Cantica Gaudia

Advent: Friday Morning Prayer

Opening: God has caused light to shine in our hearts, to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

Canticle: Arise, shine, for your light has come,
and the glory of the Lord has dawned upon you.
For behold, darkness covers the land;
deep gloom enshrouds the peoples.
But over you the Lord will rise,
and God's glory will appear upon you.
Nations will stream to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your dawning.
Your gates will always be open;
by day or night they will never be shut.
They will call you, The City of the Lord,
The Zion of the Holy One of Israel.
Violence will no more be heard in your land,
ruin and destruction within your borders.
You will call your walls, Salvation,
and all your portals, Praise.
The sun will no more be your light by day;
by night you will not need the brightness of the moon.
The Lord will be your everlasting light,
and your God will be your glory.

Psalm: Open to me the gates of the temple
That I may enter and give thanks to the Lord.
This is the gate of the Lord
Through which the righteous shall enter.
I will thank you because you have answered me
And you have become my deliverer.
The stone which the builders rejected
Has become the head of the corner.
This is the Lord’s doing
And it is marvelous in our eyes.
This is the day which the Lord has made
Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Save us, o Lord, we pray;
Lord we pray you to give us success.
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.
We bless you from the house of the Lord.
The Lord is God, and has given us light.
With branches in your hands,
Go forward in procession up to the horns of the altar.

Antiphon: O Morning Star,
splendour of light eternal and sun of righteousness:
Come and enlighten those who dwell in darkness

and the shadow of death.

Reading: There were safer places
more comfortable places
palaces and wealthy places
Yet you chose a daughter of the soil
Who would have otherwise
lived a good and honest life
grown and harvested crops
cooked and washed and cared for others
and been forgotten
to be your temporary home
to be exalted for all time
My soul glorifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed
When does an ordinary life 
Become extraordinary 
A mundane day
Become revolutionary
A moment in time
Change history?
When God enters in
Forgives sin
Allows us to 
Begin again
When we repeat
Those words of Mary
‘May it be to me
As you say’

The Lord’s Prayer:

Holy One,
We honor your name.
Let the world know your justice
Here as everywhere.
Give us the food we need
For both the body and the soul.
Forgive us the wrongs we do
As we forgive the wrongs of others.
Keep us safe from the evil
At large or of our own making.
We trust you for you made us and
We are yours, now and always.  Amen.

Prayer:  Lord my God, though I am confident that you hear my prayers and that you fulfill my needs, I find the need for you to teach me the holy art of patience.  I hate to wait and am in a hurry even now as I pray to you.

I am in a hurry to learn how to pray, in a hurry to become holy, in a hurry to do your will.  Reveal to me that your time is eternal and that in your good time you will answer our every prayer for peace and justice.

Meanwhile, may your delightful creature, the turtle, be a symbol of my journey to you who are my divine source and reward.  Let me stop my anxious rushing and follow his lead – making my way, slow but sure, day by day, prayer by prayer, kind deed followed by attentive deed, toward you, my God.

Surprise me with the reward that if I can be patient with myself and the seeming slowness of my unfolding, I shall find it that much easier to be patient and loving with others.

Finally, Lord, I thank you for your patience with me over all these years.  I am grateful that you allow my shortcomings and imperfections to slowly drop off and have virtues just as surely take their place.

Share with me, my Lord, your divine and enduring patience.  I ask this in the name of your Son, Jesus, who lives with you and the Holy Spirit.

Collect: O God, our disturber, whose speech is pregnant with power and whose word will be fulfilled: may we know ourselves unsatisfied with all that distorts your truth, and make our hearts attentive to your liberating voice, in Jesus Christ. Amen.

Going Forth: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all evermore. Amen.