask you, Lord: R/ Lord,
give us the gift of love.
–
Lord Jesus, let there be love and friendship among all the people and the
churches that claim that you are their Lord and shepherd; may they become
really one in you, we pray you, Lord: R/ Lord, give us the gift of
love.
–
Lord Jesus, let love and friendship reign in all our communities of religious,
that they may be good witnesses to your love, we pray you, Lord: R/
Lord, give us the gift of love.
–
Lord Jesus, let love and friendship reign in all our Christian families, that
parents and children may be living cells from which understanding and love may
grow in our world, we pray you, Lord: R/ Lord, give us the gift of
love.
–
Lord, let there be love and friendship among us that opens our eyes and hands
and hearts to the needs and the persons of the sick and the lonely, of the poor
and the victims of injustice, we pray, you Lord: R/ Lord, give us the
gift of love.
–
Let there be love and friendship in all our Christian communities, that people
may come to believe in you when they see how we love one another, we pray you,
Lord: R/ Lord, give us the gift of love.
Jesus, our
friend, let us remain in your love and warm one another with it, for you are
our Lord for ever and ever. R/ Amen.
Prayer
over the Gifts
Lord our
God, loving Father, your love appeared with a human face in your Son Jesus
Christ. He showed all the depth of your love and his by laying down his life
for us, his friends. As he gives himself to us as the bread of life, may he be
our food on the road of life and love, not only when it is easy to love but
also when it is hard to be faithful and when love demands much sacrifice. We
ask this through Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
Introduction
to the Eucharistic Prayer
Let us
raise our hearts and voices to our loving Father in heaven for having loved us
before we could love him. With Jesus, God’s sign of love to us, let us offer
the Father our desire and will to let his love overflow on everyone.
Introduction
to the Lord’s Prayer
With Jesus,
our brother, let us pray together to our Father in heaven who loves us with so
great a love as to give us his own Son: R/ Our Father...
Deliver
Us
Deliver us,
Lord from all forms of selfishness that close us to our people. Keep us free
from all sins that endanger love among us and grant us the peace of unity. Make
us attentive and open to all, as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our
Savior Jesus Christ: R/ For the kingdom...
At the
Sign of Peace
Let the
sign of peace today be the expression of our genuine love for one another, and
may it be followed by many signs and tokens of love in the life of every day.
The peace
of the Lord be with you always. R/ And also with you.
Invitation
to Communion
This is our
Lord who said: ‘‘Love one another as I have loved you.” Happy are we to be
invited to the Lord’s table of love and unity. R/ Lord, I am not
worthy...
Prayer
after Communion
God our
Father, in this Eucharistic celebration you have given us new proof of your
love by giving us your Son and his Spirit. Jesus has strengthened our love. Accept
our thanks and bring out the best in us, that we may bear rich fruit of
faithful, reliable love. Let your Holy Spirit unite us to build community with
one another and to live in your love and joy now and forever. R/ Amen.
Blessing
We know
that God loves us and wants to live among us. He calls us his friends, his
chosen ones. Let us respond to his love without measure. We are sure that we
love God and that he is present among us when we love one another. May God give
us the strength to do so, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/
Amen.
Go in peace, live in the Lord’s
love, and serve him in people.
R/ Thanks be to God.