For Catholic Christians, we are used to marking the Lord’s Day with prayer and public worship. It is part of our identity as well as our duty as baptized people. We are church, we are community and we need each other. At this time of social distancing, when we cannot come together in our usual way, we are left yearning for the presence of Christ in a variety of ways. The Sacred Constitution on the Liturgy states that we believe that Christ is made present and reveals himself to us in 4 different ways:

1. The Eucharistic Body and Blood of Christ
2. The celebrant of the sacrament who stands as Christ – usually the priest or deacon
3. In the Word proclaimed during public worship; the Holy Spirit touches each person in a special, powerful way during these moments when Christ speaks to His Church through the scripture proclaimed.
4. In the Mystical Body of Christ gathered for public worship – us, our community.

Sometimes, for various reasons, we may forget that numbers 3 & 4 are as truly the presence of Christ as are numbers 1 & 2. In this time of unprecedented world crisis, let us remember that when we gather for public worship, regardless of the location, we are gathered as the Body of Christ who is then truly present to us. Let us hold each other in prayer as we keep the Lord’s Day holy from our own homes and be Christ for each other and the world. 

This resource has been put together to assist us, the St. Bernadette Community, in our efforts to pray as a community even when we cannot physically gather. There are many options to view mass online and make a “Spiritual Communion,” including a Mass celebrated by our own priests. You are welcome to pray along with these masses online if you so choose and are able. For some, however, it may be easier or necessary to pray in person as a domestic church, whether as an individual in your home or as a group/family.

Included here are instructions designed to help you feel comfortable “setting up church” in your home in order to participate with and engage in the Mass provided online. We encourage you to also use the abundance of online resources to enrich your prayer life as well as “check in” to St. Bernadette over the weekend on Facebook to let people know that, though we are not gathered in the building of the Church, the Body of Christ that is St. Bernadette is praying. Dress up as you would for Mass, prepare yourself as normally would and “attend” your community’s worship, spread across our neighborhoods, at your “usual” worship time. 

For families with young children: you may find it is easier to pray the “Home Prayer Service” Packet provided above rather than to ask your children to “watch” the Mass. This prayer experience may be more interactive with your family and can be tailored to their needs. For example, it may be easier to focus only on the Gospel reading and only a few intercessions. Encourage the group, especially young children, to raise their hands in prayer, sit, stand and sign themselves in order to engage with the prayer.

Prayer of Preparation: “Let us offer our hunger and sorrow in solidarity with those around the world who regularly go without the Sunday Eucharist because of illness, lack of ministers, or isolation. May Christ, who is present wherever two or three are gathered in his name, bring us all healing and peace and unite us together in his Spirit of love.”

Prepare your prayer space:

 

Introductory Rites

{All Stand}


Greeting
Introduction to the Liturgy
Priest: Gathered differently as church, mindful of our community spread out in our homes, today the Church prays especially for and with the Elect, and images of death and life abound. Just as we ask those who are preparing to enter the Church, let us ask God to make us ready to die to our old ways. Let us ask God to calm our fears and steady our hearts in midst of the turmoil we find in the world, so that we may truly embrace new life.

Penetencial Act A
Priest:  Brothers and sisters, as we prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mysteries, let us bring before the Lord all the places in our own lives that are in need of his life-giving touch…

{ a brief pause for silence follows}
 

All: 

I confess to almighty God and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I have greatly sinned, in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done and in what I have failed to do.
{ And, striking their breast, they say:}
through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault; therefore I ask blessed Mary ever-Virgin, all the Angels and Saints, and you my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord our God. 

Priest: May almighty God have mercy on us, forgive our sins, and bring us to everlasting life.

Kyrie {Chanted - led by the cantor}
Kyrie, eleison. (translation: Lord, have mercy.)
Christe, eleison. (translation: Christ, have mercy.)
Kyrie, eleison. (translation: Lord, have mercy.)

Opening Collect
Priest: Let us pray… By your help, we beseech you, Lord our God, may we walk eagerly in that same charity with which, out of love for the world, your Son handed himself over to death. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

All: Amen

{sit}

The Word

First Reading: Ezekiel 37:12-14
 Thus says the Lord GOD:
O my people, I will open your graves
and have you rise from them,
and bring you back to the land of Israel.
Then you shall know that I am the LORD,
when I open your graves and have you rise from them,
O my people!
I will put my spirit in you that you may live,
and I will settle you upon your land;
thus you shall know that I am the LORD.
I have promised, and I will do it, says the LORD.

The Word of the Lord.
R/. Thanks be to God. 
 

Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 130
R/. With the Lord there is mercy and fullness of redemption.
 

1. Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD;
LORD, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive to my voice in supplication.

