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E U C A R I S T — P R A Y E R
Transfiguration of the World Eucharistic Prayer
by Jim Conlon

R1: We’ll sing “All Is Holy” after each reading. You may sing the melody or add the harmony. Let’s begin together:

All: The divine presence permeates all life. Each flower, child and cloud signifies the sacredness of all.

R1: We gather as a people called forth by trust, promise and compassion. As “Joshua People,” who stand on the shoulders of those who have gone before, we remember our origins and the company of the mystics and prophets who join us on this journey.

R2: We remember and give thanks to the originating energy of the Universe, to the ancient one of ancient days, whose vast generosity brought us into existence and calls us forth today. We remember and celebrate the great and noble narrative of the universe that reveals the depths of the past, the promise of the future and announces with clarity and hope a profound epiphany at this incarnational moment.

R3: We gather as a holy people called forth into circles of gratitude and proclamations of trust; we remember the scriptures of creation, those proclamations of divinity inscribed in the sacred rocks on whose foundation our planet stands. The trees and flowers whose shimmering beauty is an exaltation of existence that shines forth in verdant wonder and rainbows of sacredness manifest everywhere in our midst. We celebrate also our companions on the way, our cousins of creation who swim in the oceans, dance in the meadows, and soar above us in the sky.

R4: We make our Eucharist today, embraced by the members of humanity, who with conscious self-awareness, illuminate our paths and show us the way. We remember now and celebrate the family of ancestral prophets and pilgrims who have been tellers of the story, whose lives we honor and from whose inspiration we draw strength; among them are Moses, Allah, Confucius, Buddha, Mohammed, Isaiah, and others. To the preexistent Word, the incarnate One, Jesus of the cosmos and Earth who lived among us then and whose cosmic presence now permeates, illuminates and sacrilizies every moment and molecule of existence.

R1: We remember also those who have named our journey and whose voices challenge and cultivate our lives with monasteries of trust, hope and compassion. Among those who’ve gone before we honor, celebrate and are inspired by Paul, Elizabeth, Mary, Peter, Mary Magdalene, Veronica, and the Evangelists a well as the great cultural workers of yesterday and today by whose lives we are inspired and who incarnate wisdom for this sacred and defining moment. We recall also mystics of the past and present, Meister Eckhart, Hildegarde of Bingen, Teresa of Avila, and John of the Cross, Julian of Norwich, Frances and Clare of Assisi, Mechtild of Magdeburg and so many more.

R2: We gather with deep gratitude and look back toward those of days long past and invite their presence and vision to inspire us and send us forth today. Among the prophets of yesterday and today are Pope John XXIII, Gandhi, Dorothy Day, Teresa of Calcutta, Thomas Merton, Brother David Steindl-Rast, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Martin Luther King, Jr., Gustavo Gutierrez, Dorothy Stang, Oscar Romero and the many saints and martyrs anonymously inscribed in the prophetic book of life.

R3: We include also the Earth Saints from the now and near past who have reminded us to honor and care for our sacred home; numbered among those who have taught us to be open to the primary revelation of Creation and whose existence has inspired a literacy for life are Rachel Carson, Mary Oliver, Thomas Berry, Henry David Thoreau, John Muir and Jane Goodall, Chief Seattle, Loren Eiseley, Anne Dillard and others.

LDR: Mindful of brokenness and beauty all around and inspired by membranes of mystery we now recall and gather enveloped in a world of belonging to make our earth an altar and give great thanks for all that was and will be. Conscious of the sacredness of existence, that all is holy and infused with the Divine Spirit, we take these simple elements of bread and wine, offspring of the earth, sign of each and the communion of all. Therefore called forth from the heart of the cosmos and planetary beauty all around, we remember the liberating journey of the exodus, the Passover meal, the promised land and the place that will set all the captives free.

ALL: Now, inspired by the words inscribed in our tradition and announced by Jesus of the cosmos and the cross we remember, signify and say “This is my Body.”

Together we proclaim our proclamation of trust.

We believe in the great paschal moments of the universe, manifest in the galaxies and personified in the Cosmic Christ. We believe in the incarnational energy of the flaring forth, in the cosmic crucifixion of galaxies and stars, in self-transcendence and new life embodied and expressed in the emergence of earth, life and humans. We believe in Jesus of Nazareth and in his journey from the manger of Bethlehem, the cross of Gethsemane, the risen mystery of the empty tomb, to Transfiguration on Mount Tabor and beyond. We believe in the enveloping mystery of the cosmic Christ, whose hidden presence manifest in every sight and sound announces wonder, beauty and belonging everywhere.

R4: With gratitude and praise we remember and are inspired to look forward with hope and make our collective acclamation to a future yet unknown. We remember all who have gone before and anticipate a future filled with abundant life manifest in every galaxy, species, ancestor and star. We are mindful of every species gone extinct without a resurrection, each life squandered on the battlefields of war.

LDR: From our planetary altar we behold a cosmos and a world alive with divine creative energy, pulsating, transfigured and transformed everyday in every way. Nourished for the journey, we take up our planetary task embraced by the sacred envelope of life. Nourished for the journey and empowered by the universe; we join our words and work with the great cosmic thrust that invites into us a future yet unknown. As new people transfigured and transformed we join the great Eucharistic banquet, at the dawn of a new era infused with cosmic wisdom and grateful to the God of the cosmos who invites into partnership, to co-create a new world, a new heaven and a new earth.

ALL: It will be a future derived from the great narrative of the past, urged forward by the divine creative energy whose liberating thrust promises and makes possible a vibrant and liberating life deeply felt and awakened to the challenges ahead.