*** *** *** *** *** ***

 

 

EUCHARISTIC ADORATION

THROUGH THE LITURGICAL YEAR

Third Sunday of Lent, Year C

March 23, 2025

“JESUS SAVIOR: He Is God’s One More Chance”

 

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

(A moment of silence)

 

SONG: A Lenten song, a Eucharistic hymn or another appropriate song may be sung.

 

WORDS OF POPE PAUL VI

We cannot tear ourselves away from the dominant thought in the Church during this period of preparation for Easter. It is the thought of penitence, which contrasts with our habits and our mentality. Can a Christian evade the law of penance? Do not the need, the duty, of penance arise from the intrinsic necessities of our being as fallen human beings? (…) Metanoia means conversion, repentance, inner change. It means a change of outlook. And it is the latter that is most important to change: one’s thought, ideas, way of judging oneself; to change one’s conscience from false to true. In this liturgical period when the exhortation to metanoia, this inner penance, this reordering of our mentality and morality, becomes pressing, we must ask ourselves with courageous sincerity, what must we correct in our secret, intimate, personal life?

 

SILENT ADORATION

OPENING PRAYER

Leader: God of all compassion, Father of all goodness,

to heal the wounds our sins and selfishness bring upon us

you bid us turn to fasting, prayer, and sharing with our brothers and sisters.

We acknowledge our sinfulness,

our guilt is ever before us;

when our weakness causes discouragement,

let your compassion fill us with hope

and lead us through a Lent of repentance to the beauty of Easter joy.

Grant this through Christ our Lord.

Assembly: Amen.

 

Part I

JESUS MASTER TRUTH

Listening to the Word

 

FIRST READING: Ex 3:1-8a, 13-15

RESPONSORIAL PSALM

SECOND READING: I Cor 10:1-6, 1-12

GOSPEL READING: Lk 13:1-9

POINTS FOR REFLECTION

            Today’s Gospel reading underlines the Christian call to metanoia, which means conversion, repentance, and inner change. Jesus calls for conversion. Unless we repent and respond positively to the Gospel, we will be alienated from God. Those who persist in their sinful refusal to repent will suffer destruction. In the context of the Father’s saving plan, Jesus is God’s “one more chance” - the ultimate chance. Jesus is the final opportunity, the culmination of God’s long history of opportunities. He is the means of reconciliation with our Father in heaven. The Christian community is urgently challenged to respond positively to this loving offer of salvation. As privileged recipients of God’s magnanimous love we need to embrace the ultimate chance in the person of our Savior Jesus Christ. He is the true and faithful gardener of God’s vineyard. 

 

SONG: A Eucharistic hymn, a Lenten song, or another appropriate one may be sung.

 

Part II

JESUS MASTER WAY

Confrontation with the Word

 

POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART

What is our response to Christ’ call to conversion and apostolic fruitfulness? How do we react to the local and universal disasters that impinge upon our senses day after day through the mass media? What personal lesson do we derive from the parable of the barren fig tree? 

 

PRAYING WITH THE WORD

Father of mercy and goodness,

you reveal to us your patient mercy

by offering us the ultimate chance,

Jesus Christ, your beloved Son.

He suffered for us

and irrigated our barren hearts

with the blood of his sacrifice

that we may bring forth a rich harvest.

Do not let us suffer the fate of the unfruitful fig trees,

destined for ultimate destruction.

In our Lenten journey to the Easter glory,

help us to be responsive

to the “amazing grace” won for us by Jesus,

the compassionate gardener of our souls.

He lives and reigns, forever and ever.

            Amen.

 

SONG: A Eucharistic hymn, or a Lenten song, or another appropriate one may be sung.

 

 

Part III

JESUS LIFE

Acting upon the Word

 

 

PERSONAL PRAYER

 

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

 

THE WAY OF SOLIDARITY: PRAYER OF INTERCESSION

Leader: We should pray at all times, but especially during this season of Lent. We should faithfully keep watch with Christ and say to our Father:

(R.) LORD, HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

1. For the Pope’s Intention for this month of March – for families in crisis. Let us pray that broken families might discover the cure for their wounds through forgiveness, rediscovering each other’s gifts, even their differences. We pray: (R.)

