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CNN Live Event/Special

Senator Ted Kennedy's Funeral Mass

Aired August 29, 2009 - 11:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good morning. In the name of the very reverend father, Patrick Woods. The provincial superior of the Redemptors of Baltimore Providence and the Entire Redemptors community, it is my privilege to welcome you this morning to the Basilica of Our Mother of Perpetual Help affectionately known as Mission Church.

Most eminent Cardinal Shawn O'Malley, archbishop of Boston, welcome once again to this basilica. The redemptors fathers and brothers are most grateful for the many occasions you've joined with us here and we look forward to many future visits. We gather today with sadness but with hope as we mark the passing of the distinguished senior senator from Massachusetts, the honorable Edward Moore Kennedy.

To Mrs. Kennedy and all of the family, we offer our sincere condolences and prayers. In this place of faith and hope and healing, we come together with confidence, that Senator Kennedy is gone forth to eternal life in the presence and the mercy of the Lord.

We are honored this morning to welcome president and Mrs. Obama, vice president and Mrs. Biden. Honorable former presidents and first ladies of the United States, members of Congress, representative of the British prime minister, the secretary of state for Northern Ireland, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, mayor of Boston Thomas, and all of the distinguished guests.

As we begin our liturgy this morning for Senator Kennedy, be assured that all of you are always welcome in this blessed and holy place. May each of us share in the gifts of strength and peace that Senator Kennedy found as he came here to pray, especially at the altar of our mother of perpetual help.

REV. DONALD MONAN, CHANCELLOR, BOSTON COLLEGE: My dear friends a few spent miles from here, the city on a hill stands thus tall against the morning sky. In the sea out towards Nantucket is a bit more forlorn at the loss of one of its most avid lovers. We welcome you to the mass and resurrection, to commemorate the life of Senator Kennedy.

I'm sure I speak for everyone in expressing our sincere sympathy to all of the Kennedy family, and especially to the senator's wife, Vicki. To his sons Teddy and Patrick and his daughter Kara and to his sister Jean, we share your sadness as we share your love and your pride for your husband and father and brother and friend.

In the church's solemn liturgy of the Eucharist, sadness is softened with hope. Here vanished by the faith in the love and compassion of Christ, our Lord, who, through his own death and resurrection, has overcome death. And so as a believing community, let us now pray.

All mighty God, our father, it is our Christian faith that your son died, and rose to life. We pray for our dear friend and brother, Ted Kennedy, who has died in Christ. Through your love and compassion, raise him at the last day, to share the glory of the risen Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the holy spirit, one God, forever and ever.

Amen.

MONAN: All be seated for the liturgy of the word. First reading.

CURRAN RACLIN, SEN. KENNEDY'S STEPSON: The first reading is a reading from the Book of Wisdom. The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them. They seemed in the view of the foolish to be dead, and their passing away was thought an affliction, and their going forth from us utter destruction.

But they are at peace. Forth before men indeed they be punished, yet is their hope full of immortality, chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed. Because God tried them, and found them worthy of himself. As gold in the furnace, he proved them. And as sacrificial offerings, he took them to himself.

In the time of their visitation, they shall shine, and shall dart about as sparks through stubble. They shall judge nations and rule over peoples, and the Lord shall be their king, forever. Those who rust in him shall understand truth. And the faithful shall abide with him in love. Because grace and mercy are with his holy ones. And his care is with his elect. The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

KARA KENNEDY, SEN. KENNEDY'S DAUGHTER: Responsorial Psalm 72. Justice shall flourish in his time in fullness of peace forever.

CONGREGATION: Justice shall flourish in his time and fullness of peace forever.

K. KENNEDY: The mountains shall yield peace for the people and the hills justice. He shall defend the afflicted among the people and save the children of the poor.

CONGREGATION: Justice shall flourish in his time and fullness of peace forever

K. KENNEDY: Justice shall flower in his days and profound peace to the moon be no more. May he rule from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth.

