Day 782: Saturday, May 7, 2022

Let’s get ready to celebrate tomorrow – Sunday, Mother’s Day 2022

“Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls

to arrive at its destination full of hope” - Maya Angelou

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Emmaus Liturgical Order of Service

For Sunday May 8, 2022

Dan: The observance of Mother’s Day here in the United States is an important part of this country’s culture and for some of us, Jesus’ mother, Mary, has held a special place in our life and in our hearts. Given this, we would initially like to provide some recognition of this holiday, prior to launching into the Fourth Sunday of Easter and the Good Shepherd, with a somewhat different slant on motherhood via an interview with Maya Angelou on her book “Mom & Me & Mom."

Video/Interview of Maya Angelou [3:08] https://youtu.be/MXbw1mv7_hw

Dan: As Maya Angelou says, "Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope."

Good Shepherd Sunday invites us to reflect on our ability to recognize the voice of Jesus in our everyday life. There are voices that demand our attention but only the tender voice of Jesus leads us to eternal life. May we love the good shepherd who calls us by name. But let us first pause with reverence for our mothers and before this ancient figure of the Shepherd, so universally present in rural cultures for thousands of years, which we intend to address this evening. [Moment of Silence]

In tonight’s liturgy, the Gospel of John invites us to contemplate an image of Jesus as a marginalized Jewish peasant, who was killed by the Pious and the Powerful. Yet he has become for us a trustful Good Shepherd, inviting us to align with him as the compassionate Guide in the here and now of our personal, communal, and planetary journey.

I feel it is extremely important for us to dwell upon the salient features that characterize this good, scandalous, and subversive Shepherd. In fact, these traits display the qualities of our relationship to God, to our fellow beings and to the planet. The three peculiar qualities of Jesus as a Shepherd point out that he takes care of the sheep; he leads them out; he has to pay attention to other sheep that do not belong to this fold.

Opening Song: I heard the Voice of Jesus Say (Lyric Video)

https://youtu.be/74kyfROS4q8 [3:51]

Opening Prayer: Vicki Living God, long ago, faithful women proclaimed the good news of Jesus' resurrection, and the world was changed forever. Teach us to keep faith with them, that our witness may be as bold, our love as deep, and our faith as true. Amen.

Dan: Let John O’Donohue take us on a real safari with the wildness and danger and otherness of God. And I think when you begin to get a sense of the depth that is there, then your whole heart awakens, and you can truly listen to the Good Shepherd.

Each day is a secret story woven around the radiant heart of wonder. The sacred duty of being an individual is to gradually learn how to live so as to awaken the eternal within you; and this awakened heart will enable us to be a shepherd to each other.

First Reading: FOR A NEW BEGINNING (Alison)

In out-of-the-way places of the heart,

Where your thoughts never think to wander,

This beginning has been quietly forming,

Waiting until you were ready to emerge.

For a long time it has watched your desire,

Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,

Noticing how you willed yourself on,

Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.

It watched you play with the seduction of safety

And the gray promises that sameness whispered,

Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,

Wondered would you always live like this.

Then the delight, when your courage kindled,

And out you stepped onto new ground,

Your eyes young again with energy and dream,

A path of plenitude opening before you.

Though your destination is not yet clear

You can trust the promise of this opening;

Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning

That is at one with your life's desire.

Awaken your spirit to adventure;

Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;

Soon you will be home in a new rhythm,

For your soul senses the world that awaits you.

JOHN O'DONOHUE

Responsorial Song: Psalm 23 sung by the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir https://youtu.be/OxDmms3KEl4 [0:56-6:18]

Gospel: John 20:27-30 (Alison)

My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father's hand. The Father and I are one.'

Dialogue Homily

Dan: The first and main trait of Jesus’ existence consists in his taking care of the boundless aspects in which life manifests herself. His love encircles us. He is utmost attention, able to ignite the invisible in the texture of our journey. With exquisite tact he detects and unravels the oppressive sides of our hearts; the stiffness and closeness of our personal and social bodies; the unnamable wounds of our hearts…..and he heals, opens, transforms them!