2. For the complete healing and good health of Pope Francis and that God may cover him with his protection and fill him with light and consolation, we pray: (R.)

3. That respect for nature may grow with the awareness that all creation is God’s work entrusted to human responsibility. We pray: (R.) 

4. That bishops, priests and deacons may be tireless messengers of the Gospel to the ends of the earth and that there may be an increase in priestly and religious vocations who will give witness to the Christian faith radically. We pray: (R.)

5. That in this Lenten season, the Christian disciples may dedicate themselves to fasting, prayer and almsgiving and that Church leaders may wisely guide them through the challenges of the modern world. We pray: (R.)

6. That the erring may turn from their sinful ways and that the Lord may grant us the gift of repentance and sincere conversion from sin. We also invoke God’s loving compassion upon all prisoners, especially those who have received the death penalty and those falsely condemned, and for the grace needed by those who minister to their care.  We pray: (R.)

7. That the sick may be comforted by the healing hand of God; that those burdened by deep material and financial needs may experience the help of divine providence; that the victims of various addictions may find total liberation; that families suffering from discord and broken relationships may rejoice in the gift of peace and reconciliation; and that the despairing may be strengthened by the vision of our Easter destiny. We pray: (R.)

(Other prayers may be added.)

 

THE LORD’S PRAYER

 

CONCLUDING PRAYER

Leader: Lord,

bless your people who hope for your mercy.

Grant that they may receive

the things they ask for at your prompting.

Grant this through Christ our Lord..

Assembly: Amen.

 

FINAL SONG: A Eucharistic hymn, or a Lenten song, or another appropriate song may be sung.

 

 

 

 

 

*** *** *** *** *** ***

 

 

 

EUCHARISTIC ADORATION

THROUGH THE LITURGICAL YEAR

Fourth Sunday of Lent, Year C

March 30, 2025

“JESUS SAVIOR: He Makes Possible Our Homecoming”

 

 

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

(A moment of silence)

 

SONG: A Lenten song, a Eucharistic hymn or another appropriate song may be sung.

 

WORDS OF POPE JOHN PAUL II

The parable of the prodigal son expresses in a simple but profound way the reality of conversion. Conversion is the most concrete expression of the working of love and of the presence of mercy in the human world. The true and proper meaning of mercy does not consist only in looking, however penetratingly and compassionately, at moral, physical, or material evil. Mercy is manifested in its true and proper aspect when it restores to value, promotes, and draws good from all the former evil existing in the world and in humanity.

Understood in this way, mercy constitutes the fundamental content of the messianic message of Christ and the constitutive power of his mission. His disciples and followers understood and practiced mercy in the same way. Mercy never ceased to reveal itself, in their hearts and in their actions, as an especially creative proof of the love which does not allow itself to be conquered by evil, but overcomes evil with good. The genuine face of mercy has to be ever revealed anew. In spite of many prejudices, mercy seems particularly necessary for our times.

 

SILENT ADORATION

OPENING PRAYER

Leader: God our Father,

your Word Jesus Christ, spoke peace to a sinful world

and brought mankind the gift of reconciliation

by the suffering and death he endured.

Teach us, the people who bear his name,

to follow the example he gave us.

May our faith, hope and charity

turn hatred to love, conflict to peace, death to eternal life.

We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Assembly: Amen.

 

Part I

JESUS MASTER TRUTH

Listening to the Word

 

FIRST READING: Jos 5:9a, 10-12

RESPONSORIAL PSALM

SECOND READING: I Cor 5:17-21

GOSPEL READING: Lk 15:1-3, 11-32

POINTS FOR REFLECTION

The parable of the Father’s prodigal love finds its completion in Jesus Christ, God’s beloved Son who, in taking on human nature, became totally identified with the pathetic experience of the wayward son and of every sinner. In his paschal offering on the cross, Jesus would experience the total and excruciating pain of alienation caused by humanity’s sin. By his passion and death, the Servant of Yahweh and Son of God carried the burden of sin as a means of expiation and redemption. When he breathed forth his last on the cross, crying out in a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit” (Lk 23:46), Jesus radically experienced the “homecoming”. In that unique saving event, Jesus Christ, the beloved Servant-Son, made possible the “homecoming” of the lost children of God and their reconciliation with the compassionate Father, who had been so prodigious with his saving plan. 

