"Lord you are love, let us abide in love so we can abide in You, and You abide in us" (1 Jn 4:16)
"We have come to know and to believe in Your love for us, to encounter you and to respond to your gift
We thank you for the beautiful love between a man and woman. help us discipline and purify this love, a love that should promise us infinity and, eternity
Unite our body and soul when we love and make this love lead us beyond ourselves through self-giving so we can know You and so we can know ourselves, for you have said "Whoever seeks to gain his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will preserve it"
Ground and shape our love in faith. Give this love so we may give it to others. Make us a source from which rivers of living water flow (cf. Jn 7:37-38) by constantly drinking anew from You, Jesus Christ, whose pierced heart flows the love of God (cf. Jn 19:34). So great is Your love for man that by becoming man You have followed us even into death reconciling us through justice and love. Unite us to You so we may become one spirit with You" (1 Cor 6:17).
It is written that a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife and they become one flesh(Gen 2:24) you have designed this union to represent the complete humanity. Help us direct this love towards marriage, to a bond that is an icon of the relationship between You and Your people. Your way of loving becomes the measure of human love.
Jesus, incarnate love of God, You are the shepherd who goes after the lost sheep,You are the one who looks for the lost coin, You have revealed God the Father who goes to meet and embrace us his prodigal sons.
Jesus, Logos and ultimate eternal wisdom, You are our real food and You truly nourish us and enable us to enter into the Your self-giving. Before, we only stand in Your presence, now we are able to unite ourselves with You by sharing in your self-gift, and by sharing in your body and blood. This Union with you unites us with all those to whom you have given Yourself and draws us out of ourselves towards You, uniting us with all Christians. You have united our Love for you and the love for our neighbours: draw us all to into Yourself. We find you Jesus in the least of the brethren, and in You,Jesus, we find God.
Our communion with Your will increases in a communion of thought and sentiment so that Your will is now our own will, and you become more deeply present to me than I am to myself. Let us surrender ourselves to this self- abandonment for you are our joy (cf. Ps 73 [72]:23-28).
Lord, in You and with You, I love even the person who I do not like or even know because we encounter You in them. I learn to look on this other person not simply with my eyes and my feelings, but with Your eyes. If I have no contact with You in my life, then I cannot see in the other anything more than the other, and we can't see them in the image of God. Help us to welcome, love, and serve our neighbours. Make us see what You have done for us and how much You love us.
Unite us in You with your love
. Holy Spirit, conform our heart into Christ's heart and move us to love our brethren as Christ loved them, just as when he bent down to wash the feet of the disciples (cf. Jn 13:1-13) and above all when he gave his life for us (cf. Jn 13:1, 15:13). Transforms the heart of the church, so that it becomes a witness before the world to the love of the Father. Make humanity a single family in his Jesus. We ask you to be with us in evangelizing
We read in the Acts of the apostles that "All who believed were together and had all things in common; and they sold their possessions and goods and distributed them to all, as any had need" (Acts 2:44-5).
Teach us to be faithful to the "teaching of the Apostles", in a life centered on "communion" (koinonia), "the breaking of the bread" and "prayer" (cf. Acts 2:42).
Lead us to serve you in the widows and orphans, prisoners, and the sick and needy of every kind for these service expresses who we are
We are your family. No one in our family should go without the necessities of life, no member should suffer through being in need.
We thank you for always giving us an opportunity to do good to all especially to those who are of the household of faith.
May our leaders lead us in the just ordering of society. We pray that states will guarantee religious freedom and harmony between the followers of different religions. May states recognize and respect the proper independence of the Church based on faith as a community.
Purify our reason, free it from ethical blindness caused by effects of power and special interests. Purify and liberate our reason through our Faith where we encounter You and we see new horizons that extends beyond the sphere of reason.
Help us spread the Church's social teaching using reason and natural law, to help form consciences in political life and to give us greater insight into the authentic requirements of justice as well as greater readiness to act accordingly, even when this might involve conflict with situations of personal interest.
May we Christians speak with a united voice to ask for the "respect for the rights and needs of everyone, especially the poor, the lowly and the defenceless.
May we respond to immediate needs of our brothers and sisters, to feed the hungry, cloth the naked, care for and healing the sick, visit those in prison, make our faith active through love (cf. Gal 5:6). To make present here and now the love which man always needs. May we make people aware of Your presence By having a pure and generous love as Your witness
Guide us by the faith which works through love (cf. Gal 5:6) so that it is"the love of Christ urges us on" (5:14).
Lord, you have given Yourself for us, even unto death, inspire us to live no longer for ourselves but for You, and, with You, for others. Let us share in the needs and sufferings of others, for this is my sharing of my very self with them: my personal presence in our gift.
May we not consider ourself as superior to the one served, rather, we are able to serve because You have graciously enabled us to do so.
Give us Hope to do good even in the face of apparent failure. Make us humble to accept Your mystery and to trust You even at times of darkness. You have given Jesus for our sake. You hold the world in Your hands and, in spite of all darkness, You will ultimately triumph in glory.
Through our Faith make us see your love which you revealed in the pierced heart of your Son, Jesus on the Cross. Let Your light illuminate our world and give us the courage to keep us living and working. We thank you for creating us in your image and letting us experience this intimate union. We ask you to pervade our souls and make us fountains where rivers of living water flow" (Jn 7:38).
-- my heart rejoices in the Lord!
Lk 4:1-13
