On Pluralist Communities Part 1

If I maybe daring enough to say that the biggest threat to formation today is not provided by the external environment, it is set in the closedmindedness of some of the senior members of the congregation who will make up the formative community of todays' formands. Ergo, the biggest challenge to formators is not in so much in providing the right formative interventions (though that too is very important), but it is in convincing and training local communities to transform into formative environments.

An authentic formative environment nurtures the fragile religious identity shaped from postulance through novitiate, as well as sustain the learnings and insights from the various formation programs. It will not depend on the modeling of one virtuous member, it will hinge on the quality of the relationship between and among members.

I strongly disagree wtih some formators who warn/caution and prepare their novices about the sad realities of local communities and teach their candidates skills to survive the difficulties. Postmodern generation of formands are wired to survive, they dont need survival skills, they need consistency.

Thus it is important to see to it that local communities share the paradigms of the formation committees and the formators themselves. I would cite the examples done by the Religious of the Virgin Mary (RVM), the Carmelite Missionaries (CM) and the SFIC (Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception) among others who really invested time and energy by allowing their formators to explain to all communities and members the formation paradigms today.

(next week: tips in forming formative communities)

The Gift of Creating Sacred Spaces

(Every month this website features what I consider my ideal postmodern religious men and women. )


Sister Eppie Brasil, OP
The Gift of Creating Sacred Spaces

Gifts abound in the life of Sr. Eppie Brasil, founder of the Dominican Sisters of Regina Rosarii (OPRR) and the Regina Rosarii Contemplative Association (ROCA). Teacher, counselor, retreat-master, media evangelizer, friend, leader, artist, painter, composer and more.

But those gifts pale in comparison to the shining jewel in her treasure box of talents and skills: her desire and capacity to create sacred spaces. In fact, all her other gifts are mere reflections and manifestations of this singular virtue.

Sister Eppie makes the creation of sacred spaces her life calling.

In the urban and rural landscapes, she dreamed of and made possible the construction of monumental statues of Mary, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary perhaps to provide a pocket of peace and corner of contemplation in a busy world. Her latest project, a rotating statue of the Virgin Mother in the rooftop of their convent near Tomas Morator, is a gentle reminder of the presence of God in our busy lives.

As an artist, Sister Eppie organizes their convent inside and out as a place of prayer. Every nook, every corner, every available space speaks of the silence of God and the beauty of His creation.

Like a true postmodern apostle, Sister Eppie, with the Regina Rosarii sisters and their ROCA partners, maximizes all five senses to evangelize and promote the good news: that God is immanent, availablem and can be tasted right Here... right Now.

For our sense of sight, Sister Eppie has monumental statues and prayer sites to look up to and venerate. Also, she is founder of The SacredSpace magazine, a quarterly publication that makes reading a prayerful and contemplative experience. She has powercards, bookmarks, paintings and various forms of visual arts that softly and gently remind us of the powerful, healing presence of the Divine among us.

For our sense of hearing, she has composed several short sacred songs for easy listening, our portkey to the sacred space within us and our melodious guide to inner silence. Every Sunday, she and the sisters host a radio program Sacred Space on the Air over at Radio Veritas. Her teachings during sittings fill our ears with the words of God.

For our sense of smell, Sister Eppie has formulated and produced the Rosaline Healing Scents: candles and aromatic sprays which lighten our mood, refresh the air, and facilitate our entry into our interior spaces.

For our sense of taste, she collaborates with her blood sister, Sr. Matthew to come up with healing and delicious recipes that truly nourish the body and soul. Try their experimentations with various herbs and you will feel refreshed right after the first sip. But more than that, the sisters made it their mission to feed their K-friends (families living in karitons or carts), giving these poor families a taste of life and friendship.

Perhaps among these sensous ministries, Sr. Eppie is most generous with the sense of touch. Her healing handshake and her warm hug bring comfort and a sense of h0me to those who receive them - making people feel a sacredspace within her embrace.

I always said in my previous talks during assemblies and conferences that the call of a postmodern world is to minister through the five senses, making our ministry truly a sensuous presence, and Sister Eppie is at the forefront of this challenge.

I was given the distinctive gift to accompany Sister Eppie as she discerned and decided to pursue a life-changing direction that allowed her to be metamorphosed into a religious of the future. And I was also given the gift to be a recipient of her gifts as I went into my own crisis. A religious woman of lesser faith and charity would have hated me for what I have done, but with her, forgiveness was given even if I don't deserve it.