CONGREGATION: Justice shall flourish in his time and fullness of peace forever.

K. KENNEDY: For he shall rescue the poor man when he cries out and the afflicted when he has no one to help him. He shall have pity for the lowly and the poor, the lives of the poor, he shall save.

CONGREGATION: Justice shall flourish in his time and fullness of peace forever.

K. KENNEDY: May his name be blessed forever, as long as the sun, his name shall remain. In him shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed, all the nations shall proclaim his happiness.

CONGREGATION: Justice shall flourish in his time and fullness of peace forever.

CAROLINE RACLIN, SEN. KENNEDY'S STEPDAUGHTER: The second reading is a Letter of Paul to the Romans. If God is for us, who can be against us? He, who did not spare his own son, but handed him over for us all, how will he not also give us everything else along with him? Who will bring a charge against God's children once? If it's God who acquits us, who will condemn?

It is Christ Jesus who died, rather was raised, who also is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anger or distress or persecution or famine or peril or nakedness or the sword? No. In all of these thing, we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us.

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor power, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Lord. Jesus or Lord. The word of the Lord, thanks be to God.

REV. MARK HESSION, OUR LADY OF VICTORY CATHOLIC CHURCH: Friends, the Lord be with you.

CONGREGATION: And also with you.

HESSION: A reading from the holy gospel, according to Matthew.

Jesus said to his disciples, when the son of man comes in his glory and all of the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious thrown, and all of the nations will be assembled before him, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He'll place the sheep on his right, and goats on his left.

Then the king will say to those on his right, come, you are blessed by my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, for I was hungry, and you gave me food. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. A stranger and you welcomed me. Naked and you clothed me. Ill, and you cared for me. Imprisoned, and you visited me.

Then the righteous will answer him and say Lord, when do we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you a drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you? Or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison and visit you? And the king will say to them in reply, amen.

I say to you, whatever you did, for one of the least brothers of mine, you did for me. Then he'll say to those on his left, depart from me you accursed into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels, for I was hungry and you gave me no food.

I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, a stranger and you gave me no welcome. Naked and you gave me no clothing. Ill and in prison and you did not care for me. Then they will answer and say, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger? Or naked or ill or in prison and not minister to your needs?

He'll answer them, amen, amen I say to you. What you did not do for one of these least ones, you did not do for me. And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life. The gospel of the Lord.

CONGREGATION: Praise be the Lord Jesus Christ.

HESSION: So, good morning, everyone, once again there have been a series of introductions already. But certainly one to great your eminence, Cardinal Sean, President and Mrs. Obama. President and Mrs. Bush. President Clinton and Secretary Clinton. President Carter and Mrs. Carter and our vice president and Mrs. Biden.

All of us in church today, dear friends of Ted and especially you, Vicki. Caroline and Kara, Teddy, Patrick, your mother Joan, a sister, everyone in the world would love to have in you, Jean, with your devotion. Dr. Larry and a great team of doctors and nurses and so many helpers at Hyannisport these last weeks and months. And most especially, the youngest of Ted's gang, Gracie and Max, Kylie and Teddy.

In the Catholic tradition, the mass of Christian burial weaves together memory and hope. The worship of the church locates us, precisely between a past we reverently remember, and a future in which we firmly believe. We gather today as a community drawn from across the nation to entrust the life of Senator Edward Kennedy into the hands of God, and to provide you consolation and support.

We bring with us treasured memories of Ted Kennedy, memories not only of a national leader, and a master legislator, but of a beloved husband, a great father, a terrific grandfather, a sweet uncle, a dear friend, a trusted colleague, a wise mentor.

We enter this church with these memories, acutely alive for each of us. We gather to treasure the memory, and to share our sense of loss. The liturgy of the mass, it's scripture, it's music and ritual are designed to acknowledge these memories to provide a context of prayerful and communal reflection in which they can be held as deeply personal, and sacred.

