Thanksgiving

To you, our Lord and God,

we lift up our hearts

and we offer you this prayer.

We thank you, holy Father, because it is truly

good and right to bless you at all times.

You are our consolation and you accompany our humanity.

You give us the will to live and life itself.

You move us to love everyone and do good.

Thank you, Father God, because you are pure love.

You abide in us and you show yourself to the world

through the goodness that we are capable of transmitting.

We want to imitate you, become your image, your reflection,

make you visible so that our neighbours

discover you in our lives and believe in you.

Joining our voices with those who acclaim you today,

we thankfully sing this song of gratitude.

Memorial of the Lord's Supper

We are assembled around your table, Father God,

to remember the life of your son, Jesus of Nazareth,

and to bear witness that we also believe in him.

We could not search for a better leader than Jesus

since he has words of life that reach deep inside us.

He speaks with authority and transmits safety

and we can place all our trust in him.

We thank you for the illuminating message of Jesus,

which together with his good works,

constitutes our guide and model.

Thanks to him, we know that it is important

to be faithful to one's own conscience.

Jesus has brought about our personal liberation,

to live our faith in liberty,

to feel we are sons and not servants,

and to know that your are our affectionate Father and Mother.

We know the mission that awaits us.

Jesus wrote it in his will.

Entreaty to the Spirit of God

We have remembered, Lord, our God,

the exemplary and dedicated life that Jesus, your son, led

and we propose to follow him and get to know him better.

We want to be your family, your disciples and friends.

We want to listen to your complete unabridged message

and learn from it to love and serve others.

We need your motiviation, your strength,

all the strength of your Spirit,

because we want to follow your footsteps

and we are weak and inconsistent.

We cooperate with those who suffer

grief, hunger and injustice.

But Jesus wants us to do more, much more

for the welfare of all of them.

Give all your sons, believers and non-believers,

the required conscience and courage

to go forward without discouragement

and build a more humane and happy world.

We are glad, Lord, not to be alone in this task,

since there are already lots of greathearted people

who dedicate their lives to heal wounds

and to defend justice at whatever price.

We remember now

those whom we have in our hearts

thanking you for what you are doing for them.

In the name of Jesus, your son, our leader,

we pledge ourselves in your honour

together with all humanity.

AMEN