Trust me when I say this, that because of people like her and her gifts, I restored my faith in the church, and my trust in the institution of religious life.


The OP Regina has a website: http://www.reginarosarii.org/

Postmodern generation and easter

tuesdays with rei: tips on the postmodern generation of formands

A POSTMODERN EASTER

By John Soper

I have been preaching Easter sermons for three and a half decades, and most have been evangelistic in nature, or at least strongly slanted toward the C&E (Christmas and Easter) crowd. After all, if people come to church just once or twice a year, the message ought to make the issues crystal clear.

The tactic I used most often was apologetic in the theological sense of the word (that is, a reasoned defense of the faith). I gave the congregation all the facts supporting my belief that Jesus truly rose from the dead, marshaled all of the historic arguments a la Josh McDowell and compelled the listeners by the sheer force of reason to recognize the truth of the central claim of the Christian faith: that Jesus Christ was “crucified, dead and buried . . . and on the third day he rose from the dead . . .” My strategy was to use airtight logic (“Who Moved the Stone?”) and weighty arguments (“Ten Reasons to Believe in the Resurrection”—that was a long sermon!) to present the “evidence that demands a verdict.”

For most of those same decades, I have eschewed an approach that I perceived to be sentimental, subjective and entirely too “existential”—that of pressing the claims of the resurrected Christ on the basis of personal testimony. “You ask me how I know He lives? He lives within my heart” are lyrics from one of my least favorite Easter hymns. I didn’t like that approach because I thought every Mormon, Muslim or Hindu could claim it with equal authority.

But times have changed. In my role as a vice president at the National Office, I probably won’t get to preach an Easter sermon this year. That is just as well because my neighbors probably wouldn’t have gone to church to hear it anyway. And if they did, the historical arguments based on empirical facts and objective truth would not sound very convincing to them. You see, most people no longer believe in objective, one-size-fits-all truth claims. “If it’s true for you,” my neighbors would say, “that’s great! But that doesn’t make it true for me.”

In the postmodern world into which I have been dragged kicking and screaming (to borrow an expression from C. S. Lewis), people no longer wish to know if what you believe is “true.” What they really want to know is “Will it work?,” or more precisely, “Will it work for me?” and that becomes the starting place for evangelism. In the modern era, all we needed to do was to prove that something was logically true. And then, of course, it followed that it would “work.” In the postmodern world, we first have to show that it will “work.” And then, by the grace of God, we will have the opportunity to show that it works only because it is “true.”

But wait! Maybe this is not all that new. After all, the first generation of converts in the Book of Acts believed not because of a logical argument (e.g., Jesus fulfi lled more than 300 Old Testament prophecies), but because He “was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead” (Rom. 1:4)—and they themselves had witnessed the events surrounding that Resurrection. Next, they experienced the presence and power of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Then, and only then, did Peter’s argument from fulfilled prophecy make sense to them (Acts 2:14–41).

That was Paul’s story as well. Only after personally experiencing the presence and power of the risen Christ on the road to Damascus did the rational explanations of the disciples have an impact on him. His personal prayer was: “I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection . . .” (Phil. 3:10). A good friend reminded me that the life of A. B. Simpson, the founder of The Christian and Missionary Alliance, fi ts this paradigm as well.

I won’t be preaching the morning sermon at my church this Easter. But I am fervently praying Paul’s prayer. More than that, I am praying that His Resurrection power will be so evident in my life that my neighbors will be encouraged to ask, “Will that work for me, too?”

What is Easter?

Lunes Lunacy ( a joke a week keeps the formator awake)

3 Days Later

It was following the resurrection and disciples were still somewhat scattered about Jerusalem and the surrounding villages. John finds Peter and runs up to him. Excitedly he says, "Peter, Peter! I've got some good news and some bad news."

Peter takes a hold of John and calms him down.

"Take it easy, John. What is it? What's the good news?"

John says, "The good news is Christ is risen."

Peter says, "That's great! But, what's the bad news?"

John, looking around, says, "He's really angry about your denials last Friday."

