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Our Sunday Supplication

Sunday, February 28, 2021

The Second Sunday of Lent

Holy Mass is at the very core of our worship as a Catholic community. Nothing can ever be substituted for the celebration of the Eucharist. But in this exceptional time of difficulty for our communities, our nation, and the whole world, this order of prayer can be offered by individuals and families and engages us in our Sunday celebration of the Word of God. We can pray this prayer in our homes—the “domestic churches” which help build up the Body of Christ on earth—and thus be connected to the entire Church at prayer.

During this time of prayer, we include the opportunity to make a Spiritual Communion. Making a Spiritual Communion is a worthy practice, recommended by innumerable saints throughout the ages, which unites our whole selves to God and his Church.

Order of Prayer

Taken from the Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours

Introduction

Leader: O God, ✠ come to my assistance.
Response: O Lord, make haste to help me.

Leader: Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:
Response: as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Hymn

Audio Recording

Transform us as you, transfigured,
Stood apart on Tabor’s height.
Lead us up our sacred mountains,
Search us with revealing light.
Lift us from where we have fallen,
Full of questions, filled with fright.

Transform us as you, transfigured,
Once spoke with those holy ones.
We, surrounded by the witness
Of those saints whose work is done,
Live in this world as your Body,
Chosen daughters, chosen sons.

Transform us as you, transfigured,
Would not stay within a shrine.
Keep us from our great temptation—
Time and truth we quickly bind.
Lead us down those daily pathways
Where our love is not confined.

Act of Contrition

Leader: Let us acknowledge our sins, and seek the Lord’s pardon and peace.

Together: I confess to almighty God
and to you, my brothers and sisters,
that I have greatly sinned,
in my thoughts and in my words,
in what I have done and in what I have failed to do,
through my fault, through my fault,
through my most grievous fault;
therefore I ask blessed Mary ever-Virgin,
all the Angels and Saints,
and you, my brothers and sisters,
to pray for me to the Lord our God.

Leader: O God, who have commanded us to listen to your beloved Son,
be pleased, we pray,
to nourish us inwardly by your word,
that, with spiritual sight made pure,
we may rejoice to behold your glory.
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.
Together: Amen.

The Sunday Readings

USCCB Audio Recording of Sunday Readings

A reading from the Book of Genesis (Genesis 22:1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18)

God put Abraham to the test. He called to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am!” he replied. Then God said: “Take your son Isaac, your only one, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah. There you shall offer him up as a holocaust on a height that I will point out to you.”

When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. Then he reached out and took the knife to slaughter his son. But the LORD’s messenger called to him from heaven, “Abraham, Abraham!” “Here I am!” he answered. “Do not lay your hand on the boy,” said the messenger. “Do not do the least thing to him. I know now how devoted you are to God, since you did not withhold from me your own beloved son.” As Abraham looked about, he spied a ram caught by its horns in the thicket. So he went and took the ram and offered it up as a holocaust in place of his son.

Again the LORD’s messenger called to Abraham from heaven and said: “I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that because you acted as you did in not withholding from me your beloved son, I will bless you abundantly and make your descendants as countless as the stars of the sky and the sands of the seashore; your descendants shall take possession of the gates of their enemies, and in your descendants all the nations of the earth shall find blessing—all this because you obeyed my command.”

The Word of the Lord.
―Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm (Psalm 116:10, 15, 16-17, 18-19)

Reader: I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living.
Together: I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living.

Reader: I believed, even when I said,
“I am greatly afflicted.”
Precious in the eyes of the LORD
is the death of his faithful ones.
Together: I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living.

Reader: O LORD, I am your servant;
I am your servant, the son of your handmaid;
you have loosed my bonds.
To you will I offer sacrifice of thanksgiving,
and I will call upon the name of the LORD.
Together: I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living.

Reader: My vows to the LORD I will pay
in the presence of all his people,
In the courts of the house of the LORD,
in your midst, O Jerusalem.
Together: I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living.

A Reading from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Romans (Romans 8:31b-34)

Brothers and sisters: If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but handed him over for us all, how will he not also give us everything else along with him?

Who will bring a charge against God’s chosen ones? It is God who acquits us, who will condemn? Christ Jesus it is who died—or, rather, was raised—who also is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us.

