Liturgy

Community Liturgy

While unable to celebrate the Easter season in weekend liturgies, prayer and reflection resources may be found at the following links.

For the Season of Easter, the team at Emmaus Productions has provided access to a number of audio-visual resources for prayer and well-being. There are short reflections for adults as well as a range of video reflections for Primary children. Click here for link.

CENTRE FOR LITURGY

http://liturgy.perthcatholic.org.au/

Blessing for Mothers

Mother God,

You are the great Creator.

You gave birth to the world and through love brought all things into being.

You are our mother who feeds us;

Our mother who comforts and consoles us;

Our mother who defends us;

Our mother who calms and cares for us.

Before you formed us in our mother’s womb, you chose us.

Before we were born you set us apart.

You have carved us in the palm of your hand.

Bless all women who bring life into the world.

Bless all women who cannot give birth.

Bless all women expecting the birth of their child.

Bless all women who mourn their unborn child.

Bless all women who love and care for their children.

Bless all women who share their love and care with others.

Bless all women who tend the needs of their families.

Bless all women who tend the needs of the world.

Bless all women supported by a partner.

Bless all women who parent alone.

Bless all women of integrity.

Bless all women who struggle with who they are.

Bless our mothers and our grandmothers.

Bless our teachers and our carers.

Bless the dads who also mother.

Bless the mums we never knew.

God, our Mother and our Father,

Look with favour on all those we call ‘mother’.

Bless them and keep them as they bless and keep us.

Amen.

GOOD NEWS for the season of Easter

“Jesus said to his disciples:

‘Do not let your hearts be troubled.

Trust in God still, and trust in me.

There are many rooms in my Father’s house;

if there were not, I should have told you.

I am now going to prepare a place for you,

and after I have gone and prepared you a place,

I shall return to take you with me;

so that where I am

you may be too…

I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.

No one can come to the Father except through me.’”

John 14:1-6

The reflection for this Sunday’s Gospel is by Jesuit priest, Fr Richard Leonard. Fr Richard Leonard SJ is the Director of the Australian Catholic Office for Film and Broadcasting, is a member of the Australian Catholic Media Council and is author of Preaching to the Converted, Paulist Press, New York, 2006.

For many people ‘going home’, means a return to comfort and security.

In the best homes children are unafraid, they know that their home is a buffer against some harsh realities beyond the door. As adults we carry that desire for security into all the various homes in which we live.

When we reflect on our childhood homes many of us can say of it what Jesus says of himself. It was the first place almost all of us learnt about ‘The Way’. The earliest Christians were called people of The Way. It's a rich image denoting that Christianity is not an idea, it's a way of living, a path to follow.

For better or worse one of the distinctive features of most of our homes is that it's also where we are told ‘The Truth’. Sometimes that deflates our egos or means we hear things we would rather not listen to. But hopefully the comfort and love which accompanies this truth telling comes from the ease and care in the relationships at home. Our family doesn’t pull any punches with the truth because they know us too well and love us too much.

Most adults also remember their childhood houses as lively. ‘The Life’ in our homes was about the buzz of children going to and from school, various friends calling in, the reign of organised chaos where space was claimed and a position defended. Minor dramas were never far away and life was lived to the full.

It's not by accident that the image of Jesus preparing us a house and being the Way, the Truth and the Life are put together in today's Gospel. In another part of John's gospel Jesus goes further in describing himself as our master builder, as our home and even our lodger. We are told to make a home in him as he makes a home in us. What a terrific image of the intimacy Christ wants to share with us, and we with him!

The best homes, however, do not just protect and keep their occupants safe for eternity. A home is a means to an end, which is to give us the stability and sanity we need to keep going out to the world beyond it. In the same way, our home of faith with Jesus enables us to keep going out to a sometimes hostile world and share with others the Way, the Truth and the Life that sustains us. In a world where 70% of all people have substandard housing and millions of displaced people have to create homes wherever they are, we have our work cut out for us.

The Way we follow is about justice, development and peace for all people everywhere and not just the select few who can build the biggest mansions on earth. We are invited to keep speaking the Truth even if that makes us unpopular or different or at odds with the majority. And we have to keep living the Life which sees that our greatest joy comes from human dignity being celebrated everywhere.

If all Christians lived out this Way, Truth and Life we would, by God’s grace, fulfil Jesus’ extraordinary prophecy that we could do greater works than He did. Now that’s a challenge to take with us into the coming week!