Happy Easter

Understanding Emotionally Abused Persons

This list is from the work of Janet Geringer Woititz. She did her original work on adult children of alcoholics, but I believe her findings can be generalized to people who were emotionally abused in general. Certainly all children of alcoholics were emotionally abused.

a. Can only guess at what healthy behavior is.

b. Have trouble completing things

c. Lie when they don't need to. Lying might have been a survival tactic in the home. (She explains that perhaps the child learned from parents who lied to cover up problems or avoid conflict. Or simply to avoid harsh punishment, or to get needed attention. But as an adult, that tactic is no longer appropriate.)

d. Judge themselves without mercy.

e. Have trouble accepting compliments.

f. Often take responsibility for problems, but not successes. Or they go to the other extreme and refuse to take any responsibility for mistakes while trying to take credit for the work of others.

g. Have trouble having fun since their childhoods were lost, stolen, repressed.

h. Take themselves very seriously or not seriously at all.

i. Have difficulty with intimate relationships.

j. Expect others to just "know what they want." (They can't express it because they were so often disappointed as children that they learned to stop asking for things.)

k. Over-react to things beyond their control.

l. Constantly seek approval & affirmation.

m. Feel different from others.

n. Are extremely loyal, even when facing overwhelming evidence that their loyalty is undeserved.

o. Are either super responsible or super irresponsible.

p. Tend to lock themselves into a course of action without giving serious consideration to alternative behaviors or possible consequences. (This impulsiveness leads to confusion, self-loathing, and loss of control over their environment. The result is they spend much energy blaming others, feeling victimized and cleaning up messes.)


She also makes this observation:
Intelligent people, through their ability to analyze, often realize things which are disconcerting, which others would not see. They also are often capable of feeling more deeply, both pain and joy.

Lunes Lunacy

(coz its monday, even if its within the holy week, lets have some light moments(

THEOLOGICAL DEBATE Scholars have long debated the exact ethnicity and nationality of Jesus.
Recently, at a theological meeting in Rome, scholars had a heated debate
on this subject. One by one, they offered their evidence.............
THREE PROOFS THAT JESUS WAS MEXICAN:
1. His first name was Jesus
2. He was bilingual
3. He was always being harassed by the authorities
But then there were equally good arguments that.....
JESUS WAS BLACK
1. He called everybody "brother"
2. He liked Gospel
3. He couldn't get a fair trial
But then there were equally good arguments that.......
JESUS WAS JEWISH
1. He went into His Father's business
2. He lived at home until he was 33
3. He was sure his Mother was a virgin, and his Mother
was sure he was God
But then there were equally good arguments that.......
JESUS WAS ITALIAN
1. He talked with his hands
2. He had wine with every meal
3. He used olive oil
But then there were equally good arguments that.......
JESUS WAS A CALIFORNIAN
1. He never cut his hair
2. He walked around barefoot
3. He started a new religion
But then there were equally good arguments that.......
JESUS WAS IRISH
1. He never got married
2. He was always telling stories
3. He loved green pastures
But perhaps the most compelling evidence .........
THREE PROOFS THAT JESUS WAS A WOMAN .....
1. He had to feed a crowd at a moment's notice when
there was no food
2. He kept trying to get the message across to a bunch
of men who JUST DIDN'T GET IT
3. Even when He was dead, He had to get up because
there was more work for him to do.

The Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday roles around every year. It’s the day where we know walking into mass that it will be extraordinarily long and that the gospel is nothing new.We get those palms which we know will eventually be burned for the following year for Ash Wednesday and we end up playing with them throughout the day pulling them apart.However, after re-reading the gospel, alone, not in a huge congregation, my whole thought process on the story of Palm Sunday truly changed.In today’s gospel we read the same story with the same message regarding about how Jesus was brought before Pontius Pilate and condemned to death. However, when we read the story at the procession of the palms, when Jesus rode into town on a donkey, people hailing him as their King, we have a different image of our Lord.The reason that this story struck me so much this time was not that Jesus was hailed as King…. that’s obvious. I am intrigued about the person who gave his donkey for Jesus to ride into town (and who) recognized (Jesus) as that King.It may seem like no big deal at all; in fact it seems to be that part of the story that no one notices, no one probably even wrote it down or even remembers where the donkey came from. But the donkey was actually an essential element in the story.
“Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find an ass tethered, and a colt with her.Untie them and bring them here to me.And if anyone should say anything to you, reply, ‘The master has need of them.’Then he will send them at once.”
So the thought is this…. Who was that guy who gave his donkey to the Master? Nobody knows his name or anything about him, yet he played an integral part in moving the story of Jesus’ love along its path. I saw this and realized that that particular man made a difference in this world.He helped to change the world. I really want to be like the man who gave his donkey…. Nobody knows him but without his gift to the Master, the story of Jesus would not have been fulfilled.It’s hard, sometimes, to give freely and without acknowledgement. It’s even harder to say yes to what is needed of others, especially when it is God who is asking us to give.So really, at the end of this Lent, the beginning of this Holy Week, what is my‘donkey’? What is it that I still have that I’ve been holding back in my life that I will not surrender to Christ?Is there something that I still need to let go of to grow closer to Jesus? And if I can come to that realization of what my ‘donkeys’ are in my life, am I willing to give it to others freely, generously, and maybe even, anonymously?

