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December 6, 2020 • 2nd Sunday of Advent

Parish or Diocesan Leaders, please read this!

Preparation

Just Before You Begin

INTRODUCTORY RITES

Introduction

Leader: We continue to celebrate the season of Advent,
a time of waiting, hoping, and looking
for how Christ comes into our world, bringing light into darkness.

Lighting the Advent Wreath

Opening Song


Prepare the way,
The way of the Lord.
Make straight every path,
Make smooth every road.

Every valley will rise
Every mountain made low.
The salvation of God,
Forever made known.

(1) He'll bring down the proud, / how the mighty will fall.
With one breath from God / they are nothing at all.
He will lift up the lowly, / give pow'r to the week
And all broken-hearted, / the comfort they seek.

(2) Here is your God; / he is coming to save,
To hold in his arms / all those lost and afraid.
He'll seek out the hopeless, / the lame and the poor.
The ones who have nothing / will suffer no more.

© 2004, Michael Avolicino (ASCAP). Published by Spirit & Song®, a division of OCP. All rights reserved.

Greeting

Leader: ┼ In the name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Spirit.

All: Amen.

Leader: Grace and light to you from God our Father
and from his Son, Jesus, who came to be one of us.
We bless you, O Lord, and we praise you.
(The response is: We bless you, O Lord, and we praise you.)

All: We bless you, O Lord, and we praise you.

Leader: We gather together now,
looking for your light and warmth in this season of Advent.
One with all who await your coming throughout the world,
let us now listen to God's Word and join in prayer.

All: Amen.

Litany in Praise of God's Mercy

Leader: As we prepare to hear a story from our faith,
let us remember that God loves us so much
that he sent his Son to be with us. Lord Jesus, you know we don’t always choose to do the loving thing:
Lord, have mercy.

All: Lord, have mercy.

Leader: Lord Jesus, you teach us to treat others as we want to be treated:
Christ, have mercy.

All: Christ, have mercy.

Leader: Lord Jesus, you ask us to help build the Kingdom of God:
Lord, have mercy.

All: Lord, have mercy.

Opening Prayer

Leader: Let us pray

Leader: God of Love and Light,
you came to be the least among us
to teach us to look out for the least.
 Help us to see you in disguise
so that we may serve you
in the least of our brothers and sisters. We ask this through Christ our Lord.

All: Amen.

LITURGY OF THE WORD

Alleluia

Gospel

Reader 1: In today’s reading, we hear about John the Baptist, Jesus' cousin, who tells us Jesus is coming! We now do this action prayer together: May the Lord be on my mind, ┼
on my lips, ┼
and in my heart ┼
as we hear the Gospel today. A reading from the holy Gospel of Matthew.

Reader 1: This is the good news about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
It began just as God had said in the book written by Isaiah the prophet, “I am sending my messenger
to get the way ready
for you.
In the desert
someone is shouting,
‘Get the road ready
for the Lord!
Make a straight path
for him.’” So John the Baptist showed up in the desert and told everyone,
“Turn back to God and be baptized! Then your sins will be forgiven.” From all Judea and Jerusalem crowds of people went to John.
They told how sorry they were for their sins, and he baptized them in the Jordan River. John wore clothes made of camel’s hair.
He had a leather strap around his waist and ate grasshoppers and wild honey. John also told the people,
“Someone more powerful is going to come.
And I am not good enough even to stoop down and untie his sandals.
I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit!”

Reader 1: The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God.
 As it is written in Isaiah the prophet:
Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you;
he will prepare your way.
A voice of one crying out in the desert:
“Prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight his paths.” John the Baptist appeared in the desert
proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
People of the whole Judean countryside
and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem
were going out to him
and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River
as they acknowledged their sins. John was clothed in camel’s hair,
with a leather belt around his waist.
He fed on locusts and wild honey. And this is what he proclaimed:
“One mightier than I is coming after me.
I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals.
I have baptized you with water;
he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

Reader 1: The Gospel of the Lord.

All: Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

Gospel Reflection Song

Jesus said John the Baptist was great
The greatest man who ever lived
And if old John was with us today
he'd tell us something like this

(Chorus)
 If you're on the wrong road
Go the other way!
If you've got two coats give one away!
When Jesus comes
Prepare the way!
And don't forget your bugs!

(2nd Chorus)
 He ate bugs for lunch! Yuck! Yuck! Yuck! (repeat 3 times)
John the Baptist ate bugs for lunch!

© 1992, Bryan Sirchio (ASCAP). Crosswind Music. All rights reserved.

Gospel Video Reflections

Reflections on the Readings

  1. In the Old Testament, the prophet Isaiah told the people they could expect a messenger to let them know that the Lord was coming soon. As Catholics, we think that John the Baptist was the messenger, telling us to prepare our hearts for Jesus. How can you prepare your hearts for Jesus this Advent season?
  2. When the people went out to see John the Baptist in the desert, they admitted their sins and then he baptized them. It was like they were being washed of any wrong things they had done so they could "start over." Take a minute of quiet time now to admit to God in your heart anything that you’ve done wrong so that you can feel cleaner and "start over" again. (Parents, invite everyone to share aloud after a minute or two, but don’t force the sharing if others prefer to keep their prayers private.)
  3. John the Baptist dressed very strangely... he wore camel hair! And he ate bugs for lunch... locusts! Sometimes God’s messengers don’t look or act how we might expect polite people to look or act, but if we listen to their words we can hear a message from God. Who are some people in your life who don’t look, act, or dress like you but who might have something important for you to hear?

General Intercessions

Leader: Now let’s pray together to God for what we need.

Reader 2: We pray for all those who don’t have warm and dry homes at this time of year,
that they may find a safe place to live,
let us pray to the Lord.

All: Lord, hear our prayer.

Reader 2: We pray that during this Advent season
we can be thoughtful about how we prepare for Christmas
so that we use our time, energy, and money in a way that is good for the world,
let us pray to the Lord.

All: Lord, hear our prayer.

Reader 2: We pray for all those who are sick with the coronavirus or anything else,
and for all the people who are caring for them,
let us pray to the Lord.

All: Lord, hear our prayer.

Reader 2: We pray for all those who are lonely or are having a hard time finding hope,
that we can be a light for them in their darkness,
let us pray to the Lord.

All: Lord, hear our prayer.

Reader 2: For what else and for who else shall we pray?

Lord's Prayer

Leader: Jesus taught us to call God our Father, and so we have the courage to say:

All: Our Father, who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread;
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.

Sign of Peace

Leader: Let us now offer each other a sign of peace.

A Litany for Spiritual Communion

Leader: The response is: Lord, bring us closer to you!

All: Lord, bring us closer to you!

Leader: Lord our God,
we wish we could gather today with our parish community,
but we gather here out of love and concern for others.
You teach us that when two or three are gathered in your name,
you are there.
Together, we pray:

All: Lord, bring us closer to you!

Leader: Christ Jesus, you are present in a special way
when bread and wine are turned into your Body and Blood.
Since we cannot receive you in this way today,
We ask that you enter our hearts
so that we may receive you spiritually.
Together, we pray:

All: Lord, bring us closer to you!

Leader: Lord our God,
watch over your family
and keep us safe in your care,
for all our hope is in you.

All: Lord, bring us closer to you!

Concluding Rite

Blessing & Dismissal

Leader: Go in the peace of Christ.

All: Thanks be to God.

Closing Song

After the Service

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