INTRODUCTORY REFLECTION
John situates Jesus’ long farewell discourse in the intimacy of the Last Supper. We can visualise the scene as a circle of love, joy, friendship, mutual understanding and fruitfulness.
It’s a realm of light set against the surrounding darkness, the night into which Judas has departed. It’s a life-affirming world into which Jesus continues to invite us. He would have us take it to heart and treasure it.
‘Remain in my love,’ he said. As Paul wrote to his beloved Philippians: ‘fill your minds with everything that is true, everything that is noble, everything that is good and pure, everything that we love and honour . . . Then the God of peace will be with you’ (4:8-9). Peace the world cannot give.
THE WEEK’S PRAYER FOCUS
We pray for all whose hearts are breeding grounds of hate, anger and violence, that they will be delivered from their bondage to death and set free for love.
SAMPLE INTERCESSIONS
These intercessions are offered for selected use at Sunday Mass in the parish alongside those that express local needs and concerns.
PRESIDER
Dear friends, Jesus has taught us everything he learnt from the Father. Informed by this divine wisdom, let us pray for the whole world to live in the light of Christ.
READER
We pray for the baptised and spirited people of God, that the vitality of their faith will attract many into the family of Jesus’ disciples. (Pause) Let us pray to the Lord.
We pray for Pope Francis and the synod secretariat, that together they will lead the church into a new and fruitful era of synodality. (Pause) Let us pray to the Lord.
We pray for the followers of all the great world faiths, that they will stand side by side and bear united witness to the transforming power of love in our divided world. (Pause) Let us pray to the Lord.
We pray for the people of India and other countries embarking on national elections around this time, that they will vote conscientiously for the common good. (Pause) Let us pray to the Lord.
We pray for all who will observe Holocaust Remembrance Day (6 May), that they will be moved to rid the world of hateful prejudice of every kind. (Pause) Let us pray to the Lord.
We pray for the young Indigenous people of this ancient land, that they will find the hope and purpose they need to overcome despair and the temptation to self-harm. (Pause) Let us pray to the Lord.
We pray for the autocrats wielding incalculable power through their social media empires, that they will be held to account for fomenting division, violence and falsehood. (Pause) Let us pray to the Lord.
We pray for the millions of children who have known no other home than a refugee camp, that they will defy their disadvantage and claim the dignity that is rightly theirs. (Pause) Let us pray to the Lord.
We pray for those who have died recently . . . and for those whose anniversary of death occurs around this time, that they will see God face to face and live in glory for ever. (Pause) Let us pray to the Lord.
PRESIDER
God of boundless love, you never cease to call us into your realm of light and life. Help us flourish there and bear good fruit for all. We ask this through Christ, our risen Lord.