He leads them out. Where is the resurrected and cosmic Christ leading us? To what pastures, to what new life is he taking us today? The Good shepherd is guiding humanity to a breakthrough in consciousness that can no longer sustain the myth of God as separate somewhere above, or the story of the original Fall as a reason for the coming of the Christ. He is guiding us toward a territory of participation, of care for the Earth, of creative encounters among religions. He is beckoning us toward the greater heart of God.

The third aspect that marks Jesus as a Good Shepherd is that He has to pay attention to other sheep that do not belong to this fold. We realize with joy that because we are evolving, we are not yet complete. Beyond the rigid labels and the fold that have protected and fixed us until now, and that we like to never change, we are participating in a new era and energy that involves spiritual seekers from everywhere, following the Good Shepherd of compassionate inclusiveness, cooperation, healing, pluralism, and interconnection.

Are we able to recognize God in the specific glances, voices, and pains in our fellow humans and nonhumans?

When have you been called to be a shepherd to another?

Who in your life has served as a shepherd in yours or another’s life that you had the privilege of holding dear to your heart?

What do we bring to the table this evening?

Song: You Are Mine – David Haas [4:53]

Eucharistic Prayer

Vicki: We gather together to share the Mystery of the Divine in every person, in everything we do. Spirit of Life, Spirit of the Divine, come to us in this celebration and bless these gifts of bread and wine. Encircle us with your love and inspire us to become the transformation we seek to become.

We are on a journey and our road meets with those of everyone who is walking toward freedom and liberation tonight – wherever they come from, whatever sadness they face. With Mary we keep the human family together, telling them “we must go on, we cannot turn back. We have a role in creating a world of peace for us and all our children. Everyone is welcome in this new world without borders. Lament cannot take hold if gratitude gets there first.”

This is the message of our brother Jesus, who baptizes us with the Holy Spirit and fire. Our brother Jesus now invites us to share with Him this simple meal, which he celebrated the night before he died with his mother and his companions. He knew the hours were precious and the time short. This gave new meaning to his words:

ALL: Come to the table and break this bread with me and understand that it is life itself.

Alison: And then he raised the cup and looked with love at each of the people in the room and saw everyone who had lived or would ever live and he invited them all saying:

ALL: Come and drink this cup of wine which we share together. Remember me and celebrate me by recreating this meal whenever the Spirit moves you. It is a cup filled with love.

Vicki: Now together, as one community, we offer to God, our prayer in the name of our trustful Good Shepherd and our brother, Jesus:

All: We come before you, Holy Spirit, as we gather together in the name of Jesus. With you to guide us, make Yourself at home in our hearts: Teach us the way we must go and how we are to pursue it. Do not let us promote disorder. Do not let ignorance lead us down the wrong path, nor partially influence our actions. Let us find in You our unity in diversity, so that we may journey together to eternal life and not stray from the way of truth and what is right. Amen

Dan: Please take a moment to set your Zoom to Gallery View

Dan: Kiss of Peace

And now, let us shepherd to one another with a sign of peace and love.

Alison: Everyone is welcome to this table. Our God, whom the universe cannot contain, is present to us in this bread.

He who redeems us and calls us by name, now meets us in this cup.

So, come, Beloved Friends, and take this bread, drink this wine,

In them, God comes to us, so that we may come to God.

Communion Song: My Shepherd Will Supply My Need-A cappella- Eclipse 6 https://www.youtube.com › watch

GET THIS SONG ON: iTunes: http://apple.co/2xbl1Bm Amazon: http://amzn.to/2jvfMpF

Closing Prayer: (Vicki)

Jesus, good shepherd, guide, and pastor,

Open gateway to infinite love;

You are foreshadowed in every star

that guides the course of sailing and of desire.

You shine

in every initiatory journey

to the sacred heart of consciousness and self,

in every action of liberation from oppression.

Guide our lives and this Emmaus community

To green meadows,

beyond undisturbed lifestyles of convenience

into the transformative,

fiery experience of your Spirit.

And the people of this beloved Emmaus community say: Amen.

Closing Song: Ave Maria sung by Luciano Pavarotti (Schubert)

https://youtu.be/XpYGgtrMTYs