Next WUCWO DAY, May 13th, will come on Sunday, when we celebrate the Ascension of our Lord Jesus. A wonderful day to pray, reflect and enhance all our women to respond to our call to holiness united. For this commitment “we need a spirit of holiness capable of filling both our solitude and our service, our personal life and our evangelizing efforts, so that every moment can be an expression of self-sacrificing love in the Lord’s eyes. In this way, every minute of our lives can be a step along the path to growth in holiness.”(Gaudete et Exsultate 31) 

 

WUCWO DAY

13 May 2018

 

Prepared by WUCWO Asia Pacific Region

With Contributions from Australia, Lebanon and Philippines

 

 

HYMN: Immaculate Mary, thy praises we sing:

            Who reignest in splendour with Jesus our King

            Ave, Ave, Ave, Maria! Ave, Ave, Maria

In heaven, the blessed thy glory proclaim;

On earth we, thy children, invoke thy fair name.

Ave, Ave, Maria! Ave, Ave Maria!

We pray for God’s glory; may His kingdom come;

We pray for His vicar, our father, and Rome.

Ave, Ave, Maria! Ave, Ave, Maria!

We pray for our Mother, the Church upon earth,

And bless, dearest Lady, the land of our birth.

Ave, Ave, Maria! Ave, Ave, Maria!

As we all pray today, we remember the many women of WUCWO, those present and those who have gone to their eternal reward for all their work in the glory of God’s name.

INTENTIONS:

War, terrorism, corruption and the like seem far beyond our ability to make a   difference.   May God bless us with anger at injustice, oppression and exploitation, so that we may work for justice, freedom and Peace.  Bless all the women of the world who face an unjust global trade system as they struggle to feed their children to provide warmth and comfort, to bring hope and peace to the world.  May we strive to remove barriers and change systems.  And as we prepare for our General Assembly, help us, as women of hope, to advocate, to persist, to do what we can, trusting that you will bring to completion every good work started in your name.

We pray and beseech You to guide and protect young people, especially in this year of the Synod of Youth, from the dangers that are ever present in today’s world.  Be with them as they experience loneliness, friendship, success and failure.  Give us the time to listen to their stories and enjoy with them their happiness and kindness.  Gracious God, give them the strength to make the right decisions as they journey through life.  Through the power of the Holy Spirit, may they come to know and experience your loving care.  We make this prayer through Christ Our Lord.  Amen

GOSPEL: A reading from the holy Gospel according to John                  4: 6-15

                        The water that I shall give will turn into a spring of eternal life

Jacob’s well is there and Jesus, tired by the journey, sat straight down by the well.  It was about the sixth hour, when a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink”.  His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.  The Samaritan woman said to him, ‘What?  You are a Jew and you ask me, a Samaritan, for a drink?’ – Jews, in fact, do not associate with Samaritans, Jesus replied:

            “If you only knew what God is offering

and who it is that is saying to you:

            Give me a drink,

you would have been he one to ask,

and he would have given you living water.”

‘You have no bucket, sir, she answered ‘and the well is deep: how could you get this living water? Are you a greater man than our father Jacob who gave us this well and drank from it himself with his sons and his cattle?’  Jesus replied:

“whoever drinks this water

will get thirsty again:

but anyone who drinks the water that I shall give

will never be thirsty again:

the water that I shall give

will turn into a spring inside him, welling up to eternal life.”

‘Sir’, said the woman, ‘give me some of that water, so that I may never get thirsty and never have to come here again to draw water. 

The Gospel of the Lord

 PSALM: Ps41: 3, 5; 42:3, 4   R Ps 41:2

R.         Like a deer that longs for running streams,

            My soul longs for you, my God

1. My soul is thirsting for God,

the God of my life;

when can I enter and see

the face of God?                          R

1. These things will I remember

as I pour out my soul:

how I would lead the rejoicing crowd

into the house of God,

amid cries of gladness and thanksgiving,

and throng wild with joy.          R

1. O send forth your light and your truth:

let these be my guide.

Let them bring me to your holy mountain

to the place where you dwell.   R

1. And I will come to the altar of God,

the God of my joy.

My redeemer, I will thank you on the harp,

O God, my God.               R

 

REFLECTION-MEDITATION:

“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again; but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Q1. When have I found myself yearning for God – knowing that I need God?

Have I ever felt the distance between God and myself– and wanted to be reconciled?

“The woman left her water jar and went into town     “

Q2: When have I felt strongly the need to repair a ruptured relationship with someone else?

“They went out of the town and came to him     When the Samaritans came to him, they invited him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days.”

Q3: What changes in my life am I willing to make to have Jesus “stay with” me?

HYMN:  Peace Prayer of St Francis

            Make me a channel of your peace

            Where there is hatred let me bring your love

            Where there is injury, your pardon, Lord

            Where there’s doubt, true faith in you.

Make me a channel of your peace.

Where there is despair in life, let me bring hope.

Where there is darkness only light

And where there’s sadness ever joy.