But the liturgy does not leave us in the past alone, it points us in Christian hope to the future. Our prayer expressed in confidence and hope, is about the destiny of our brother and friend, with his future with God. The biblical readings of the day, selected by Ted and Vicki and his family move us from memory to hope, from the past to the future.

Curran proclaimed the first lesson of the mass, speaking the words of wisdom, the souls of the just are in the hand of God. We believe our lives are in the hands of God in life and death. St. Paul states our case with his usual confidence and Caroline proclaimed it with such beauty.

For I'm sure that neither death nor life nor angels, nor principalities nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor death nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

That confidence, the triumph of life over death is rooted in the central belief of Christian faith, the resurrection of Christ, the Lord. The Christian conviction upon which all faith is built is that Christ, who passed through death to new life, will, as he promised, lead us through death to new life as well.

On this day, we hold the memory of the life of Senator Kennedy with reverence and with respect. We also recognize that like all of us, his life has a destiny beyond history. The destiny of risen life in the kingdom of God, the gospel of Matthew from which I proclaimed, focuses our attention on this destiny by reminding us of the words of Jesus, and the tests he posed for entrance into that kingdom.

Oh, come, blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to me.

In this text on this day, our memories, and our hopes converge. These works of the kingdom were daily concerns of the public life of Teddy Kennedy. They were the fabric of his mind, heart and hands, as he sought to realize them in a society dramatically more complex than the society in which Jesus spoke these words.

Our hope, our confident Christian hope, is that the fruits of his work as a political and public figure, have well prepared him for God's kingdom. As we together reflect upon Ted's life, the choice of this incredible basilica church, as the place for his funeral, provides a fitting context for our thoughts, and prayers. This basilica reminds us of two important aspects of the senator's life and work.

First, we've come to know, in the days since his death, that when critical illness threatened his own daughter, he came to this place daily to pray. He came here, like generations before him, seeking the healing hand of God. We're reminded that the most public personalities, also live a very personal existence. This church, was the place of private prayer for a public man.

Second, this church sits in the midst of neighborhoods where the important issues that animated Ted Kennedy's career, are so, frankly, visible. The needs of the poor, social justice, health care and education, housing and the minimum wage. The senator's choice of this church for his funeral mass resonates with the meaning and the purpose of his life and work.

As I search for words which could capture his life, I've been struck by how many different perspectives could be brought to bear upon it by so many gathered today, by Vicki and their children, by the many members of the Kennedy clan. By the presidents, by members of both Houses of the United States Congress and of both political parties, by dedicated staff who served him over four decades.

And as we've seen these last days, especially by the citizens of Massachusetts whom he faithfully served. The extraordinary diversity of these many memories, is rather overwhelming.

It is neither my place, nor within my power to capture them all. I know Ted and Vicki and their family as their parish priest. My sources of reflection are the scriptures and the pastoral experience of ministering to Ted and his family.

My vision, like yours, can't encompass the totality of his life. My memories seen through the lens of a Catholic parish priest are about how one person, one man, a husband, a father, a public figure, a Catholic, and a citizen, tried to meet the tests of the kingdom of Matthew's gospel.

To know him, as a pastor, was to be introduced to the Kennedy family. The senator led the family. He was supported by it through a long and complex career, and he was sustained by your family as its life entered its final chapter. All of us know by instinct the fundamental importance of our families.

None of us expect to face the great responsibility of being the most visible figure in a family whose narrative is woven through the history of our nation over the past century. As a priest, I saw him treasure and draw strength from his family. Like others here today I watched as his role of this family's leader required that he sustain them all through life and death, through victory and tragedy.

It is not too much to say that his abiding political and legislative concern for the welfare of families, especially those at the socioeconomic edge of American life, was routed in his own experience of a vibrant and caring family life. Senator Kennedy was a tower of strength to his family, and a towering presence on the American public landscape.

Others are better suited than I to describe in detail his legacy, as a pastor, my description seeks to root his public life in his personal convictions. No person's faith is easily summarized.

