Gathering Song: One of the following or some other appropriate song is sung.

All Creatures of Our God and King, BB, GC, GP2, W, W3,
Amor Es Vida, FC
God Has Smiled On Me, LM
How Great Thou Art, BB, GC, GP2, LM,
Let All Things Now Living GC, W3
Love Divine, All Loves Excelling, BB, GC, GP2, W, W3
Saludo A María, FC
Ubi Caritas, BB, G2, GC, GP2,W, W3

Key:
BB=Breaking Bread (1998); FC=Flor y Cantos; G2=Gather (blue);
GC=Gather Comprehensive; GP2=Glory and Praise 2;
LM=Lead Me, Guide Me; W=Worship II; W3=Worship III

Leader:In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Assembly: Amen.

Greeting

Leader: Praise be to God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, in whom the glory, in both
earth and heaven, is manifested.
Assembly: Blessed be God forever.
Leader: We gather to praise God, who created our human family out of love. God is the source
of our life and our love.
Assembly: Blessed be God forever.
Leader: We gather to glorify Christ our Savior, for he is our salvation, our life and our
resurrection; through him we are saved and made free.
Assembly: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ.
Leader: We gather to exalt the Holy Spirit, who dwells within us and through whom the love of
God has been poured into our hearts; who gives us right judgment, comfort, and guidance.
Assembly: Spirit of God, fall afresh upon us.

Opening Prayer

Leader: Let us pray.

God of life,
you wash away our sins in water,
you give us new birth in the Spirit,
and by the blood of your Son, Jesus,
you restore us to our original dignity.
Increase our awareness of these blessings,
and renew your gift of life within us.1

We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord.
Assembly: Amen.

Psalm 146

(The assembly is seated and the following antiphon and psalm are prayed aloud
antiphonally, either alternating left and right sides or leader and assembly.)

Antiphon: All of my life, I will praise God.

Praise the Lord, O my soul;
I will praise the Lord all my life:
I will sing praise to my God while I live.

Put not your trust in princes,
in man, in whom there is no salvation.
When his spirit departs he returns to earth;
on that day his plans perish.

Happy he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord, his God,
Who made heaven and earth,
the sea and all that is in them;

Who keeps faith forever,
secures justice for the oppressed,
gives good to the hungry.

The Lord sets captives free;
the Lord gives sight to the blind.
The Lord raises up those that were bowed down;
the Lord loves the just.

The Lord protects strangers;
the fatherless and the widow he sustains,
but the way of the wicked he thwarts.

The Lord shall reign forever;
your God, O Zion, through all generations.
Alleluia.

Glory to the Father and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning
is now and shall be forever,
world without end.
Antiphon: All of my life, give praise to God.

(Pause for silent reflection and prayer.)

Canticle: (Ephesians 1:3-10)

Antiphon: God determined out of love to adopt us through Jesus Christ.

Praised be God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has bestowed on us in Christ
every spiritual blessing in the heavens.

God chose us in him
before the world began,
to be holy and blameless in his sight.

He predestined us
to be his adopted sons through Jesus Christ,
such was his will and pleasure,
that all might praise the glorious favor
he has bestowed on us in his beloved.

In him and through his blood,
we have been redeemed,
and ours sins forgiven,
so immeasurably generous
is God's favor to us.

A plan to be carried out in Christ,
in the fullness of time,
to bring all things into one in him,
in the heavens and on earth.

(No Glory be ...)

Antiphon: God determined out of love to adopt us through Jesus Christ.

(Pause for silent reflection and prayer.)

Reading

Lector: A reading taken from the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern
World, Gaudium et Spes, paragraph 27.

Whatever is opposed to life itself, such as any type of murder, genocide, abortion,
euthanasia or willful self-destruction, whatever violates the integrity of the human
person, such as mutilation, torments inflicted on body or mind, attempts to coerce the will
itself; whatever insults human dignity, such as subhuman living conditions, arbitrary
imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution, the selling of women and children; as
well as disgraceful working conditions, where people are treated as mere instruments of
gain rather than as free and responsible persons; all these things and others like them are
infamies indeed. They poison human society, and they do more harm to those who
practice them than to those who suffer from the injury. Moreover, they are a supreme
dishonor to the Creator.

