Christmas – CHRIST MASS Again!
What an ideal time to put Christ and Mass back into Christmas.
Eucharist for those who believe. Mass prayer for all denominations of Christianity. Communal prayerful support from all other faiths.
The secular world is challenging the authenticity of Christmas and God in general. Let’s call this out for what it is –
unChristmas! unGodly! unGoodness!
So what can we do about it? Let’s start by celebrating the birth of Jesus where these celebrations began historically – in Church. For me, the Eucharist is central. Here we place ourselves fully before Christ, God!
What are some powerful prayer themes that we could say?
There should often be an initial acknowledgement of the awesomeness of God and the place of God as the creator of absolutely everything. God as absolute love who created everything out of love. God who loves each of us equally as God’s unique creation!
Then we ask for God to come to us - especially after communion. This acknowledges that we have just received God’s presence most uniquely through the sacrament of the Eucharist.
We place ourselves at the foot of God’s magnificence and awesomeness and completely turn ourselves over to God. I use the words, “Do with me what you Will.”
Often there will also be aspects of seeking forgiveness for turning away from God through thoughts or actions along with forgiving others and ourselves. It could also include asking for God’s support to achieve God’s goals for us, etc, as we go forward into our communal and individual lives...
There is no need for copious amount of words. But this can vary e.g. when thanking God or requesting assistance or advice. At other times it is just reflecting on the key words or themes.
Background
This form of prayer is based on the structure and inclusions of the ‘Our Father’, the prayer taught to us by Jesus in the Bible. Jesus begins the ‘Our Father’ by acknowledging the supremacy and divinity of God,
‘Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be your name…’
We then ask for God’s assistance in bringing God’s ‘Kingdom’, the oneness with God, to be integral with our world,
‘Your Kingdom come’.
This is most importantly followed by our request acknowledging the need for God’s Will to be done here, hence through humanity,
‘Your Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven’.
Etc.
Personally, I believe we need to offer ourselves over to God – completely! Only then can we truly become one with God on Earth – in our preparation for the salvation with God in Heaven.
Images and text © Copyright 2018 Bryan W Foster