The broad demands of Christian discipleship are clear enough in principle. Few of us, if any, meet them all, but we're all called to pursue the full vision of faith, even as we recognize the inevitable gap between what we're called to, and what we, in fact, achieve. Indeed, most of us have a strong suit matched with gaps and struggles.

There are few passages which express this more pointedly, and more poignantly, than Senator Kennedy's own eulogy for his dear brother, Robert, at St. Patrick's Cathedral 41 years ago, in 1968. There, when he said, "My brother need not be idealized or enlarged in death, beyond what he was in life. To be remembered simply as a good and decent man who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war, and tried to stop it."

Like both of his brothers, Ted Kennedy was a public man, with a public faith. His strong suit was a central stream of biblical faith, expressed both in the Hebrew and Christian scriptures.

His strong suit was the faith of the great Hebrew profits of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos. It was they, who tied the quality of faith, to the character of justice in the land. It was they who stood in defense of the widows, the orphans and refugees of their time. The striking resemblance of these groups to the women, children, families and immigrants in poverty of our time, did not escape Ted Kennedy's notice.

His public faith was reinforced and nurtured in the Christian scriptures. We've heard Matthew today, now we should remember the gospel of Luke, commonly known as the gospel of the poor. The Jesus of Luke knew the poor of his time well. He was in their midst often. He advocated for them, defended them and reminded his disciples of God's special concern for them. At the heart of Luke's gospel stands the person of Mary, the mother of Jesus, Senator Kennedy had a special respect for her great prayer, the Magnificate.

A prayer which simultaneously glorified God for his blessings and promised God's protection of the poor. In his final days the senator and Vickie and I pondered this prayer in terms of the meaning of his life's work. Our blessed mother proclaims these sentiments.

God's mercy is from age to age, to those who fear him. He is shown might with his arm and disbursed the arrogant of mind and heart, he's thrown down the rulers from their thrones but lifted up the lowly. The hungry, he's filled with good things, the rich he has sent away empty. Ted Kennedy, of course, lived in a far more complex world than that of Jesus' time and place.

But that challenge, evoked from him his public gifts. He understood the complexity of the society in which he lived. He was renowned for his mastery of the data, for his sense of the possible and for his genius in crafting law and policy in ways which benefited the widows and orphans of our time.

Again, he described the motivation of his public life, in light of the legacy of his brother Robert's vision when he spoke these words. Our future may be beyond our vision, but it is not completely beyond our control. It is the shaping impulse of America that neither fate nor nature, nor the irresistible tides of history, but the work of our hands, matched to reason and principle that will determine our destiny.

Every public figure, has a uniquely personal life, distinct from, but not totally separated from the public world of work and achievement. Others have remembered in the past week, and will address this morning, the record of achievement of Ted Kennedy.

I'd like to close with this reflection. As one lives more toward the final moments of life, the public character fades, and the deeper personal convictions and commitments which have sustained a person through a long and complex life, come to occupy the center stage.

This was the case in the last few weeks and months, as Ted and Vicki together faced the last measure of his life. Like any priest would be, I was present for them, and with them. The faith which had sustained a visible historic presence, now became the faith which teaches us how to see this life in light of the next life.

The gift of the Eucharist, which Jesus promised would nourish us in this life, and would carry us to eternal life, became a source of even greater strength and comfort for Ted and Vicki. As the end approached, the convictions that sustain Senator Ted Kennedy through so many public struggles, became the source of quiet confidence in a truth taught by his church at the second Vatican counsel in these words.

We do not know the time for the consummation of the earth and of humanity, but we are taught that God is preparing a new dwelling place and a new earth where justice will abide, and whose blessedness will answer, and surpass all the longings for peace, which spring up in the human heart.

Today, at this holy Eucharist, we pray, we are confident that Ted Kennedy has entered this new dwelling of God. For as the liturgy today inspires us, Lord, for your faithful people, life is changed, not ended. When the body of our earthly dwelling lies in death, we gain an everlasting dwelling place in heaven. May he rest in peace.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now we pray to the Lord, not only for Teddy, but for all of us he leaves behind. Among his brothers and sisters, he was the youngest. So now his grandchildren, his younger nieces and nephews and the youngest child of one of his nieces will offer the intercessions.