(Pause for silent reflection and prayer.)

Response

Assembly: Jesus, Master, when we sin,
Turn on us thy healing face;
It will melt the offence within
Into penitential grace.

Beam on our bewildered mind
Till its dreamy shadows flee;
Stones cry out where thou hast shined,
Jesus, musical with thee.
- John Henry Newman (1801-1890)

Reading (1 Jn 5, 1-6)

Lector: A reading from the first letter of John.

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been begotten by God. Now everyone
who loves the father loves the child he has begotten. We can be sure that we love God's
children when we love God and do what he has commanded. The love of God consists in
this: that we keep his commandments—and his commandments are not burdensome.
Everyone begotten of God conquers the world, and the power that has conquered the
world is this faith of ours. Who, then, is conqueror of the world? The one who believes
that Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus Christ it is who came through water and blood–not in
water only, but in water and in blood. It is the Spirit who testifies to this, and the Spirit is
truth.

The word of the Lord.

Assembly: Thanks be to God.

(The leader or some other person, may share a few thoughts with the assembly.)

Intercessions

Leader: The sacredness and dignity of life is rooted in God, in whose image we are
created. To defend and promote life, to show reverence and love for life, is a task
entrusted to us all. Let us offer to God our prayers and petitions for this wondrous gift.

Leader: Lord God, you breathed life into your creation. We recognize the greatness of
your gift and pray that we may have the courage to protect life in all its stages, and
respond generously to those lives that are in need.

Assembly: Breath of Life, hear us.

Leader: Almighty God, the hearts of the powerful are in your hands; bestow your
wisdom upon our leaders, that they may govern wisely and justly, championing your gift
of life and dignity in all of human kind.

Assembly: Hope of the oppressed, hear us.

Leader: Loving God, as a mother gives life and nourishment to her children, so you care
for your people. Grant that we, your sons and daughters, may be a source of nourishment
for our children.

Assembly: God of our mothers and fathers, hear us.

Leader: Lord God, you are the source of all life. In your goodness, protect the unborn
and calm the fears of anxious parents. Watch over and guide them, that they may bring
their child into this world safely and in good health.

Assembly: O Fountain of life, hear us.

Leader: Lord God, your kindness is from of old, console those who mourn the loss of a
child, we place them in your care and ask for strength, for healing, and for love. Show
them your great mercy.

Assembly: God of compassion and mercy, hear us.

Leader: And so in confidence, we pray in the words Jesus gave us:

Our Father . . .

Dismissal

Leader: Let us pray.

God of life, your Word, spoken in love, created the human family and, in the fullness of
time, your Son, conceived in love, restored it to your friendship. Hear our prayers, and
may your Spirit be upon us, enabling us to bring the Word of Life to the lowly and to heal
the brokenhearted.

(If a priest or deacon presides, he dismisses the people.)

Leader: The Lord be with you.
Assembly: And also with you.

Leader: May God who gives you life, give you joy.
Assembly: Amen.

Leader: May the only Son of God have mercy on you and help you in good times and in
bad.
Assembly: Amen.

Leader: May the Holy Spirit fill your hearts with love.
Assembly: Amen.

Leader: May Almighty God bless you, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Assembly: Amen.

Leader: Let us go in the peace and love of the Lord.
Assembly: Thanks be to God.

(In the absence of a priest or deacon, the following is said.)

Leader: May the God of life fill you with every joy and blessing.
May the peace of Christ abound in your hearts.
May the Holy Spirit enrich you with his gifts, now and for ever.
Assembly: Amen.

(An appropriate closing song may be sung.)

Notes

1 Adapted from the "Opening Prayer," Second Sunday of Easter, The Sacramentary, New

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