EUCHARISTIC ADORATION

THROUGH THE LITURGICAL YEAR (# 40)

A Weekly Pastoral Tool for the YEAR OF THE EUCHARIST

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

August 28 – September 3, 2005

 

“Take Up Your Cross and Follow Me”

 

 

(+) In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

(A moment of silence)

 

 

SONG: Any suitable Eucharistic hymn or any appropriate song may be sung.

 

 

WORDS OF CHIARA LUBICH

 

The cross is the necessary instrument whereby the divine penetrates into what is human, and humanity participates more fully in God’s life, entering into the kingdom of heaven already here on this earth. But we really have to take up our cross. We must get up in the morning expecting it, and knowing that only by means of it can we receive those gifts, which this world does not have – peace and joy, knowledge of the things of heaven, which are unknown to most people. The cross is such a common thing. It never fails to come day by day. Taking this cross as it comes would be enough to make us saints. The cross is the emblem of the Christian. The world does not want it because it believes that it will avoid suffering by fleeing from the cross. People do not know that the cross opens wide the soul of the person who has understood it to the kingdom of light and love, to the love which this world is always seeking, but does not possess.

 

 

SILENT ADORATION

 

 

OPENING PRAYER

Leader: God our Father,

in obedience to you

your only Son accepted death on the cross

for the salvation of mankind.

We acknowledge the mystery of the cross on earth.

May we receive the gift of redemption in heaven.

We ask this through Christ our Lord.

 

Assembly: Amen.

 

Part I

JESUS MASTER TRUTH

Listening to the Word

 

 

GOSPEL READING: Mt 16:21-27

 

 

PERSONAL REFLECTION

(As a tool for personal reflection, please visit the PDDM Website: www.pddm.org // www.pddm.us for BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD [# 40]: A Lectio Divina Approach to the Sunday Liturgy. The Biblico-Liturgical Reflections are an aid for a deeper understanding of the Gospel reading.)

 

SONG: Any Eucharistic hymn or suitable song of praise may be sung.

 

 

 

 

Part II

JESUS MASTER WAY

Confrontation with the Word

 

 

POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART

 

Leader: We open our hearts to listen to the promptings of the living Word. Let us ask ourselves with limpid honesty:

 

 

1.      What is our reaction to Jesus’ pronouncement concerning his paschal destiny on the cross?

 

 

2.      Are we willing to receive Christ’s message of his passion and death as an inherent element of the Gospel proclamation? Do we believe in faith that the paschal destiny of Christ and our own participation in it are part of God’s magnificent saving plan?

 

 

3.      How do we actualize in our daily lives the discipleship of the cross? How do we translate into concrete reality the Christian challenge: “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me” (Mt 16:24)?

 

 

PRAYER

(From “Suffering Jesus”, a prayer composed by Francois Fenelon)

 

Leader: O crucified Jesus,

in giving me your cross,

give me too your spirit of love and self-abandonment.

Grant that I may think less of my suffering

than of the happiness of suffering with you.

What do I suffer that you have not suffered?

Or rather what do I suffer at all,

if I dare to compare myself with you?

 

Assembly: O Lord, grant that I may love you

and then I shall no longer fear the cross.

 

 

SONG: Any suitable song may be sung.

 

 

 

Part III

JESUS LIFE

Acting upon the Word

 

 

PERSONAL PRAYER

 

CONTEMPLATING WITH MARY THE FACE OF CHRIST: The Mysteries of Light of the Rosary may be prayed in part or in full.

 

 

THE WAY OF SOLIDARITY: PRAYER OF INTERCESSION

 

Leader: Let us pray to God who cares for all, and with earnest humility say:

(R.) LORD, HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

1.       For Benedict, our Pope and all pastors of the Church, that they may show us how to carry the saving cross through the roads of the world and the alleys of poverty and misery.  (R.)

2.      For the victims of violence and senseless wrath, especially for the peace-loving Brother Roger, the founder of the Taize ecumenical community, that the passion of Christ which had been replicated in their lives bring them to the fullness of life. (R.)

3.      For those who have participated in World Youth Day 2005 in Cologne, Germany, that having experienced the goodness of the Lord, they may become true adorers and missionaries of Christ.  (R.)

4.      For all of us, that we may truly know and experience the meaning of the discipleship of the cross in our daily lives.  (R.)

 

(Other prayers may be added.)

 

 

THE LORD’S PRAYER

 

 

CONCLUDING PRAYER

(From “Facing Pain”, a prayer composed by William Temple)

 

Leader: Father, the world is full of pain; each of us has a share; for some it is a slight burden, for others it is crushing. But every Christian can turn it into a blessing if he will seek the companionship of Christ in his sufferings; then the pain becomes a new point of fellowship with Christ; and even our suffering becomes a part of the price of the world’s redemption as we fill up what is left over of the suffering of Christ. Pain does not then cease to be pain; but it ceases to be barren pain; and with fellowship with Christ upon the cross we find new strength for bearing it and even making it the means by which our hearts are more fully cleansed of selfishness and grow towards perfect love. Accomplish this in us through Christ our Lord.

 

Assembly: Amen.

 

 

FINAL SONG: Any suitable Eucharistic hymn or song of praise may be sung.

 

Prepared by Sr. Mary Margaret Tapang  PDDM

 

 

PIAE DISCIPULAE DIVINI MAGISTRI

SISTER DISCIPLES OF THE DIVINE MASTER

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