Each time, please respond, Lord, hear our prayer. Teddy served for 47 years, and he summoned us all to service. And so these intercessions are in his words, for the work of his life, is our prayer for our country, and our world.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For my grandfather's commitment and persistence, not to out worn values but to old values that will never wear out. That the poor may be out of political fashion, but they are never without human needs, that circumstances may change but the work of compassion must continue. We pray to the lord.

CONGREGATION: Lord, hear our prayer.

GRACE ALLEN, SEN. KENNEDY'S GRANDDAUGHTER: For my grandpa that we will not in our nation measure human beings by what they cannot do but instead value them for what they can do. We pray to the lord.

CONGREGATION: Lord, hear our prayer.

MAX ALLEN, SEN. KENNEDY'S GRANDSON: For what my grandpa calls the cause of his life, as he said so often, in every part of this land, that every American will have decent quality health care, as a fundamental right, and not a privilege. We pray to the lord. CONGREGATION: Lord, hear our prayer.

JACK SCHLOSSBERG, SEN. KENNEDY'S GREAT-NEPHEW: For a new season of hope that my uncle Teddy envisioned, where we rise to our best ideals, close the book on the old politics of race and gender, group against group and straight against gay. We pray to the lord.

CONGREGATION: Lord, hear our prayer.

ROBIN LAWFORD, SEN. KENNEDY'S NIECE: For my uncle Teddy's call to keep the promise that all men and women who live here, even strangers and newcomers can rise no matter what their color, no matter what their place of birth, for workers out of work, students without tuition for college and families without the chance to own a home. For all Americans seeking a better life and a better land, for all of those left out or left behind, we pray to the lord.

CONGREGATION: Lord, hear our prayer.

KYM SMITH, SEN. KENNEDY'S NIECE: For my uncle's stand against violence, hate and war, and his belief that peace can be kept through the triumph of justice and the truth justice can come only to the works of peace, we pray to the lord.

CONGREGATION: Lord, hear our prayer.

ANTHONY SHRIVER, SEN. KENNEDY'S NEPHEW: As my uncle Teddy once told thousands and millions, may be said of us in dark passages and bright day, and the words of Tennyson, that my brothers quoted in love that have a special meaning for us now. I am part of all that I have met though much is taken, much abides. That which we are, we are. One equal temper of heroic hearts, strong in will, to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield, we pray to the lord.

CONGREGATION: Lord, hear our prayer.

RORY KENNEDY, SEN. KENNEDY'S NIECE: For the joy of my uncle Teddy's laugher, the light of his presence, his rare and noble contributions to the human spirit, for his face that in heaven, his father, and mother, his brothers and sisters and all who went before him will welcome him home. And for all the times to come when the rest of us will think of him, cuddling affectionately on the boat, surrounded by family as we sailed in the Nantucket Sound. We pray to the lord.

CONGREGATION: Lord, hear our prayer.

TEDDY KENNEDY III, SEN. KENNEDY'S GRANDSON: For my grandfather's brave promise last summer that the work begins anew, the hope rises again, and the dream lives on, we pray to the lord.

CONGREGATION: Lord, hear our prayer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lord, our God, giver of peace and healer of souls, hear the prayers of the redeemer, Jesus Christ, and the voices of your people, whose lives were purchased by the blood of the lamb. Forgive the sins of all who sleep in Christ and grant them a place in your kingdom, we ask this through Christ our Lord, amen.

CONGREGATION: Amen.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My dear father, is that your sacrifice with ours will be acceptable to God the all mighty father.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: May the Lord accept the sacrifice at our hands, praise and glory of his name for our good and the good of all his church.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lord, accept this sacrifice we offer for our brother, Ted Kennedy, on the day of his burial, may your love cleanse him from his human weakness and forgive any sins he may have committed, all of this we ask through Christ, our Lord, Amen.

