Cantica Gaudia

Advent: Friday Evening Prayer

Opening:  Where there is no love, let us put love, and so by your power, draw love out.

Canticle:  O Gracious Light
pure brightness of the everlasting Father in heaven.
O Jesus Christ, holy and blessed!
Now as we come to the setting of the sun,
and our eyes behold the vesper light,
we sing praises, O God:
Father Son and Holy Spirit.
You are worthy at all times
to be praised by happy voices,
O Son of God, O Giver of life,
and to be glorified through all the worlds.

Psalm: Lord, how beautiful you are;
How radiant the places you dwell in.
My soul yearns for your presence;
My whole body longs for your light.
Even the wren finds a house
And the sparrow a nest for herself.
Take me home, Lord: guide me
To the place of perfect repose.
Let me feel you always within me;
Open my eyes to your love.

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:In deep nights I dig for you like treasure.
For all I have seen
That clutters the surface of my world
Is poor and paltry substitute
For the beauty of you
That has not happened yet.

My hands are bloody from digging.
I lift them, hold them open in the wind,
So they can branch like a tree.

Reaching, these hands would pull you out of the sky
As if you had shattered there,
Dashed yourself to pieces in some wild impatience.

What is this I feel falling now,
Falling on this parched earth,
Softly,
Like a spring rain?

The Lord’s Prayer:

Our Father, who art in heaven,
Hallowed be your 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.
For thine is the kingdom,
And the power and the glory,
For ever and ever.  Amen.

Prayer:Mystery of winter skies,
We thank you in this darkening hour
For opening our eyes
To see your starlit beauty;
For parting the wide heavens
To send your gentle light;
For offering your word
To take our mortal flesh.

He was promised by those
Who shared your dream of peace;
John the Baptist cleared his way
With words of desert fire;
Mary and Joseph accepted his coming
With tenderness and faith;
We know that he draws near again
To show us who we really are
With honesty and love.

Now we take up the song of hope
That we might awaken
To his coming among us
And the world be touched
By the footfall of his glory.  Amen.

Collect: Lord Jesus, stay with us, for evening is at hand and the day is past; be our companion in the way, kindle our hearts, and awaken hope, that we may know you as you are revealed in Scripture and the breaking of bread. Grant this for the sake of your love. Amen.

Going Forth: Alleluia! Christ is risen!