Sr. Regina Bechtle, SC (New York) has sent a slightly adapted prayer service for the feast of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton.The oringial context was for a community celebration.
The following is adapted for use by the wider Vicenatin family.
PRAYER FOR JANUARY 4, FEAST OF ST. ELIZABETH ANN SETON
CALL TO PRAYER:
LEADER: As people formed by Eucharist, we desire to live in grateful
thanksgiving.
ALL: MAY THE WORD OF CHARITY BECOME FLESH IN US.
LEADER: As people fed by Eucharist, we are challenged to share our bread with a
hungry world.
ALL: MAY THE WORD OF CHARITY BECOME FLESH IN US.
LEADER: As people whom Jesus welcomes around his table, we are impelled to make
room for all who feel excluded.
ALL: MAY THE WORD OF CHARITY BECOME FLESH IN US.
READING: A letter from Elizabeth Seton (see below) OR a Scripture reading
(John 6; John 13; Luke 22: 14-20; Luke 24, or another of your choice)
PSALM 147 Antiphon: You feed us with the finest wheat.
O praise the Most High, Jerusalem!
Praise your God, O Zion!
For God strengthens the bars of your gates, blessing your children
within you,
establishing peace in your borders, feeding you with the finest of wheat.
You send out your word to the earth, your command runs swiftly,
giving snow like wool, scattering hoarfrost like ashes.
You cast forth your ice like crumbs; who can stand before your cold?
You send forth your word and melt them; you make the wind blow, and the
waters flow.
You make your word known to your people, your statutes and decrees to Israel.
You have not dealt thus with any other nation; you have not taught them your
decrees.
SONG: Gather in Your Name (Lori True, ©2003, GIA)
REFRAIN:
Where two or more gather in your name, and see your presence in each face,
we treasure the gift of this sacred meal, blessed and poured out for all in
this place.
1. Bread, your manna from heaven,
Wine, the fruit of your heart.
Come, join the feast! Take and believe!
Become what you receive.
2. Bread, the food for our longing,
Wine, the sweet taste of love,
Come, join the feast! Take and believe
Become what you receive.
3. Bread, for those who seek justice,
Wine, for the humble of heart.
Come, join the feast! Take and believe!
Become what you receive.
CLOSING PRAYER:
Bountiful God, you nourish us daily with the bread of life and the bread that
is the work of our hands. May all the people and creatures of this earth have
the nourishment they need to live their lives fully. Help us to solve the
problems of food distribution, drought, expanding deserts, malnutrition,
famine, disease, so that all may share in the banquet and none will be in want.
We ask this through Jesus, our Bread of Life, and through the intercession of
our foundress and sister, Elizabeth Ann Seton. Amen.
* * * * *
A LETTER FROM ELIZABETH SETON
My dear sisters and brothers,
I greet you, my friends and co-laborers in the works of Charity. Once
again you are celebrating my feast day, my passing from death into the fullness
of life. From the vantage point of my dear Eternity, I can see you working hard
as always, loving and serving the poor, bearing one other’s burdens, living
lives of love. I so want to thank you, to encourage you, and to spur you on to
grow even more.
During this year that marks the 200th anniversary of my first reception of
the Eucharist, I want to share some thoughts on this most precious gift. The
topic seems especially fitting in this year that the church has named the Year
of the Eucharist.
I don’t need to tell you how pivotal the Eucharist was to my conversion
and to my spiritual growth. The holy Sacrament embodied the enduring presence
of the God whom I loved so passionately. The Eucharist called me to live in
constant gratitude and total self-giving. It was the center, the meeting place,
to which I returned and from which I drew strength to be a loving presence to
others, day after day. Eucharist was “my Wealth in Poverty, and joy in deepest
afflictions.”
Daily Communion wasn’t our custom in those early days, you know, but I
dare say that we understood that our lives were always about taking, blessing,
breaking and sharing. Celebrating the sacrifice of love taught us how to be
companions in community. Eucharist became a sign and foretaste of God’s
household, where all were equal and welcome. The sacred meal sent us forth to
be the Body of Christ.
Surely you remember the saying of our father St.Vincent: “Love is creative
even to infinity.” But you may not know that he was referring to the Eucharist
when he spoke these words. Vincent once reminded a dying brother that Jesus,
facing his death, did not want to abandon his followers, for fear that in his
absence their hearts would grow cold. And so, he told the brother, “since love
is creative even to infinity … [Jesus] instituted this venerable sacrament
which serves as food and drink for us … Because love is eager to do
everything it can, he so willed it.”
My dear ones, in closing, I pray that you continue to take and bless the
bread of your life. Break and share it gladly. Work untiringly so that all may
feel welcome at the Eucharistic table where I was so at home. Let your love, in
imitation of Jesus’ own, be “creative even to infinity,” as you, with others in
the church, seek to rethink and renew Eucharistic theology and practice. Plumb
the depths of this mystery, and let it lead you to know new dimensions of Real
Presence – to each other in community, to the poor of every type who require
your assistance, and to the world that God loves so profoundly. Meet your grace
in the gift and challenge which is the Eucharist. And trust that you are indeed
becoming the very Body of Christ which you receive.
In Christ,
E. A. Seton
Acknowledgements:
Material in letter adapted from Robert Maloney, C.M., “Eucharist in the
Vincentian Tradition”; Psalm 147 and Closing Prayer adapted from The New
Companion to the Breviary (© 1988, Carmelites of Indianapolis); “Gather in Your
Name” from Table Songs 2: Music for Communion, David Haas, GIA Publications,
2004.
(Please feel free to adapt this prayer for use in parishes, schools, and other
settings.)
***********************
Sr. Regina Bechtle, S.C.
Charism Resource Director
Sisters of Charity of New York
6301 Riverdale Ave., Bronx, NY 10471
voice: 718-601-2055
fax: 718-543-1759