The lord be with you.

CONGREGATION: And also with you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lift up your hearts.

CONGREGATION: We lift them up to the Lord.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let us give thanks to the Lord our god.

CONGREGATION: It is right to give God thanks and praise.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Father, all powerful and ever living God, we do well always and everywhere, to give you thanks through Jesus Christ our Lord. In him, who rose from the dead, our hope for resurrection dawned, the sadness of death gives way to the bright promise of immortality. Lord, through your faithful people, life has changed, not ended.

In the body of our earthly dwelling lies in death, we gain an everlasting dwelling place in heavy. And so with all the choirs of angels in heaven, we proclaim your glory and join them in their unending hymn of praise. Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might. Heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.

Lord, you are holy indeed and all creation rightly give you praise. All life, all holiness comes from you, through your son, Jesus Christ our Lord, by the working of the holy spirit. From age to age you gather a people to yourself so that from east to west, a perfect offering may be made to the glory of your name.

And so, father, we bring you these gifts. We ask you to make them holy by the power of your spirit, that they may become the body and blood of your son, our Lord Jesus Christ, at whose command we celebrate this Eucharist.

On the night he was betrayed, he took bread and gave you thanks and praise. He broke the bread and gave it to his disciples and said, take this all of you and eat it. This is my body, which will be given up for you.

When supper was ended, he took the cup. Again, he gave you thanks and praise. Gave the cup to his disciples and said, take this, all of you and drink from it. This is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant. It will be shed for you and for all so that sins may be forgiven. Do this in memory of me.

Father, calling to mind the death your son endured for our salvation, his glorious resurrection and ascension into heaven and ready to greet him when he comes again, we offer you in thanksgiving this holy and living sacrifice. Look with favor on your church's offering and see the victim whose death has reconciled us to yourself. Grant that we who are nourished by his body and blood may be filled with his holy spirit and become one body, one spirit in Christ.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: May he make us an everlasting gift to you and enable us to share in the inheritance of your saints with Mary, the virgin mother of God , with Joseph, her husband, the apostles, the martyrs and all of your saints on his consonant ascension we rely for help.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lord, may this sacrifice which has made our peace with you advance the peace and salvation of all the world, strengthen in faith and love your pilgrim church on earth, your servant Pope Benedict, our Cardinal Archbishop Shawn and all of the bishops with the clergy and the entire people your son has gained for you. Father, hear the prayers of the family who have gathered here before you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In a special way, Lord, remember our dear friend Ted. In baptism, he died with Christ. May he also share his resurrection when Christ will raise our mortal bodies and make them like his in his own glory. Welcome into your kingdom our departed brothers and sisters and all who have left this world in your friendship.

There we hope to share in your glory when every tear will be wiped away. On that day, we shall see you, our God, as you are. We shall become like you and praise you with every thought through Christ our Lord from whom all good things come.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Through him, with him, in him, in the unity of the holy spirit, all glory and honor is yours almighty father, forever and ever. Amen.

And let us pray now together in the words that our father taught us. Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Deliver us, Lord, from every evil and grant us peace in our day. In your mercy, keep us free from sin and protect us from all anxiety as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our savior Jesus Christ. For the Kingdom, the power and the glory are yours, now and forever.

Lord, Jesus Christ you said to your apostles, I leave you peace, my peace I give you. Look not on our sins but on the faith of your church and grant us the peace and unity of your kingdom where you live forever and ever.

Amen.

Peace of the Lord be with you.

CONGREGATION: And also with you.

Let us offer each other a sign of Christ's peace.

Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world. Have mercy on us. Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, grant us peace.

Lord Jesus Christ, with faith in your love and mercy, we ate your body and drank your blood. That does not bring us condemnation but health in mind and body. This is the lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, happy are those who are called to his supper.

Lord, I am now worthy to receive you. Only say the word and I shall be with you. May the body of Christ bring us to everlasting life.

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