5th Sunday C: Call of Peter - Liturgical Prayer
Greeting (See Second Reading)
By God’s grace, we are what we are. May his grace not remain fruitless in us. What matters is that we spread the Good News. May the Lord Jesus be always with you. R/ And also with you.
Introduction by the Celebrant
- We
Are Called and Sent
If our faith is truly an integral part of our lives, we
should be so much aware of its riches that we cannot keep it to ourselves. What
we see in it, what we live in it, we want to share with others. If it makes us
feel happy and secure in God, we realize it is given not only for ourselves.
Let us make others happy and rich in faith: that is the vocation of every
Christian. Let us ask the Lord here in the Eucharist that we may bring him to
others, at least by how we live.
- The
Rich Word of God
Fortunately, the new liturgy has opened the Bible for us.
Not only do we hear it now in our language, but the number and selection of
texts read to us has improved immensely. No wonder many people now have a Bible
and regularly read from it. Why do we read the Bible? Is it only to seek
consolation in it or is it that we want to know God better, especially through
encountering Jesus and his message? When we know God better, do we bring others
closer to God? Jesus asks of us today to spread his word and message. Let us
listen to him as he speaks to us.
Penitential Act
Before the all-holy God we are only sinners. We ask him to
cleanse our lips and our hearts and to send us to make him known as our healing
God. (pause)
Lord Jesus, you died for our sins according to the
Scriptures: Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
Jesus Christ, on the third day you rose to life to bring us
your life: Christ, have mercy. R/ Christ, have mercy.
Lord Jesus, by your grace you call us to be apostles of your
Good News: Lord, have mercy. R/ Lord, have mercy.
In your mercy, Lord, forgive us and let your grace not be
fruitless in us. Lead us to everlasting life. R/ Amen.
Opening Prayer
Let us pray that God may make us capable of making his
gospel credible (pause)
Holy God of our happiness, you entrust your Good News of life to weak and fallible people. Keep us from discouragement and give us the strength to speak your message with the language of our life. Let Jesus your Son work with us and in us, that each of us may have the courage to say: Here I am, Lord, send me as your messenger to share your glad tidings of happiness with all willing to listen. We ask this through Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
First Reading (Is 6:1-8): Here I Am, Send Me
Isaiah believed in God’s presence in the Temple but he
did not expect to see a vision of the holy God. Moved by this experience, he
accepted to become God’s unworthy prophet.
Reading 1: Is 6:1-2a, 3-8
Second Reading: I Am an Apostle by the Grace of God
Paul thought that by persecuting Christians he was
defending God against a dangerous sect. Jesus took him by surprise and made him
an apostle.
Reading 2: 1 Cor 15:1-11
Gospel: I Will Make You Fishers of People
Peter and his companions were expert fishers. Jesus calls
them to be expert fishers of people. They left everything to follow him.
Gospel: Lk 5:1-11
Intercessions
As the people chosen by God, let us bring before our Father
in heaven the needs and prayers of all people, and let us say: R/ Listen to
your people, Lord.
– For
the pope and all bishops, called by God to be “fishers of people,” that they
may face with courage and hope the stormy waves of our time of renewal and
continue without fear to preach the gospel of Christ, let us pray: R/ Listen to
your people, Lord.
– For
missionaries, and all who spread the gospel, that by their own evangelical
living and their openness to all they may bear witness to the universality and
beauty of the message of Christ, we pray: R/ Listen to your people Lord.
– For
those called by the Lord to his special service as priests or religious, that
their own experience of Christ may be the source of their strength to remain
faithful to God’s call, let us pray: R/ Listen to your people, Lord.
– For
all Christians, that they may have the courage to risk their comfort and
personal peace to help prisoners and refugees, old parents, the sick and
strangers, let us pray: R/ Listen to your people, Lord.
– For
our Christian communities, that the celebration of the Eucharist may commit us
more and more to one another and give us the strength to work together to make
our communities alive in Christ, let us pray: R/ Listen to your people, Lord.
Lord our God, we are but weak people. Make us fit to carry
out any task you wish us to do, by the strength of Jesus Christ our Lord. R/
Amen.
Prayer over the Gifts
God our Father, in these signs of bread and wine we
celebrate the central event that sums up our faith and gives meaning to what we
are and do: the death and resurrection of your Son. Purify our lips and hearts with
his body and blood and send us to proclaim with our lives that Jesus is our
living Lord and that you are our Father now and for ever. R/ Amen.
Introduction to the Eucharistic Prayer
We praise God for the apostles, his privileged witnesses who
became fishers of people, and with them we are willing to spread the Good News.
In the “Holy, holy” we echo the words of the angels, whom Isaiah heard singing
God’s praise.
Introduction to the Lord’s Prayer
In the words of Jesus who saved us let us pray to the Father
who calls and loves us through the Spirit who guides us: R/ Our Father...
Deliver Us
Deliver us, Lord, from every evil and meet us in the
humility of our sinful human condition. Take away from us the fear that we are
too inadequate to be messengers and instruments of your forgiveness and love, since
it is you who call us. Send us out to prepare in joyful hope the coming in
glory among his people of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. R/ For the
kingdom...
Invitation to Communion
This is the Lamb of God who saved us from sin by his death
and resurrection. We are not worthy to receive him, but he purifies us and
sends us to proclaim his love. R/ Lord, I am not worthy...
Prayer after Communion
Lord our God, in your love you have called each of us to a
task of life and a place in your plan which no one else can fulfill for us; you
have chosen your Church to be the irreplaceable sign and witness of the death
and resurrection of your Son. Make each and all of us capable of our mission and
send us out into the deep by the strength of the body and blood of our unique
Savior, Jesus Christ our Lord. R/ Amen.
Blessing
The Lord entrusts to you his word and his body. Go now,
speak his word and be his body to the world. May the Lord bless you, that you
may be a blessing to all, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.
Go in the peace of the Lord.
R/ Thanks be to God.
***
Commentary
Three-Pronged Revelation
Read:
The great vision of God’s holiness makes Isaiah intensely
conscious of his own sinfulness. Paul confesses that whatever he is, is by the
Grace of God working in him. The miraculous catch of fish brings Simeon Peter
to his knees and a confession.
Reflect:
Revelation is always a twin revelation: who God is and who
we are. Before the vision of the immense grandeur and holiness of God, Isaiah
can only become self-conscious of his own sinfulness. Before the miraculous
catch of fish that Jesus worked, Peter can only murmur: “Leave me, Lord, for I am
a sinful man.” And Paul knows very well that he was so despicable that he
neither merited a visitation from God nor the title apostle. This
self-awareness is invariably a consciousness of the vast gulf existing between
God’s goodness and holiness, and our creatureliness and sinfulness. Thankfully,
within this gulf plays God’s Grace that transforms us into whom God desires us
to be—as it happened with Isaiah, Paul, and Peter. So, perhaps I should correct
myself: Revelation is always three-pronged: Who God is, who we are, and who
we can be, by God’s Grace.
