This week’s service has been prepared by the brothers and sisters of the Community in Melleray (France).
Reflection text
Father, that they all may be one
Excerpts from the Preamble of the Rule of Taizé, Taizé Press. Official English translation (2012)..
Brother, if you submit to a common rule, you can do so only for the sake of Christ and the Gospel.
From now on, your worship and your service will take place in a community of brothers, itself set in the body of the Church… You are no longer alone. You must take your brothers into account in all things…
…Bear the burdens of others, accept the minor hurts each day brings, so as to share concretely in the sufferings of Christ: this is our first discipline.
…You are afraid that a common rule may stifle your personality, whereas its purpose is to free you from useless fetters, the better to bear responsibility and exercise all the boldness possible in your ministry. Like every Christian, you need to accept the tension between the total freedom given by the Holy Spirit and the impossibilities in which you are set by human nature—both your neighbor’s and your own…
…Be a sign for others of brotherly love and of joy.
Open yourself to all that is human and you will see any futile desire to flee from the world disappear. Be present to your age; adapt yourself to the conditions of the time. Father, I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them from evil.
Love the disadvantaged, all those who experience human injustice and are thirsting for justice. Jesus had a particular concern for them. Do not be afraid of letting them disturb you.
Show your parents deep affection and by its very quality help them to recognize the absolute nature of your vocation.
Love your neighbor, whatever his or her religious or political outlook. Never resign yourself to the scandal of the separation of Christians who so readily profess love for their neighbor and yet remain divided. Make the unity of the body of Christ your passionate concern.
Intercessions
To be adapted or modified according to the place and circumstance
Jesus, you sent the disciples out two by two: give us the grace to walk together, guided by the Holy Spirit. May we truly seek to live our prayer and mission, relying on each other.
Jesus, through our life together, stir up in us a greater passion for unity—according to your will, according to your means.
Jesus, you chose human and weak disciples: give us the grace to accept what is weak or wounded in ourselves and others. Teach us to love our humanity and to trust that you act in every circumstance. Help us to remember that you have called us and loved us first.
Jesus, by accepting our weaknesses, stir up in us a greater passion for unity—according to your will, according to your means.
Jesus, you loved your neighbor with all of your heart: give us the grace of this same love for all people around us. May our great desire to give our life for unity lead us to prioritize taking care of those who depend on us: our family around us, the Christian community who shares our life, the people we encounter every day.
Jesus, by our love of our neighbor, stir up in us a greater passion for unity—according to your will, according to your means.
Jesus, you ardently prayed that all may be one: give us the grace to pray without ceasing for this profound unity. May our celebrations and intercessions help us to never grow accustomed to division, especially the appalling division among Christians. May your Spirit come and awaken in our souls the thirst to become one body in You.
Jesus, by our desire for communion, stir up in us a greater passion for unity—according to your will, according to your means.
Prayer for Christian unity
Lord Jesus, who prayed that we might all be one,
we pray to you for the unity of Christians,
according to your will,
according to your means.
May your Spirit enable us
to experience the suffering caused by division,
to see our sin
and to hope beyond all hope.
Amen.
(Prayer written by members of the Chemin Neuf Community
inspired by a prayer of Father Paul Couturier)