Family Liturgy Resource – We Welcome February as a Time to Show and Grow in Love

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Symbols: Love heart sweets in bowls with candles

 

Opening Hymn

 

Procession of community members light candles to symbolise love and growth.

 

Leader:

We have often heard it said that the path of true love does not run smoothly. We cannot give what is not ours, and we cannot love another unless we have fully appreciated the personhood that we have been gifted with and the life that we ourselves have been blessed with. In February we celebrate St Valentine’s Day, and we take the opportunity to celebrate love.

Mark 12:28-31 is read.

 

Reader 1:

As a community we come together to celebrate love. We especially celebrate couples who love each other and through their love bring blessing and harmony into the world. God the Father sent his Son, that we might know love, that we might champion loving couples as they grow in knowledge of each other and thus love more dearly. We ask God that we may know selfless love and that we can be loved and share selfless love.

 

Reader 2:

Father, we come together aware of our shortcomings, aware of the thoughts, words and deeds that have failed to show selfless love to each other.

All: Gracious God, let us be filled with your compassionate love.

 

Reader 1:

As individuals we come together to thank God for the love that has been gifted to us; for those who have loved us through life, from family to those we have chosen to journey with. We ask God to empower us with compassion for ourselves, for the ability to love ourselves and see clearly the beauty that God alone created, that our family nurtured and our loving companions have nourished.

 

Reader 2:

Father, our busy lives are relentless, we dance through a chaotic and noise-filled path, with little time to be still and know that you are God. We take a moment to celebrate St Valentine who was martyred for spending his life supporting the love of Christian couples and helping them to marry. We yearn to see the beauty in young love, enduring love and everlasting love.

All: Gracious God, let us be filled with your compassionate love.

 

Reader 1:

Father, in a world that desperately thirsts for your love, forgive us for when impatience, tiredness, selfishness or insensitivity have made it difficult for others to see your love through our lives.

 

Reader 2:

In a moment of silence we bring our needs and the needs of others to you Lord. For the times we have been filled with tension, for the harsh words spoken in haste, the good deeds left undone and the hurt often caused, we ask you for forgiveness.

All: Gracious God, let us be filled with your compassionate love.

 

Reader 1:

God of love, forgive us for the times when we have forgotten how much we are loved. Grace us with humility as we work to fully and wholeheartedly embrace your divine initiative. You loved us first and without question. We offer our hearts filled with abundant thanks to you.

 

Reader 2:

May we wholly acknowledge and hold tender your love for us. May we share this love in and through our thoughts, words and deeds with and for others as well as ourselves. May we counter the evil and hate that abounds in our world. May we bless our families, friends, neighbours and communities with a heart filled will to live a selfless life of beauty with and for others.

All: Gracious God, let us be filled with your compassionate love.

 

Reader 3:

As the February wind blows across the land, so your loving Spirit blows in us and through us.

As the early spring sun works to warm the cold earth after the chill of winter, so your love warms our hearts and minds with ultimate joy.

Your touch, cradled in the love we receive from others, carries with it deep peace that when embraced will nestle into our restless lives.

God of love, God of joy and God of peace, may we begin to recognise the image of your love within ourselves and in the selfless words and actions of others.

 

Reflection with a piece of music:

Spend a short while reflecting on God’s love for us … How can we support the love of couples around us? How can we build everlasting love in our lives and in the lives of others? How can we offer selfless love? How can we continue to build relationships from heart to heart, with truth and authentic love?

 

Reader 4:

Jesus said to his friends: ‘Love one another as I have loved you.’

Jesus asked us to become images of his love. He comes to us in the Eucharist to change and transform us, so that we may indeed be his body in the world.

 

Closing Hymn: Amazing Grace

 

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Orla Walsh is a Deputy Principal in St Vincent’s Secondary School, Dundalk, Co Louth
Email walshorla@icloud.com