WedTips: Signs of Abusive, Authority Based Relationships

Authority figures (AF) can be parents, partners, teachers, principals, supervisors, religious figureheads, cult leaders, etc. Dependents can be children, partners, students, employees, religious followers, etc. What matters is that there is a power imbalance and a dependence of some sort, whether physical, financial, "spiritual," psychological or emotional.

1. AF's are the masters of dependents.

2. AF's alone decide what is right and wrong.

3. They alone make up the definitions, the rules, and the "consequences" (i.e. punishment)

4. Dependents are held responsible for the AF's feelings (anger, disappointment, embarrassment, humiliation, happiness and unhappiness)

5. The AF is only responsible and accountable for good things that happen, never the bad ones. Thus the AF' appears to always be in the right and when things go wrong, the dependent is always blamed and feels responsible and guilty.

6. The AF tries to exercise total control of the dependent by controlling his thoughts, feelings and behavior. Whenever this control is not absolute, the AF feels threatened.

7. The dependent's individuality is minimized as much as possible by the AF.

8. The AF creates an intricate system of punishments and rewards which rob the dependent of any sense of inner direction and esteem.

9. The following freedoms listed by Virginia Satire are denied to the dependent as much as possible:
The freedom to perceive To think and interpret To feel To want, need, and chose

10. The AF never (or rarely) admits mistakes or apologizes.

11. All of the above take place in a way which does not expose the AF's true motives and none of this is openly talked about. No "back talk" is allowed
Some of the Consequences


Mistakes are concealed
People are under constant stress
Needs are frustrated, denied
Fear dominates
Power is based on fear, not respect
Information is withheld and distorted
Information flow is primarily from top down
Behavior is forced; does not come naturally
Behavior is not consistent with true feelings, which adds to the stress
Conflicts and problems are blamed on the dependent's "poor attitudes" and "character flaws."
All of this tears the dependent person apart, causing self-alienation and even self-loathing. The dependent person loses faith in his/her own mind and feelings with devastating self-esteem consequences. Depression, rage, mood swings, co-dependency, self-injury and self-destruction are typical outcomes. If the authority figure is a parent the person will likely develop symptoms of various "disorders" such as the so-called Borderline Personality disorder, Social Anxiety Disorder, Anoexia, Bulemia etc.

Tuesdays with Rei

Tuesdays with Rei: Post-mod Gen Habits
(The Tuesday edition is a simple exposition on the habits of the post-modern generation of formands. Again, fornators are to exercise caution and avoid using these researches as labels or judgments on the young people today. They are excellent aids in understanding behavioral or personality dynamics, thus they are tools of formation.)

the priority of human experience

The philosophy of postmodernism represents a deconstruction of Western thought. Rather than relying on a moral authority such as Gods Word or man's reasonto determine truth, postmodern generation tends to recognize truth through experience and community.

The basic difficulty here of course is that truth becomes subjective; it depends on their experiences.

Lunes Lunacy: smoking in the convent

a) There is always a right way and a wrong way to succeed:

Two Jesuit novices both wanted a cigarette while they prayed. They decided to ask their superior for permission. The first asked but was told no. A little while later he spotted his friend smoking. "Why did the superior allow you to smoke and not me?" he asked. His friend replied, "Because you asked if you could smoke while you meditated, and I asked if I could meditate while I smoked!".


b) the wise novice

A man has three sons who entered three different religious orders: the oldest became a Dominican, the second a Franciscan, and the youngest a Jesuit. On his deathbed, the father tells his sons, "I know you all have vows of poverty, but as a sign of your love for me, I want each of you to place one thousand dollars into my casket to be buried with me."