O, Master grant that I may

never seek so much to be consoled as to console

to be understood as to understand

to be loved as to love with all my soul.

Make me a channel of your peace.

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

In giving to all men that we receive,

And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life

 

PRAYERS OF INTERCESSION:

Celebrant:  Let us pray to the Lord that we, who have been baptized with water and the Holy Spirit, may call with confidence on His name:

 

1. For the Church: that we may be a witness to Christ’s love by practising charity and promoting justice and peace throughout the world.

Let us pray to the Lord.

2   For the courage to recognise and admit our sinfulness:  that like the woman at the well, we may honestly face our life and ask for help in changing direction.

Let us pray to the Lord.

3   For greater recognition of the ministry of women: that we may be open and encouraging of the pastoral gifts of women who bring the Good News to communities both at home and abroad.

Let us pray to the Lord.

4    For the children of the world that the dignity of the human person be recognised and that they be protected from hunger, abuse, disease, neglect and violence, and allowed to enjoy childhood gently moulded by God’s love.

Let us pray to the Lord.

5    For the upcoming General Assembly in Dakar: that through our preparation and dialogue, we may be living water to all who thirst for meaning and purpose in their lives.

Let us pray to the Lord.

6    For all those who have died, particularly members of WUCWO: that they be lead over the waters of death and be welcomed into God’s kingdom with peace and forgiveness.

Let us pray to the Lord.

 

Celebrant:  Father, we thank you that, through baptism; you have given us the new life of grace.  Hear our prayers as we resolve to re-dedicate ourselves to you. We pray through Christ Our Lord.  Amen.

Mary Queen of Peace Prayer

 

Patroness of World Union of Catholic Women’s Organisations

O loving God, your Son, Jesus Christ, came into the world to do your Will and leave us His Peace.  Through the intercession and example of our Blessed Mother Mary, Queen of Peace, grant us the wisdom and humility to reflect that peace to the world, inspire our thoughts, words and deeds to bear witness to your presence in our hearts.  May your Holy Spirit fill us with every grace and blessing so that we may pursue what leads to peace for all humanity.  Amen.

 

My Lord and my God

I adore you, I praise you, I thank you, for coming to me, I believe with all my heart, my mind, my soul, my strength, and my whole being that You, Lord Jesus are truly here in the centre of my soul.  Fill my whole being with Your light and Your love.

Jesus, My Lord, You have come to give me life eternal, here and now, for you are life!

Discern through my mind; speak through my lips, act through my body, use my own humanity and make Yourself present to others through me.

Live your life in me. Jesus, in Your loving kindness, transform me by Your body and blood so that I may always be more Christlike, and so that our Father looking at me, will see only You, dear Jesus – even as He may hear me calling out to Him, Abba: Father!

O Jesus, let this be so for me, even only for today.

At the conclusion of our Prayer, we thank you O Lord for Your great love.  Your invitation for us to be close to You and for drinking from Your source: the living water. You are always the initiator, calling us to drink from the sources of salvation, help us so that we are not indifferent, looking from afar, but make us worthy to get closer to You, so we discover and understand that there is no happiness and no peace without You.  Witness in our daily lives that You alone are the source of salvation, through listening to your word and living it, and through feeding from Your Body and Blood in the Eucharist, and practice the mysteries specially confession, and commit to Your service and the service of Your Church and our brothers and sisters:  to Your Glory forever.     Amen

HYMN:  The Well

or Come to the Water or some other suitable Hymn

 

Leave it all behind, leave it all behind, leave it all behind; leave it all behind

I have what you need, but you keep on searching

I’ve done all the work, but you keep on working

When you are running on empty and you can’t find the remedy

Just come to the well

You can spend your whole life chasing what’s missing

But that empty inside, it just is not going to listen

When nothing can satisfy and the world leaves you high and dry

Just come to the well

CHORUS

And all who thirst will thirst no more

And all who search will find what their souls long for

The world will try, but it can never fill

So leave it all behind and come to the well

So bring me your heart, no matter how broken

Just come, as you are when your last prayer is spoken

Just rest in my arms a while, you’ll feel the change my child

When you come to the well

And now that you’re full of love beyond measure

Your joys going to flow like a stream in the desert

Soon all the world will see living water is found in Me.

Because you come to the well

HYMN: Come to the Water

 

ANT: Come to the water you who are thirsty!

Though you have nothing, I bid you come!

And be filled with the goodness I have to offer!

Come! Listen! Live!

Why spend your money on what cannot fill

the emptiness deep in your heart?

Listen to my word and you will enjoy:

Goodness and peace in your heart!            ANT

Just as the heavens are high above earth;

My ways and thoughts beyond you!

Call me your Father and know I am near!

I will be Father to you                                  ANT

Just as the rain falls to water the earth;

Just as the seed becomes bread..

My word upon you can never return

Until my longing is filled!                            ANT

As we celebrate this WUCWO Day let us remember the Organisation requires funds to keep operating.  Please forward all your donations from your liturgy today to WUCWO, in the usual manner,  so we are able to continue with our daily work.