Our Sunday supplication

Sunday, March 29, 2020 | The Fifth 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 even the whole world, precautions have been made to limit the exponential growth of COVID-19, including the suspension of public Masses in the archdiocese.

So, if we cannot attend Mass on Sundays, how then are we, as a church, to pray? This resource, Our Sunday Supplication, is a recommended prayer of the archdiocese. Unlike Mass, this order of prayer can be offered by individuals and families, without the presence of a priest, 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, since we are presently unable to receive holy 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. Despite not being able to celebrate Mass together, this is certainly not a time to abandon the praise and supplication of almighty God, for he never abandons us! Now is the time to love and serve the Lord as best we can in our limited capacities.

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

Lord, who throughout these forty days, for us did fast and pray, Teach us with you to mourn our sins, and close by you to stay. As you with Satan did contend, and did the vict’ry win, O give us strength in you to fight, in you to conquer sin. As you did hunger and did thirst, so teach us, gracious Lord, To die to self, and always live by your most holy word. And through these days of penitence, and through your Passiontide, Forevermore, in life and death, O Lord, with us abide. Abide with us that when this life of suffering is past, An Easter of unending joy we may attain at last!

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: Father, help us to be like Christ your Son, who loved the world and died for our salvation. Inspire us by his love, guide us by his example, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Together: Amen.

THE SUNDAY READINGS

A reading from the Book of the prophet Ezekiel
(Ez 37:12-14)

Thus says the Lord God:
O my people, I will open your graves
and have you rise from them,
and bring you back to the land of Israel.
Then you shall know that I am the Lord,
when I open your graves and have you rise from them,
O my people!
I will put my spirit in you that you may live,
and I will settle you upon your land;
thus you shall know that I am the Lord.
I have promised, and I will do it, says the Lord.
The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

Responsorial Psalm

(Psalm 130:1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8)

Reader: With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption.

Together: With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption.

Reader: Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord;
Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
to my voice in supplication.

Together: With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption.

Reader: If you, O Lord, mark iniquities,
Lord, who can stand?
But with you is forgiveness,
that you may be revered.

Together: With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption.

Reader: I trust in the Lord;
my soul trusts in his word.
More than sentinels wait for the dawn,
let Israel wait for the Lord.

Together: With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption.

Reader: For with the Lord is kindness
and with him is plenteous redemption;
And he will redeem Israel
from all their iniquities.

Together: With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption.

A Reading from the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans
(Romans 8:8-11)

Brothers and sisters:
Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
But you are not in the flesh;
on the contrary, you are in the spirit,
if only the Spirit of God dwells in you.
Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
But if Christ is in you,
although the body is dead because of sin,
the spirit is alive because of righteousness.
If the Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you,
the One who raised Christ from the dead
will give life to your mortal bodies also,
through his Spirit dwelling in you.
The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

Gospel Verse

Reader: I am the resurrection and the life, says the Lord;

Together: whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will never die.

A reading from the holy Gospel according to John

(Jn 11:1-45)
Now a man was ill, Lazarus from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.
Mary was the one who had anointed the Lord with perfumed oil and dried his feet with her hair; it was her brother Lazarus who was ill.
So the sisters sent word to him saying,
“Master, the one you love is ill.”
When Jesus heard this he said, “This illness is not to end in death, but is for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
So when he heard that he was ill, he remained for two days in the place where he was.
Then after this he said to his disciples,
“Let us go back to Judea.”
The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just trying to stone you, and you want to go back there?”
Jesus answered,
“Are there not twelve hours in a day?
If one walks during the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.
But if one walks at night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.”
He said this, and then told them, “Our friend Lazarus is asleep, but I am going to awaken him.”
So the disciples said to him, “Master, if he is asleep, he will be saved.”
But Jesus was talking about his death, while they thought that he meant ordinary sleep.
So then Jesus said to them clearly, “Lazarus has died. And I am glad for you that I was not there, that you may believe. Let us go to him.”
So Thomas, called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go to die with him.”
When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.
Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, only about two miles away.
And many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother.
When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him; but Mary sat at home.
Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.”
Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise.”
Martha said to him, “I know he will rise, in the resurrection on the last day.”
Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.
Do you believe this?”
She said to him, “Yes, Lord.
I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.”
When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary secretly, saying, “The teacher is here and is asking for you.”
As soon as she heard this, she rose quickly and went to him.
For Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still where Martha had met him.
So when the Jews who were with her in the house comforting her saw Mary get up quickly and go out, they followed her, presuming that she was going to the tomb to weep there.
When Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said to him,
“Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come with her weeping, he became perturbed and deeply troubled, and said, “Where have you laid him?”
They said to him, “Sir, come and see.”
And Jesus wept.
So the Jews said, “See how he loved him.”
But some of them said, “Could not the one who opened the eyes of the blind man have done something so that this man would not have died?”
So Jesus, perturbed again, came to the tomb.
It was a cave, and a stone lay across it.
Jesus said, “Take away the stone.”
Martha, the dead man’s sister, said to him, “Lord, by now there will be a stench; he has been dead for four days.”
Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?”
So they took away the stone.
And Jesus raised his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you for hearing me. I know that you always hear me; but because of the crowd here I have said this, that they may believe that you sent me.”
And when he had said this,
He cried out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”
The dead man came out, tied hand and foot with burial bands, and his face was wrapped in a cloth.
So Jesus said to them, “Untie him and let him go.”
Now many of the Jews who had come to Mary
and seen what he had done began to believe in him.
The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

For reflection

1. In what ways this week have we seen that God is truly God? How has he kept his promises to us?

2. How might we live this week more aware that the Holy Spirit is within us? What might this look like in our daily lives?

3. Why do you think that Jesus was “deeply troubled” and wept when confronted by the people’s sadness? What does this perhaps say about his love and care for us?

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 be 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 praise our loving Redeemer, who gained for us this season of grace, and pray to him, saying: