Opening Prayer:
All: Lord, we present ourselves to you during this time of prayer. We acknowledge our dependence on you for many daily blessings as you provide and care for us. We offer you our humble efforts to be your light, your witness, and your instrument in making your kingdom present in the places where we live, work, and pray. In your mercy and goodness, makes us better messengers of your love and joy, and send more good-hearted Marists to join our numbers.
Gospel Reading:Luke 1: 39-45
During those days, Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.”
Response: Ephesians 1: 3-10
Antiphon: God planned to bring all things together under Christ.
Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has blessed us in Christ
with every spiritual blessing in the heavens.
He chose us in him
before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy
and blameless before him.
He destined us in love
to be his sons through Jesus Christ,
according to the purpose of his will,
to the praise of his glorious grace
that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.
In him we have redemption through his blood,
the forgiveness of our trespasses,
according to the riches of his grace
that he lavished upon us.
He has made known to us
in all wisdom and insight
the mystery of his will,
according to his purpose
that he set forth in Christ.
His purpose he set forth in Christ,
as a plan for the fullness of time,
to unite all things in him,
things in heaven and things on earth.
Quiet Reflection:
What is your way of giving thanks to God for his goodness to you? How do you express your gratitude to others through whom God’s goodness shines?
Prayers of Petition:
Please offer any intentions that you may have.
Our Father
Closing Prayer:
All: Lord, you have called us in your love. You have told us I will never forget you, my people because I have carved you on the palms of my hands. While we ask you to call new Marist Brothers into your service with us, we also ask you to preserve us whom you have already called so that we may faithfully live out our Marist call today. We make this prayer through Jesus Christ and with Mary, our Mother. Amen.
Salve