2. If you, O LORD, mark iniquities, LORD, who can stand?
But with you is forgiveness, that you may be revered. 

3. I trust in the LORD; my soul trusts in his word.
More than sentinels wait for the dawn,
let Israel wait for the LORD.

4. For with the LORD is kindness and with him is plenteous redemption;
And he will redeem Israel from all their iniquities.

Second Reading: Romans 8:8-11
Brothers and sisters:
Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
But you are not in the flesh;
on the contrary, you are in the spirit,
if only the Spirit of God dwells in you.
Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
But if Christ is in you,
although the body is dead because of sin,
the spirit is alive because of righteousness.
If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you,
the one who raised Christ from the dead
will give life to your mortal bodies also,
through his Spirit dwelling in you.

The Word of the Lord.
R/. Thanks be to God. 

{All Stand}
Gospel Acclamation 
R/. Glory, praise and honor to you, Lord Jesus Christ! ​​​​​​​

Gospel: John 11:3-7, 17, 20-27, 33b-45

A reading from the holy gospel according to John
Glory to you, O Lord.
{All may make the sign of the cross over their forehead, lips & heart.} 

The sisters of Lazarus sent word to Jesus, saying,
“Master, the one you love is ill.”
When Jesus heard this he said,
“This illness is not to end in death,
but is for the glory of God,
that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
So when he heard that he was ill,
he remained for two days in the place where he was.
Then after this he said to his disciples,
+Let us go back to Judea.”

When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus
had already been in the tomb for four days.
When Martha heard that Jesus was coming,
she went to meet him;
but Mary sat at home.
Martha said to Jesus,
“Lord, if you had been here,
my brother would not have died.
But even now I know that whatever you ask of God,
God will give you.”
Jesus said to her,
Your brother will rise.”
Martha said,
“I know he will rise,
in the resurrection on the last day.”
Jesus told her,
“I am the resurrection and the life;
whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live,
and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.
Do you believe this?”
She said to him, “Yes, Lord.
I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God,
the one who is coming into the world.”

He became perturbed and deeply troubled, and said,
“Where have you laid him?”
They said to him, “Sir, come and see.”
And Jesus wept.
So the Jews said, “See how he loved him.”
But some of them said,
“Could not the one who opened the eyes of the blind man
have done something so that this man would not have died?”

So Jesus, perturbed again, came to the tomb.
It was a cave, and a stone lay across it.
Jesus said, “Take away the stone.”
Martha, the dead man’s sister, said to him,
“Lord, by now there will be a stench;
he has been dead for four days.”
Jesus said to her,
“Did I not tell you that if you believe
you will see the glory of God?”
So they took away the stone.
And Jesus raised his eyes and said,
“Father, I thank you for hearing me.
I know that you always hear me;
but because of the crowd here I have said this,
that they may believe that you sent me.”
And when he had said this,
He cried out in a loud voice,
“Lazarus, come out!”
The dead man came out,
tied hand and foot with burial bands,
and his face was wrapped in a cloth.
So Jesus said to them,
“Untie him and let him go.”

Now many of the Jews who had come to Mary
and seen what he had done began to believe in him.

The Gospel of the Lord.
R/. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Homily​​​​​​​

{All Stand}
Profession of Faith 
Priest: As we journey with those preparing for baptism at Easter, we recall the meaning of our own baptism as we profess our faith.

I believe in one God,
the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.
I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the Only Begotten Son of God,
born of the Father before all ages.
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
consubstantial with the Father;
through him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation
he came down from heaven,
{At the words that follow, up to and including and became man, all bow.}
and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate
of the Virgin Mary, and became man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate,
he suffered death and was buried,
and rose again on the third day in
accordance with the Scriptures.
He ascended into heaven and is seated
at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead
and his kingdom will have no end.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord,
the giver of life, who proceeds
from the Father and the Son,
who with the Father and the Son
is adored and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.
I believe in one, holy, catholic
and apostolic Church.
I confess one Baptism
for the forgiveness of sins
and I look forward
to the resurrection of the dead
and the life of the world to come.
Amen.

Intercessions
R/. O God hear us, hear our prayer.

Preface & Eucharistic Prayer

Act of Spiritual Communion
{for families with young children, all can be invited to repeat after a Reader}

All: 

My Jesus, I believe that you are present in the Most Holy Sacrament.
I love you above all things and I desire to receive you in my soul.
Since I cannot at this moment receive you sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart.
I embrace you as if you were already there and unite myself wholly to you.
Never permit me to be separated from you.
Amen.

Conclusion & Dismissal
Deacon: Go in peace, glorifying the Lord by your life.
R/. Thanks be to God.
 

Reminders

Stay in touch with our St. Bernadette Faith Community through Facebook, the website & be sure you are signed up to receive our Flocknote messages. The church is not currently open to the public. For all who are able, please stay home and stay safe and continue to hold the world in prayer.

Song of Praise
{We will sing verse 2.}