On the day of the funeral, the Dominican son steps up, places $1000 in the casket, and says, "This seems like a waste of money, since you can't take it with you, Dad. But with the special permission of my superiors, I'm doing as you requested, as a sign of my love."

Next, the Franciscan son approaches the casket and says, "You know I love you, Dad, but the needs of the poor are so great, I just can't let $1000 be buried with you. I hope you understand, now that you are in heaven. Please forgive me."

Finally, the Jesuit son comes forward and says to his brother, "Don't worry, Frank. I'll pay your share." Then he reaches into the casket, takes the cash left by his eldest brother, and puts in a check for $3000.

Lenten Reflection: from ewtn

WHAT TO GIVE UP . . .




(I got this from EWTN. I thought this might make a good prayer or poem for the formands lenten reflection. It is easier to give up meat or a fullmeal. But how about such emotional habits like worrying? or bitterness?)


Give up complaining. . . . . . . .focus on gratitude.
Give up pessimism. . . . . . . . . become an optimist.
Give up harsh judgments . . .think kindly thoughts.
Give up worry. . . . . . . . . . . . . trust Divine Providence.
Give up discouragement. . . . .be full of hope.
Give up bitterness. . . . . . . . . . turn to forgiveness.
Give up hatred. . . . . . . . . . . . . return good for evil.
Give up negativism . . . . . . . . .be positive.
Give up anger. . . . . . . . . . . . . .be more patient.
Give up pettiness. . . . . . . . . . .become mature.
Give up gloom. . . . . . . . . . . . . .enjoy the beauty that is all around you.
Give up jealousy. . . . . . . . . . . .pray for trust.
Give up gossiping. . . . . . . . . . .control your tongue.
Give up sin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . turn to virtue.
Give up giving up. . . . . . . . . . . hang in there!

I especially like the last one. Give up giving up and hang in there. It is a good invitation for all of us too.


God bless us all


Reybarns

WedTips: Emotional Abuse No 5: DENYING

WedTips

(Every Wednesday, I offer tips on understanding and dealing with formands who are victims/survivors of emotional abuses. I focus on emotional abuse since all the other forms of abuses like physical and sexual have been discussed thoroughly in various formation workshops, but also, the other forms of abuses have strong, pervasive emotional component)

Emotional Abuse 5:

Denying

When Becca was 12 she went to her father and said "I feel like crying...." She wanted and needed to be comforted. She needed reassurance and wanted to know she would be accepted by her father, even when she not happy and smiling. Her father said uncaringly, "Well go cry then."

When she needed comfort, acceptance and reassurance, she got rejection. Her emotional needs were denied.

• Denying a person's emotional needs, especially when they feel that need the most, and done with the intent of hurting, punishing or humiliating
  

• The other person may deny that certain events occurred or that certain things were said. confronts the abuser about an incident of name calling, the abuser may insist, "I never said that," "I don't know what you're talking about," etc. You know differently.

• The other person may deny your perceptions, memory and very sanity.

• Withholding is another form of denying. Withholding includes refusing to listen, refusing to communicate, and emotionally withdrawing as punishment. This is sometimes called the "silent treatment."

• When the abuser disallows and overrules any viewpoints, perceptions or feelings which differ from their own.

• Denying can be particularly damaging. In addition to lowering self-esteem and creating conflict, the invalidation of reality, feelings, and experiences can eventually lead you to question and mistrust your own perceptions and emotional experience.

• Denying and other forms of emotional abuse can cause you to lose confidence in your most valuable survival tool: your own mind.

Source: www.eqi.org

Tuesdays with Rei: Post-mod Gen Habits 5

Tuesdays with Rei: Post-mod Gen Habits

(The Tuesday edition is a simple exposition on the habits of the post-modern generation of formands. Again, fornators are to exercise caution and avoid using these researches as labels or judgments on the young people today. They are excellent aids in understanding behavioral or personality dynamics, thus they are tools of formation.)

a fascination for consistency

Kevin Ford, in Jesus for a New Generation, speaks about process evangelism, where postmodern youth (and also adults who are postmodern thinkers) are convinced of the reality of God’s love not by propositional arguments or one-time evangelistic rallies, not by retreats or recollections, nor by symposia or conferences, but by a daily consistent, practical demonstration that Christianity works and that God’s love is real.

