This Eucharistic prayer was written by Albert Hari * in the 1970s and has been slightly adapted to today's context.
Lord our Father, you love humankind, your children.
Who have lived on this earth for over a million years.
For hundreds of thousands of years, they lived in extreme poverty.
Little by little, they learned to polish stone, make tools, build fires, cultivate the land, domesticate animals, speak and write, and build huts, houses and towns.
They organised themselves into tribes, peoples and nations.
They loved each other, they joined together. They fought against the cold, animals and a hostile environment.
They struggled for their particular interests. They fought amongst themselves, tribe against tribe, people against people.
They exploited one other. The rich crushed the poor. Slavery emerged.
They created gods for themselves. They projected their hopes onto them. They expected them to fertilise the soil, to make their homes fertile, to defeat their enemies...
Through all this trial and error, all these advances, all these weaknesses, you have never turned your back on people.
Today, along with millions of believers, we remember Abraham. He was forced to leave his homeland, his family and his gods for another land. He became the father of a great people. He experienced all this while seeking to respond to your call. We recognise in him the father of all believers.
We remember Moses. He renounced his personal advancement at Pharaoh's court. He showed solidarity with his brothers in slavery. He joined his people in the long march of liberation to the Promised Land. He did all this in response to your call.
Over the centuries, you forged a people who recognised themselves as yours. They freed themselves from slavery. They conquered a country. They organised themselves. They fought their enemies. They won victories and suffered defeats. They experienced occupation, exile, dispersion and waiting for a saviour. They also experienced the enrichment of the wealthy and the impoverishment of the poor.
You have raised up prophets who, in your name, have asked "to do justice, to love tenderly and to walk humbly with you".
When, as the Bible says, the time was fulfilled, you sent your Son, Jesus of Nazareth. He grew up in his village, worked with his hands to earn a living, shed tears, experienced friendship, joy, temptation, hunger and fear. He reacted against injustice, false religion, sickness and death. He announced deliverance for captives, recovery of sight for the blind and freedom to the oppressed.
He saw the hatred unleashed against him by those who were disturbed by his life and his message.
He was crucified like a criminal between two thieves on a Friday outside the city gate.
He lived and died in friendship with you, his Father and our Father. We believe that you raised him from the dead.
You give us a glimpse of the still unsuspected dimensions of the history in which we are struggling.
Today, we are at a turning point in this history. Never have the stakes for humanity been so high. It is here, in the workers' struggle of today, that we are looking for your son.
Sometimes we catch a fleeting glimpse of his spirit in the workers who stand up, stand together, fight together.
But it is more difficult for us to recognise him in the collective dimensions of our struggle, in the analysis of a capitalist society which destroys people and the planet, in the projects of the worker movement and social movements, in the road that “other world which is possible,” in an increasingly international workers' struggle. We believe that here too, one day, you will reveal your face to us.
We ask you to strengthen us today with this bread and wine. Pour out your spirit on the offering we present to you.
We remember Jesus. When the time came, just as he had loved his own, he loved them to the end. During the meal he shared with them, he took bread, blessed it, broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying: “Take it and eat, all of you; this is my body given up for you.” In the same way, he took the cup full of wine, gave thanks and gave it to his disciples, saying: “Take it and drink from it, all of you, for this is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant, which is poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in remembrance of me.”
Today, we remember what Jesus has done for us. And we also look to the future. We know that every victory, every defeat in our struggle is a step on a longer road. Through this journey, we try to remain open to you.
We offer you the body and blood that you have given us, and with them the body and blood, the lives and struggles of thousands of activists in our country and throughout the world: all those Christians and non-Christians who have chosen to fight. Our brothers and sisters on strike, in prison, unemployed, in hiding, silenced, in exile. All those who are crushed, oppressed, conditioned. All those for whom it is now impossible to open their eyes, to raise their heads, to stand together.
We also think of those who have died, victims of profit, violence and wars, injured at work, worn out before their time, executed in prisons or stadiums. In them, we discover Jesus crucified.
We think about the Church. The one we desire... the one we see... We are thinking of all those workers and activists in our country and throughout the world who live in hope of victory and who continue to fight. In them, we discover the risen Jesus.
Today we are taking another step on the road to freedom from oppression and the renewal of all things. We are doing it with millions of men and women. With Christ. In his Spirit. Seeking your face and giving thanks.
* Albert HARI
Albert was born on 15 March 1930 in Sarrebourg, Moselle. He studied theology from 1952 to 1955 and was ordained a priest. He worked extensively with Church movements in the working world, initially with the JOC (Jeunesse Ouvrière Chrétienne) (Young Christian Workers or YCW) and the ACO (Action Catholique Ouvrière) (Workers Catholic Action or Christian Worker Movement. He authored many books, in particular Printemps d'Église en jeunesse ouvrière, in 1971; À la découverte de la Bible, tome 1 (in collaboration), in 1980. In 2000, he also wrote the book “IYCW -International Young Christian Workers – 75 years of action,” in collaboration with several former YCW members.
