A LITTLE SLICE OF HEAVEN ON EARTH
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: At first, the word Lent meant ‘the season of spring.’ But it has now become much more than that. It is a time to look inside ourselves and see if there is anything in us that needs to be changed. Let us now ask the Lord to cleanse us of our selfishness and sin that we may be his true and holy temples.
Penitential Rite
L: For the times, we have not been true and holy temples, we ask the Lord to pardon us.
Pause
L: Lord Jesus, zeal for your Father’s house consumes you:
Lord, have mercy.
A: Lord, have mercy.
L: Lord Jesus, your body is the true temple of God:
Christ, have mercy.
A: Christ, have mercy.
L: Lord Jesus, you make us temples of the Father:
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.
Opening Prayer
L: God our Father,
we often turn our hearts
into houses of pride and greed
rather than into homes of love and goodness
where you can feel at home.
Drive away all sin from our hearts,
and make us living stones of a community.
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 20:1-17
Psalm Psalm 19:8, 9, 10, 11
Response Lord, you have the words of everlasting life.
Reading 2 1 Corinthians 1:22-25
Acclamation
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ, King of endless glory.
God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,
so that everyone who believes in him might have eternal life.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ, King of endless glory.
Gospel John 2:13-25
Reflection on the Readings
Use one of the following ways to reflect on the readings.
Lectio Divina
Imagine you are in the temple of Jerusalem when Jesus enters. What are your thoughts and feelings: when he drives out the animal sellers and money-changers? when he speaks about raising the temple in three days?
Sunday Snippets
In Culture Shift, Wayne Cordeiro tells of a parishioner who worked six days a week, and volunteered to be a receptionist at church her one day off.
He asked her: “Why do you come here and do this?” She replied: “Being here is like a breath of fresh air.”
He asked: “Don’t you want to take a day off?” She said: “This is a day off. This is a little slice of heaven on earth.”
Cordeiro reflects: “She feels valued. This is the kind of love we want to show… which comes from learning to recognize evidence of God’s presence.”
The Ten Commandments were meant to put God’s people into a covenantal relationship with him and into a right relationship with one another… so that they became a sign of God’s presence and all experienced a “little slice of heaven on earth”.
Gradually, these became 613 dos and don’ts which focused on externals and became a burden!
The Jerusalem temple was meant to be a sign of God’s presence, another “little slice of heaven”.
At Jesus’ time, it had become “a marketplace”: moneychangers and animal sellers extorted pilgrims in the name of religion. Further, the “marketplace” was in the Court of the Gentiles, the only place where a Gentile could pray; but the noise from the animals and people precluded any prayer.
In cleansing the temple, Jesus wished to restore it as a sign of God’s presence. In his confrontation with the Jews, he indicated another sign (and reality) of God’s presence: his body!
We are God’s people and the Body of Christ.
Am I a sign of God’s presence? Do people experience a “little slice of heaven on earth” and “a breath of fresh air” around me?
What do I need to cleanse in myself to become a true “temple”?
Questions to Ponder
Reflect on some (or all) of the following questions:
Reading 1: Why have the Ten Commandments survived from the time of Moses? Is there more in each one than we ordinarily see? For instance, could respect for life be extrapolated from “Thou shalt not kill”? Try some others.
Reading 2: To what do the “foolishness” and “weakness” of God refer? The Jews had a problem accepting Christ crucified. What about me: do I accept the crucified Christ? What about the crosses in my life: are they “stumbling blocks” or stepping stones for me?
Gospel: How do temporal concerns distract me from the things of God? How important is my relationship with God in my daily life? How do I prioritize prayer, worship, and acts of charity?
The Creed
Prayer of the Faithful
L: Gathered in God's house, let us offer our prayers to God who embraces us with steadfast love, and pray: Lord, hear our prayer.
R: For the Church: that we may grow in our awareness of our dignity as temples of the Holy Spirit, we pray…
R: For our human family: that God may heal the brokenness in our society that devalues human life and inspire leaders to work towards protecting the vulnerable from harm, we pray…
R: For all who are recovering from disasters: that God may give them strength, help them navigate the process for securing the assistance that they need, and give them hope, we pray…
R: For all who are suffering: that God may relieve their pain, restore their health, and protect the human family, we pray…
R: For our common home: that through God’s grace we may hear its cry of the damage done and be moved to protect it for future generations to enjoy, we pray…
R: For ourselves: that God may free us from all that enslaves us and help us to offer our self-sacrificing service to God and others, we pray…
L: Lord, incline our hearts to keep your commandments and hear the prayers we offer this day. May we open ourselves to the gift of your Spirit and become living temples of your love. We ask this through Christ our Lord.
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
Lord, you told the animal sellers:
“Take these out of here!”
Lord,
for what shall we make room
in your Father’s house?
More room
for love of God and our neighbour?
to help alleviate the world’s suffering?
to eradicate injustice, oppression, trafficking?
to care for the earth, its resources, and all of creation?
Lord, carve your rules
in our stony hearts,
rules to guide us:
love God, and love our neighbour:
cure the sick, feed the hungry
free the imprisoned, heal the planet.
Lord, show us how.
Let all of us, brothers and sisters,
come together in the temple of your body
and learn how to care for each other.
CONCLUDING RITE
Concluding Prayer
L: God, our faithful Father
let your Son be alive in us,
so that our family/ community may be
the temple in which he lives
and that gathers us together
as his brothers and sisters.
Keep us from all formalism,
that we may worship you with our lives.
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:
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