Thus, they need to experience God's love through a loving, understanding, formative community.

Lunes for Lunacy: a formator heard it all wrong

(Contrary to the corporate world where Monday is Manic since it is the start of the workweek, Monday for the religious is a light day. The previous day, Sunday, is always given to such things as recollection, family visits, encounters, search-ins and other community concerns. The Monday edition then are anecdotes and humors that happen in formation houses. Hopefully, it lightens your day, or not! :)

Leaving The Convent

A young and beautiful novice went to see her novice mistress.

"Sister, even without a real discernment, I have decided to leave the novitiate."

"But why, my child?"

"To become a prostitute."

"What? What are you saying?"

"I said I want to become a prostitute, sister."

"Oh, you had me worried. I thought you said protestant!"

Sunday for Sharing: Gospel for Formands

Sunday for Sharing:
Gospel for Formands




[4th Sunday of Lent] Jn 9:1-41

As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God's works might be revealed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man's eyes, saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent).

The Gift of True Sight

Have you ever played a game with a blindfold? Or, have you ever been on a trust walk, where you are blindfolded and led by another person?

Playing games with a blindfold helps us appreciate the gift of sight. Sight is a double blessing in a culture whose media manipulates visual contents, its patterns, and its timing. A quickly edited, fast moving commercial on television proves the point; your eyes quickly "read" the message.

Through the cure of a person born blind, John's gospel presents sight in a metaphorical sense. Sometimes a person can look, but not see. Here, the blind man received not only the ability to use his eyes but the gift to see the truth.

http://www.word-sunday.com

Sabado Nights: Tips for Rituals

Sabado Nights: Tips for Rituals
(Since Saturdays in formation houses are usually set aside for community recollections, I hope the Saturday edition of this blog, which focuses on formative rituals, provides some help for the formators in seeking creative formative interventions. Rituals, though a post-modern approach, allow the formands to experience a particular movement or transition, thus a very effective tool to end a processing or a spiritual experience.)

Community Reconciliation Ritual

This ritual can be adapted by substituting your own prayers and by using other Scripture readings. It can be used at the end of a recollection especially during lent. Community members are encouraged to take on the various roles of leader, reader, etc.

Leader:

God became a human being in Jesus Christ. Jesus came, died and rose from the dead to reconcile us with God so that, reconciled with others, we might be welcomed into the kingdom of heaven.

(Pause while someone lights a candle.)

And so we pray in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

May this burning candle remind us that, by the light of Christ, God forgives our sins and our failings. God loves us with the faithfulness of a mother, the tender mercy of a father. We are called to forgive those who hurt us, even when they did not intend it. We come together to pray for the grace we need to ask for forgiveness or to grant forgiveness.

(Allow a moment of silence for members to reflect on their need to be forgiven or to forgive, or to pray for members in need of reconciliation.)

Oh God, you have bound us together in a common life. Help us to lovingly confront one another without hatred or bitterness, and to live together with mutual love and respect. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Reader #1

Suggested reading: The Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-9)

Leader:

What of us needs to ask forgiveness?

(Every one takes turn to state clearly why he or she seek forgiveness. After everyone is finished asking for and granting forgiveness, move on to the intercessions. Also, if the one who is to grant forgiveness is not ready to do so, remind the person of the responsibility to let the petitioner know when he or she wishes to do so.)

Intercessions

Reader #2
Let us respond, "Teach us to be merciful, Lord."

• Almighty God, show us your kindness, we pray...
  
• Jesus, you ate with sinners and comforted the brokenhearted, we pray...
  
• Holy Spirit, you console our troubled spirits, we pray...
  
• For what else shall we pray?

(Allow a few minutes for additional intercessions.)

Let us pray together that God will give us what we need in order to live like Jesus.

Our Father...

Leader (or Reader #3)

God our loving Creator, the earth, the moon and the stars show the splendor of your glory. You created us to show the splendor of your love. In our baptism, you granted us the splendor of your forgiveness. May we continue to grow in the image and likeness of your son, Jesus, our brother, for ever and ever. Amen.

As a sign of our ongoing commitment to one another, let us exchange some sign of peace.

(source: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops)