NO ONE ELSE BUT GOD 

     GRACIOUS GOD, your Spirit sanctifies the waters of baptism. Purify your people to receive your life-giving Word. Multiply our righteous deeds for the sake of your glory. Let the world's nations marvel before the fountain of Divine Mercy. May the allure of your peace be irresistible to hearts wearied by selfishness and ceaseless confrontation. Help the weary world to know the peace which only you can give. Grant that Christians everywhere may joyfully witness the saving power of our God.

     HEAVENLY FATHER, your grace flows through the sacraments of life. Draw us back to the fount of living water! Unite us in the holy bond of Christian fellowship. May weak faith not deceive me into believing that you are weak! My heart reproaches me. It narrates my sins without pause. My prideful heart absolves itself and makes a mockery of your mercy.

     O JUST Lord, look for me in the heart of your Church. Show me your forgiveness and mercy. I pour out the sorrows of my soul before you. Proclaim, my Jesus, the power of your forgiveness in the prayer of absolution. Let the angels and archangels hear the proclamation of your kindness, the sweetness of your clemency. Your love, I drink! Your mercy, I consume! Your Word, I make my own!

     THERE IS no one else but you, Lord! You alone can shatter the iron web which ensnares the nations. By your cross, you have loosed our sins. You have confounded the ways of death. Turn to the Church, dear friends, that you may be freed from sin, that you may escape the ruin of indulgent living. Father of all that is good, may your invitation not go unanswered!

     MAKE THE witness of your Church a joyful one; let her bring healing to the desperate affairs of the world. Gather the hungry to the splendor of your banquet table. Comfort the thirsty with the cool water of forgiveness! This we ask of you Father, with the Son and the Spirit of Joy, to whom all praise, all glory, and all adoration is owed for ever and ever. Amen.      

 


[cf. Ordinary Time Week 24 Year A]





© Richard E. Barker 2007