Opening Prayer
All make the sign of the cross.
Leader: Our help is in the name of the Lord.
All: Who made heaven and earth.
Leader: We are at the beginning of the days of
Christmas. All through the season we will look on these images
of sheep and cattle, of shepherds, of Mary and Joseph and Jesus.
Lord Jesus, we gather here today to bless this creche which reminds
us of how you came to us as an innocent child. Unless we become
like little children we cannot enter the kingdom of God. Awaken
within us today the child in our hearts so that we may more fully
enter into the Christmas Season.
Scripture Reading
Listen to the words of the Gospel according to Luke:
In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the
whole world should be enrolled. This was the first enrollment,
when Quirinius was governor of Syria. So all went to be enrolled,
each to his own town. And Joseph too went up from Galilee from
the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David that is called
Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, to
be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. While
they were there, the time came for her to have her child, and
she gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in swaddling
clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for
them in the inn. (Luke 2:1-7)
This is the Gospel of the Lord.
All: Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Place the figures in the manger. After a time of silence, all
join in the Litany followed by the Lord’s Prayer.
|