The word of the Lord.
―Thanks be to God.

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Mark (Mark 9:2-10)

Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no fuller on earth could bleach them. Then Elijah appeared to them along with Moses, and they were conversing with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus in reply, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here! Let us make three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” He hardly knew what to say, they were so terrified. Then a cloud came, casting a shadow over them; from the cloud came a voice, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.” Suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone but Jesus alone with them.

As they were coming down from the mountain, he charged them not to relate what they had seen to anyone, except when the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what rising from the dead meant.

The Gospel of the Lord.
―Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ

For Reflection:

  1. Why did God ask Abraham to sacrifice his only son? How does this passage help us to understand the love of God for us?
  2. What is God asking (or has he asked) you to sacrifice in order to love him with greater abandon and trust? How have you sought to be obedient to this call even when it was very difficult?
  3. The transfiguration was a unique moment in Jesus’ public ministry when he allowed a few of his closest friends, Peter, James and John, to see his divinity. Why did he share this moment with them? Why did he command them to not relate what they had seen until after he was raised from the dead?

Response to the Word

Leader: Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on us.
Response: Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on us.

Leader: You were wounded for our offenses,
Response: have mercy on us.

Leader: Glory to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
Response: Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on us.

Prayer of the Faithful

Leader: Let us give glory to God, whose kindness knows no limit. Through Jesus Christ, who lives for ever to intercede for us, let us pray:
Response: Kindle in our hearts the fire of your love.

Leader: God of mercy, let today be a day rich in good works, a day of generosity to all we meet.
Response: Kindle in our hearts the fire of your love.

Leader: From the waters of the flood you saved Noah through the ark, from the waters of baptism raise up to new life those under instruction.
Response: Kindle in our hearts the fire of your love.

Leader: May we live not by bread alone, but by every word falling from your lips.
Response: Kindle in our hearts the fire of your love.

Leader: Help us to do away with all dissension, so that we may rejoice in your gifts of peace and love.
Response: Kindle in our hearts the fire of your love.

Leader: In your mercy, continue to sanctify all who are afflicted from the present pandemic, and draw us all closer to you, and to one another, in this time of suffering.
Response: Kindle in our hearts the fire of your love.

The Lord's Prayer

Leader: Let us pray together as Jesus taught us:
Together: Our Father, who art in heaven …

Spiritual Communion

Leader: You have given us bread from heaven,
Response: Containing in itself all delight
Together: My Jesus,
I believe that you are present
in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar.
I love you above all things,
and I desire to receive you into my soul.
Since I cannot at this moment receive you sacramentally,
come at least spiritually into my heart.
I embrace you as if you were already there
and unite myself wholly to you.
Never permit me to be separated from you,
my Lord and my God!
Amen.

Canticle of Praise

Canticle of Zechariah (Luke 1:68-79)
Together: ✠ Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel;
he has come to his people and set them free.
He has raised up for us a mighty savior,
born of the house of his servant David.
Through his holy prophets he promised of old
that he would save us from our enemies,
from the hands of all who hate us.
He promised to show mercy to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant.
This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham:
to set us free from the hands of our enemies,
free to worship him without fear,
holy and righteous in his sight
all the days of our life.
You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,
to give his people knowledge of salvation
by the forgiveness of their sins.
In the tender compassion of our God
the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death,
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen.

Conclusion

Leader: ✠ May the Lord bless us, protect us from all evil, and bring us to everlasting life.
Together: Amen.

Hymn: “Transform Us” – Text: Sylvia G. Dunstan, 1955-1993, © 1993, GIA Publications, Inc. Tune: PICARDY, 8 7 8 7 8 7; French carol; harmonization arranged by Tony Alonso, © 2017, GIA Publications, Inc. Printed and streamed with permission granted by OneLicense #A-705112.

Excerpts from The Roman Missal © 2010, ICEL; excerpts from The Liturgy of the Hours © 1994, ICEL. All rights reserved.

Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States, second typical edition, Copyright © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine; Psalm refrain © 1968, 1981, 1997, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved. Neither this work nor any part of it may be reproduced, distributed, performed or displayed in any medium, including electronic or digital, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

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Patrick Callahan


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Our Sunday Supplication

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