 

SONG: A Eucharistic hymn, a Lenten song, or another appropriate one may be sung.

 

 

Part II

JESUS MASTER WAY

Confrontation with the Word

 

POINTS FOR THE EXAMINATION OF THE HEART

In what way am I the lost wasteful son? In what way am I the lost, elder brother? In what way am I the compassionate Father, prodigal in love?

 

PRAYING WITH THE WORD

Leader: Father, you are full of mercy and compassion. Forgive us for having chosen our own way, independent from you. Forgive us for having wasted the spiritual riches and gifts you have bestowed on us. We wanted to build our lives outside of your loving plan. We were eager to taste the thrill of death-dealing adventures and relish the recklessness of false freedom. We also drank the dregs of sinful pleasure and indulged in selfish satisfactions. Now that we are done, we feel degraded, isolated, and empty. Please help us for we are broken and our life is shattered. Father, we have sinned against heaven and against you. We no longer deserve to be called your children. By the loving passion of our brother Jesus and his sacrificial death on the cross, we return to you, laden with tears of repentance.

Assembly: The compassionate Father says, “We must celebrate and rejoice, because the dead has come to life again; the lost has been found.”

 

Leader: Father, your merciful love is abounding. Forgive us for being self-righteous. Our brutal sense of justice and unwarranted indignation made us resent your kindly embrace for those in need. Forgive us for treating harshly our brothers and sisters who have erred, but are humbly seeking to return to your loving embrace. Father, our pride has alienated us from you. We are “lost” and are in need of healing. In the name of our brother Jesus, your beloved Son-Servant, we turn to you with filial love and tears of repentance. Gracious Father, your joy is our joy. Everything you have is ours to share with those in need.

Assembly: The compassionate Father says, “We must celebrate and rejoice, because the dead has come to life again; the lost has been found.” 

 

SONG: A Eucharistic hymn, or a Lenten song, or another appropriate one may be sung.

 

Part III

JESUS LIFE

Acting upon the Word

 

PERSONAL PRAYER

CONTEMPLATING WITH MARY THE FACE OF CHRIST: The Rosary’s Sorrowful Mysteries may be prayed in part or in full.

 

THE WAY OF SOLIDARITY: PRAYER OF INTERCESSION

Leader: We should pray at all times, but especially during this season of Lent. We should faithfully keep watch with Christ and say to our Father:

(R.) LORD, HEAR OUR PRAYER.

 

1. For the Pope’s Intention for this month of March – for families in crisis. Let us pray that broken families might discover the cure for their wounds through forgiveness, rediscovering each other’s gifts, even their differences. We pray: (R.)

2. For the complete healing and good health of Pope Francis and that God may cover him with his protection and fill him with light and consolation, we pray: (R.)

3. That there may be an increase in priestly and religious vocations who will give witness to the Christian faith radically. We pray: (R.)

4. That in this Lenten season, the Christian disciples may dedicate themselves to fasting, prayer and almsgiving and that they may efficaciously respond to the challenges of the modern world. We pray: (R.)

5. That, in union with Christ, we may be instruments of conversion and make possible the “homecoming” of the lost and the erring. We pray: (R.)

6. That the sick may be strengthened in body and soul and that those who care for them may be filled with unfailing mercy and compassion; that the victims of addiction may be liberated and that those who minister to them may be instruments of their freedom and integration; that those who are anxious for their basic necessities may experience the marvels of divine providence; and that families experiencing discord and broken relationships may be consoled by the healing power of God and his forgiving love. We pray: (R.)

(Other prayers may be added.)

 

THE LORD’S PRAYER

CONCLUDING PRAYER

Leader: Father,

look with love upon your people,

the love which our Lord Jesus Christ showed us

when he delivered himself to evil men

and suffered the agony of the cross,

for he is Lord forever.

Assembly: Amen.

 

FINAL SONG: A Eucharistic hymn, or a Lenten song, or another appropriate song may be sung.

 

 

 

*** *** ***

 

Prepared by Sr. Mary Margaret Tapang, PDDM

 

 

PIAE DISCIPULAE DIVINI MAGISTRI

SISTER DISCIPLES OF THE DIVINE MASTER

3700 North Cornelia Avenue, Fresno, CA 93722 (USA)

Tel (559) 275-1656