All One People

Leader
As we gather this day, we remember Jesus' invitation.

All
To love one another and to create community.

Leader
As we gather in these days, O God, to consider the common good, we ask your wisdom and blessing. Bind us together as one people and strengthen us for the work of justice. Gathered in love in the family of life, we are one sacred community.

READING
Excepted from the "Common Good" in The Catechism of the Catholic Church

The common good concerns the life of all. It calls for prudence from each, and even more from those who exercise the office of authority. It consists of three essential elements:

First, the common good presupposes respect for the person as such.

Second, the common good requires the social wellbeing and development of the group itself.

Third, the common good requires peace, that is, the stability and security of a just order.

The common good is always oriented toward the progress of persons: "The order of things must be subordinate to the order of persons, and not the other way around." This order is founded on truth, built up in justice, and animated by love.

RESPONSE
Please alternate sides

Side 1
O God, from the dawn of creation you formed a people to be your own.

Side 2
In every age, the gentle call of your voice gathers diverse believers to form one people to give your praise.

Side 1
Today we remember that Jesus, God-with-us, created a new people, the communion of hearts we have called "church."

Side 2
Hardly perfect in our life together, we often forget the command of Christ to love one another without discrimination and to be witnesses of love to every race and nation.

Side 1
By the strong power of your Spirit, bind us in compassion for each other and orient us toward the progression of peoples.

Side 2
Teach us that in working for the universal common good of all, we proclaim to every age the increasing interdependence of the human family and our call to be one sacred community.

All
We ask this through Christ and the Holy Spirit, with you, One God, forever and ever. Amen
Reprinted from Act Justly, Love Tenderly, Walk Humbly (p. 48), Edward F. Gabriele, Saint Mary's Press, Winona, MN. Used with permission of the publisher. All rights reserved.