DIOCESAN ADVENT SERVICE 2011 –
St. Mary’s Pro-Cathedral 26 November 2011
Opening Song Wait for the Lord (Taizé)
All sing:
Wait for the Lord, whose day is near
Wait for the Lord, keep watch, take heart.
Opening Prayer
Bishop Raymond Field
– Chairperson of the Dublin Diocesan Eucharistic Congress Preparatory Committee
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Peace be with you. And with your spirit.
Let us pray,
All say: All-powerful God, be with us as we begin this joyful season of expectation. Bless with your grace the City Mission that begins today. Open our hearts to receive your message of hope. Prepare us to worthily celebrate the gift of your Son. We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen.
I warmly welcome you to this Diocesan Advent Service as we gather in a spirit of joyful hope to celebrate this season of preparation. For the Archdiocese of Dublin this Advent has a special significance as we prepare to host the 50th International Eucharistic Congress. I welcome in a special way the missionaries from the Emmanuel Community who are here to start the City Mission at the Pro-Cathedral. While they come from many different countries they are united in their mission to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ. The theme of the Congress is ‘Communion with Christ and with one another’ and these missionaries will be here in Dublin City Centre to draw attention to that message in their witness and in their testimonies. We thank them for their generosity in sharing their faith so generously with us and for their commitment to the mission of the Church in our time.
Reflection Mary’s “Yes” – Linda Walker – Emmanuel Community Dublin
Our Advent journey begins in this Cathedral dedicated to Mary of the Immaculate Conception. God prepared a worthy dwelling for His Son so that through the intercession of Mary we, too, might be cleansed and admitted to His presence. Preserved in a singular way from sin, Mary was free to say ‘yes’ to the news presented to her by the Angel Gabriel that she was to become the mother of the ‘Son of the Most High’. Her ‘yes’, offered in humility, opened a door for all humankind – ‘I am the handmaid of the Lord’. Her ‘yes’ paved the way of healing for all people who are open to the grace of forgiveness and reconciliation – ‘let what you have said be done to me’.
Song Ave Maria (Victoria)
Reflection The Power of One
(Each line is offered by one of the missionaries who at the end of the reflection take their place in the sanctuary in front of Bishop Field while all sing the hymn)
Mary – her yes, our yes
One song can spark a moment,
One flower can wake the dream.
One tree can start a forest,
One bird can herald spring.
One smile begins a friendship,
One handclasp lifts a soul.
One star can guide a ship at sea,
One word can frame the goal.
One vote can change a nation,
One sunbeam lights a room.
One candle wipes out darkness,
One laugh will conquer gloom.
One step must start each journey,
One word must start each prayer.
One hope will raise our spirits,
One touch can show you care.
One voice can speak with wisdom,
One heart can know what’s true,
One life can make the difference,
You see, it’s up to you.
Song Ave Maria (Parkinson)
All sing:
As I kneel before you, as I bow my head in prayer
Take this day, make it yours and fill us with your love.
Ave Maria gratia plena, Dominus tecum benedicta tu.
Intercessions/Blessing Bishop Raymond Field
We pray that Mary will bring to her Son our prayers for courage, patience and hope this Advent season as we begin this City Mission.
We pray for the success of this mission and for the strength of Mary whose ‘yes’ inspires us today to be generous in responding to the call of Her Son.
We pray for the humility of Mary who opened her heart to receive the Saviour of the world, the Lamb of God. May many people be open to the witness and testimony of these missionaries who we bless today.
All sing: All I have I give you, every dream and wish is yours
Mother of Christ, Mother of mine present them to my Lord.
Ave Maria gratia plena, Dominus tecum benedicta tu.
(The missionaries return to the body of the church for the rest of the service)
Reading Luke 1: 30-33
Mary do not be afraid; you have won God’s favour. Listen! You are to conceive and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David; he will rule over the house of Jacob for ever and his reign will have no end.
Song Immanuel (Michael Card)
A sign shall be given
A virgin will conceive
A human baby bearing
Undiminished deity
The glory of the nations
A light for all to see
That hope for all who will embrace
His warm reality
Immanuel Our God is with us
And if God is with us
Who could stand against us
Our God is with us Immanuel
For all those who live in the shadow of death
A glorious light has dawned
For all those who stumble in the darkness
Behold your light has come
Immanuel Our God is with us
And if God is with us
Who could stand against us
Our God is with us Immanuel
So what will be your answer?
Will you hear the call?
Of Him who did not spare His son
But gave Him for us all
On earth there is no power
There is no depth or height
That could ever separate us
From the love of God in Christ
Immanuel Our God is with us
And if God is with us
Who could stand against us
Our God is with us Immanuel
Reflection Bread from Heaven
In an instant, what a change!
A minute ago, Mary was tending to her humble household chores: with her own hand she was crushing the wheat, kneading the bread, putting it away in the hutch, and setting the table. Now the Bread from Heaven asks to be her handcraft. She will weave a body for him and she will give him to us.
Instrumental Variations on Wachet Auf (J. G. Walther)
Reflection Advent (Jessica Powers)
I live my Advent in the womb of Mary.
And on one night when a great star
swings free from its high mooring
and walks down the sky
to be the dot above the Christus i,
I shall be born of her by blessed grace.
I wait in Mary-darkness, faith’s walled place,
with hope’s expectance of nativity.
I knew for long she carried me and fed me, guarded and loved me,
though I could not see.
But only now, with inward jubilee,
I come upon earth’s most amazing knowledge:
someone is hidden in this dark with me.
Song Breath of Heaven (Amy Grant/Chris Eaton)
I have travelled
Many moonless night
Cold and weary
With a babe inside
And I wonder
What Ive done
Holy Father You have come
Chosen me now
To carry your son
I am waiting in a silent prayer
I am frightened by the load I bear
In a world as cold as stone
Must I walk this path alone
Be with me now Be with me now Breath of Heaven
Hold me together Be forever near me
Breath of Heaven Breath of Heaven
Lighten my darkness Pour over me, your holiness
For your holy Breath of Heaven
Do you wonder
As you watch my face
If a wiser one, should of had my place
But I offer-all I am
For the mercy-of your plan
Help me be strong
Help me be
Help me
Reflection St. John of the Cross
The Virgin, weighed
With the Word of God
Comes down the road:
If only you will shelter her.
Song The Lord is about to enter His Temple (André Gouze)
All sing: The Lord is about to enter His Temple
He who is and who was and is to come,
God ‘Among Us’, comes to make his dwelling.
Song Come Adore This Wondrous Presence (Ronan McDonagh)
Period of Silence and Quiet Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament
Reading Isaiah 64: 7-8 – Sr. Angela
Lord, you are our Father; we the clay, you the potter, we are all the work of your hand.
Reflection The Potter
O Life-Shaping Potter, Come~
As we begin this Advent season, may we be yielding and pliable, open to your soft, molding touch.
Come and shape our lives: expand our hearts for compassion, open our eyes to your ways, tune our ears to your words, guide our hands to touch others gently, nudge our feet onto your paths.
Form us into your Advent people, bringing hope and peace to your hurting world.
Amen.
Instrumental O Lamm Gottes Unschuldig(J.S. Bach)
Reflection Presence (John Paul II – Mane Nobiscum Domine)
God came into the world in Jesus Christ. The first Christmas present was the gift of ‘presence’ itself. Jesus is present with us in our happy days and in times of sadness. Jesus is present in our neighbour and in ourselves. Jesus is present in His Word and in the Eucharist – the gift of God to us. The Eucharist is a mystery of presence, the perfect fulfilment of Jesus promise to remain with us until the end of the world.
Song Though We Are Many (Bernard Sexton)
All sing: Though we are many, we are one body,
we who come to share this living bread;
Cup of salvation, shared among all nations,
nourishing us now and evermore.
Reflection Memory Awakens Hope (Pope Benedict XVI)
“Advent is concerned with that very connection between memory and hope which is so necessary to man. Advent’s intention is to awaken the most profound and basic emotional memory within us, namely, the memory of the God who became a child. This is a healing memory; it brings hope. The purpose of the Church’s year is continually to rehearse her great history of memories, to awaken the heart’s memory so that it can discern the star of hope.… It is the beautiful task of Advent to awaken in all of us memories of goodness and thus to open doors of hope.”
Song Come to us, O Emmanuel (Marty Haugen)
All sing: Come to us, O Emmanuel, Come to us, O Emmanuel.
Reflection Genuine Christmas – Oscar Romero
No-one can celebrate a genuine Christmas without being truly poor. The self-sufficient, the proud, those who, because they have everything, look down on others, those who have no need even of God – for them there will be no Christmas. Only the poor, the hungry, those who need someone to come on their behalf, will have that someone. That someone is God, Emmanuel, God with us. Without poverty of Spirit, there can be no abundance of God.
Song Come to us, O Emmanuel (Marty Haugen)
All sing: Come to us, O Emmanuel, Come to us, O Emmanuel.
Reflection Life Is an Advent Season
“Life is a constant Advent season: we are continually waiting to become, to discover, to complete, to fulfil. Hope, struggle, fear, expectation and fulfilment are all part of our Advent experience. “The world is not as just, not as loving, not as whole as we know it can and should be. But the coming of Christ and his presence among us—as one of us—give us reason to live in hope: that light will shatter the darkness, that we can be liberated from our fears and prejudices, that we are never alone or abandoned. “May this Advent season be a time for bringing hope, transformation and fulfilment into the Advent of our lives.”
Song Save us, O Lord (Bob Dufford)
All sing: Save us, O Lord, carry us back, rouse your power and come.
Rescue your people, show us your face, bring us back.
Reflection Christmas Prayer
“Meister Eckhart once said: ‘What good is it that Christ was born 2,000 years ago if he is not born now in your heart?’ “Lord, we do far too much celebrating your actual coming in our hearts. I believe in God, but do I believe in God-in-me? I believe in God in heaven, but do I believe in God-on-earth? I believe in God out there, but do I believe in God-with-us? “Lord, be born in my heart. Come alive in me this Christmas! Amen.”
Concluding Prayer Bishop Field
All say: God of power and mercy, open our hearts in welcome. Remove the things that hinder us from receiving Christ with joy, so that we may share his wisdom and become one with him when he comes in glory, for he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen.
Lighting of Advent Candle Bishop Field
Song Warm the Time of Winter (Marty Haugen)
All sing: Holy light, warm our night, warm the time of winter
Holy light, warm our night, warm the time of winter.