Image: George Mendoza
Good morning, good God!
I come this morning with my arms full, Lord,
because today I want to offer you the Church,
the whole Church,
the Body of Christ,
the faithful who have become your sons and daughters
in baptism and in the Holy Spirit...
I offer you the Church in all its beauty,
but a beauty marred and scarred
by sin and selfishness,
carelessness and conceit,
power and self-protection...
Called to be servants of one another,
some have made slaves of the innocent,
children of adults
and hirelings of sisters and brothers...
Called to be pure of heart and mind,
some have sullied themselves and others
for the sake of power, passion and prestige...
Called to be channels of your peace,
some have crippled the souls of the young,
betrayed the trust of elders
and choked the faith of believers...
Called to be merciful to one another
we have set ourselves as judges
and handed down verdicts we pray
you would never hand down on us...
Called to be just in all our doings,
we have failed in accountability
to you, your Word, the law
and your people...
Called to be a city set on a hill
whose light shines for all peoples,
called to be the leaven that makes the dough rise,
called to be the Body of Christ
in service of others,
we became content with darkness,
our leaven grown old and impotent,
shaming you, Lord,
whose Body we are...
Lord, have mercy!
Christ, have mercy!
Lord, have mercy!
Be merciful, O Lord, and spare your people!
Help us turn our hearts to you, Lord,
so that with honesty and humility
we might stand before you as we are,
each one of us and all of us together,
and offer you our Church, ourselves,
for help, for healing, for holiness...
Help us turn our hearts to you, Lord,
so that with eyes wide open
to the truth of justice and compassion
we might confess our sins, do penance
and amend our life as Church...
Help us change our hearts
and offer them to you, Lord,
in the crucible of these painful times...
Let your Cross be our only hope
as we let go our self-righteousness
and learn to surrender anything
that stands in the way of your will and Word...
Let your Holy Spirit be our chief counsel
as we surrender the Church
and its history, traditions, customs,
its forms, methods and practices
to be weighed and judged afresh
in the light of your saving, sacred and merciful Heart...
Preserve everything that is right and just, Lord,
and change whatever in our hearts and minds and ways
needs to be turned
around, upside down or inside out
that the Church might be
what you call us to be
and nothing more and nothing less than that...
We offer you the Church, Lord,
which is ours only because it is yours
and we pray you will save us
from so much harm already done
and preserve us that we might flourish anew
in your grace and your peace,
in the power of your name,
and for the sake of your Gospel...
We offer you your Church
this morning, this day, this week and always, Lord,
as we wait in joyful hope until you come again:
for the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours
now and for ever.
Amen.
Subscribe to A Concord Pastor Comments
Thank you, Father for that. That was powerful.
ReplyDeleteThank you, very nice prayer.
ReplyDeletefor "the whole Church,
the Body of Christ,
the faithful who have become your sons and daughters
in baptism and in the Holy Spirit..."
Yes, for all of us together,the perpetrators of crimes,for those who covered up the crime or did little to prevent them...for all of us together,those who were physically abused as well as the thousands who are so very disheartened and have suffered spiritual abuse.
Please, allow me to join you in your prayer. It says so much of what I want to say and do not know how to.
ReplyDeleteThanks you for this prayer CP. I couldn’t agree with you more. However, I could not say it nearly as eloquently. You have called for honesty, humility, truth, justice, and compassion. You plead for the surrender of anything that stands in the way of God’s will and Word.
ReplyDeleteFr. James Scahill in East Longmeadow is calling for truth in the church. He has criticized the pope for not being truthful and called for him to step down.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/04/12/east_longmeadow_priest_calls_for_pope_to_resign_over_coverup_of_clergy_abuse/
I agree we need the truth. But I disagree with Fr. Scahill on the next steps for the pope. Benedict XVI knows more about the worldwide clergy sexual abuse crisis than any other single person on this earth. I fear he has not removed complicit bishops because of his own past behavior as a bishop in Germany.
He has shown a few inclinations in the right direction, i.e. his handling of the Fr. Maciel case and his letter on the Murphy Report in Ireland. However, he hasn’t gone far enough. He has not acted as courageously as he must.
If he can surrender himself to the Holy Spirit and have the courage to tell the whole truth, he could be the vehicle that truly begins the transformation of the church.
Thank you Fr., for saying what needed to be said. Right now the darkness is all around, but this is when we all must look for the light. Now is when we ALL must truly live our faith. k
ReplyDeleteGood Morning CP,
ReplyDeleteI'm a day behind on my post reading. Have a happy week!