Let us pray to the living God:
On behalf of all creation, scattered across eons of space;
On behalf of all this holy Earth, a spinning jewel of blue;
On behalf of all of life, blooming in sacred green;
On behalf of all people, red, yellow, black, and white;
We pray for the outcast, the oppressed, the exploited, and the grieving.
For travelers, the homeless, the poor, and the sick.
For mothers, fathers, children, and families.
We pray for leaders of the human community, for peace and justice.
With Mary and all the saints who go before us,
With the faithful of generations yet to be born,
With believers in every land and race, nation and tribe:
Hear our prayer, O living God.
Lord, have mercy. Amen.

Statement of Faith

I trust in one God, the Source and Goal of all that is, the eternal Father and almighty One, the Creator, Lover, Matrix, Redeemer, and Sustainer of being, matter, energy, and life, who dwells in oneness with the Son and the Spirit as the all-Holy Trinity, in light inaccessible from before time and forever.

I trust in Jesus Christ, God's only Son, the eternal Word of God, who is God in essence and being, and who was begotten of the Father before the beginning, and by whom God created all things.

In Jesus, God became a mortal, historical human being and dwelt among us, at once fully human and fully God, embodying God's love for the world. A Palestinian Jew, Jesus was the promised Messiah, the deliverer of his, and all, people. He was conceived miraculously by the Holy Spirit, and born of a virgin, Mary of Nazareth. In the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus revealed, witnessed to, and personally manifested the Presence, love, and reign of God in creation, once and for all.

Jesus was misunderstood and rejected by people, for the human race had willfully fallen out of communion with the Creator and into sin, a condition of blindness and disobedience which leads inexorably to death. Sin soils, entraps, and cripples the original good and blessed nature of humanity, turning all human perceptions, projects, and works into means of death and corruption. Convicting Jesus of blasphemy and sedition, human authorities had Jesus executed on a cross.

Giving his own life for the life of the world, Jesus liberates creation from the power of sin and death. Descending to Hell, he shows that no power in the universe can withstand the love of God. God resurrected Jesus from the dead. By the Holy Spirit, Jesus now reveals and extends God's true life to the world.

The resurrected Jesus establishes his Church and equips it with the sacraments of Baptism, in which those who trust in him participate in his atoning death and receive his resurrection life; and the Lord's Supper, in which he feeds the Church with his own Body and Blood. Jesus ascended and will return at the end of time when the whole creation is restored and renewed.

I trust in the Holy Spirit, who is God in essence and being, who proceeds from the Father before the beginning, and through whom God created all things. The Spirit is the Giver of Life, who is everywhere and fills all things, the continuing power and Presence of God in creation.

The Spirit forms and reforms the Church according to the Word of God, making the Church Christ's Body in the world. The Spirit delivers the Word of God to the Church in Scripture. In the Church, the Spirit reshapes lives in the image of Christ's perfect obedience, and continues his ministry of healing, reconciliation, justice/righteousness, and love.

God does all this out of grace, freedom, and sovereign love. In the Church, those who trust in God participate in God's work in prayer, witness, service, study, and worship, echoing in all things the words of the virgin Mary: "Let it be to me according to your Word."