LOVE IN 3D
INTRODUCTORY RITES
Gather as a family/ community; create an environment appropriate for prayer (dress appropriately - switch off your phones...).
We are conscious that Christ is present not only in the Blessed Sacrament but also in the Scriptures and in our hearts. Even when we are on our own, we remain part of the Body of Christ.
Place lighted candles, a crucifix, and the Bible on a covered table. These remind us of the sacredness of our time of prayer and could help us feel connected with our local worshipping communities.
You may sing or play an appropriate hymn. For instance:
The Sign of the Cross
Greeting and Introductory Words
L: The Lord invites us to the table of his Word: let us bless him for his goodness.
A: Blessed be God forever.
L: Lewis L. Austin, in This I Believe, wrote: “Our maker gave us two hands: one to hold onto him and one to reach out to his people. If our hands are full of struggling to get possessions, we can’t hang onto God or to others very well. If, however, we hold onto God, who gave us our lives, then his love can flow through us and out to our neighbour.”
This is the challenge that this Sunday Liturgy puts before us: to love God totally and to love our neighbour… as ourselves. We pray that we may love in all three dimensions!
Penitential Rite
L: For the times we have failed to love God, others, and ourselves, we ask the Lord to forgive us.
Pause
L: Lord Jesus, your love was attentive to all people: Lord, have mercy.
A: Lord, have mercy.
L: Lord Jesus, your love embraced even sinners and outcasts: Christ, have mercy.
A: Christ, have mercy.
L: Lord Jesus, your love went all the way to the cross: Lord, have mercy.
A: Lord, have mercy.
L: May almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins, and bring us to everlasting life.
A: Amen.
Gloria
Opening Prayer
L: Your love, O God, is boundless.
We, who were strangers,
have been made your children.
Keep us mindful of your deeds of mercy,
that we may love you with our whole heart
and love our neighbour as ourselves.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God for ever and ever.
A: Amen.
THE LITURGY OF THE WORD
Readings
The readings are those assigned for the day in the Lectionary.
Preferably use a Bible/ Lectionary for reading.
Reading 1 Exodus 22:20-26
Psalm Psalm 18:2-3, 3-4, 47, 51
Response I love you, Lord, my strength.
Reading 2 1 Thessalonians 1:5-10
Acclamation
Alleluia, alleluia.
Whoever loves me will keep my word, says the Lord,
and my Father will love him and we will come to him.
Gospel Matthew 22:34-40
Reflection on the Readings
Use one of the following ways to reflect on the readings.
Lectio Divina
Imagine you are present when the scribe questions Jesus about the greatest commandment. What are your thoughts and feelings when you hear Jesus’ response?
Sunday Snippets
At the entrance to the harbour at the Isle of Man there are two lights. One would think that two signals would confuse the pilot. No! The pilot must keep both in line for the ship to safely enter the channel.
It is the same with life. We need to keep the three dimensions of love—love of God, love of others, and love of self—in line; then we remain safe in the channel of life.
The Sunday readings challenge us to learn and practise these three dimensions of the “greatest commandment”.
In response to the scribe’s question—which commandment is the first of all?—Jesus gathers up the scripture of Israel in one statement.
In the first part, he quotes the creed of Judaism, the Shema, which every Jew knew by heart and no pious Jew could disagree with this part of Jesus’ summary. Alongside this creed, Jesus places a text from Leviticus 19:18. “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.”
For Jesus, it is a combination of these texts that makes for the summary and essence of the law. Religion is loving God and loving people as one loves oneself.
Most of our reflection, reading, and preaching focus on the first two dimensions: love of God and love of others. Rarely do we think about love of self. In fact, from an early age, the overriding message we pick up is “self-love” is bad/selfish and we ought to focus on others. But the Lord is clear: Love your neighbour as yourself.
How can I love myself? In the same way that I love others! I respect myself. I talk positively to and about myself. I look after myself and my needs—physical, emotional, spiritual, intellectual. I am patient with myself.
How shall I love my God with my whole being? How shall I love my neighbour? How will I love myself?
May the Lord strengthen us to love in 3D: God, neighbour and self.
Questions to Ponder
Reflect on some (or all) of the following questions:
Reading 1: The Lord reminds the Israelites that fidelity to the covenant demands love of the poor and the needy. How do I reach out to those in need? What can I do to be a bearer of God’s compassion toward all those suffering?
Reading 2: “You became a model for all the believers.” Is my life a model/ an example for those around me?
Gospel: What in this passage challenged me? How can I love God, love my neighbour, and love myself? Which of these is the toughest?
The Creed
Prayer of the Faithful
L: Love can hardly be commanded, yet it ought to be the heart of all we do. Let us ask the Father of all love for the capacity to love him, our neighbour, and ourselves wholeheartedly, as we pray: Lord, hear our prayer.
R: That the Church may never cease to proclaim by its teaching, life, and liturgy that love of God and neighbour is the heart of the gospel and that people are God’s gift to us, we pray…
R: That the nations of the world may learn to respect and help one another, and to build peace and progress not at the expense of one another but on the basis of justice and sharing, we pray…
R: That God may touch the hearts and change the minds of all who are leading violence and warfare, and give them the courage to enter dialogue and establish ceasefires, we pray…
R: That people may not lose their hearts in today’s economic systems of profit, efficiency, and competition, but may give first place to human relationships, we pray…
R: That God may heal and restore those suffering and help those who are assisting them to be instruments of his healing love, we pray…
R: That we may have room in our hearts and homes for refugees and strangers, that we may learn to share our goods and ourselves with the little people loved by God – the poor and the lonely and those who suffer, we pray…
L: Loving God, we claim to belong to you and to your Son. Help us through your Spirit of love to give your love a human shape, that we may make people happy and be your happy people in Jesus, who is Lord for ever and ever.
A: Amen.
SPIRITUAL COMMUNION
The Lord’s Prayer
Spiritual Communion
A: Jesus, I know and believe in your real presence in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist. It is you I desire to love and receive above all things. As I am unable to receive your sacramental presence now, come and be with me in heart and soul. Let my entire self be united with you as I welcome you again and know your loving embrace. Amen.
Post Spiritual Communion Reflection
Watch
Danny Gokey who urges us to keep things simple; it all comes down to this:
or Pray
Lord,
you ask us to imitate your love for us,
and means more than being kind to our friends and relatives,
or to the person who lives next door.
You ask us to expand our neighbourhood,
to look at each person who crosses our path,
as under your protection, who are Father to us all.
You ask us to do right by a widow or orphan,
to see that the hungry are fed and the homeless sheltered,
that the young are educated and the old are cared for.
Lord,
loving you and loving our neighbour
constitute one and the same act of faith.
That is what Jesus was inviting the Pharisees to do.
And that is what he invites us to do as well.
CONCLUDING RITE
Concluding Prayer
L: God our Father,
you have satisfied our hunger for love
by giving us your Son Jesus Christ.
Following his example,
let us send no one away empty,
exclude no one, classify no one,
build no walls around ourselves or others.
Through Christ our Lord.
A: Amen.
Blessing
L: The Lord bless us, protect us from all evil, and lead us to everlasting life.
A: Amen.
L: Go in the peace of Christ.
A: Thanks be to God.
Conclude with a hymn. For instance:
