Cantica Gaudia

Advent: Sunday Morning Prayer

Opening: As God who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct. 

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: Awesome things will you show us in your righteousness, O God of our salvation
O Hope of all the ends of the earth and of the seas that are far away.
You make fast the mountains by your power
They are girded about with might.
You still the roaring of the seas
The roaring of their waves, and the clamor of the peoples.
Those who dwell at the ends of the earth will tremble at your marvelous signs
You make the dawn and the dusk to sing for joy.

Antiphon: O Emmanuel, our King and our lawgiver,
the hope of the nations and their Saviour:

Come and save us, O Lord our God.

Reading: Blessed are the poor, not the penniless,
But those whose hearts are free.
Blessed are the meek, not the soft,
But those who are patient and tolerant.
Blessed are the merciful, not those who forget,
But those who forgive.
Blessed are the pure in heart, not those who act like angels,
But those whose lives are transparent.
Blessed are the peacemakers, not those who shun conflict,
But those who face it squarely.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for justice,
Not because they suffer,
But because they love.

The Lord’s Prayer:

Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be your name,
Your kingdom come,
Your will be done
On earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
As we forgive those who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial
And deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours
Now and for ever.  Amen.

Prayer:  Now it is time to awake out of sleep,
for the night is far spent and the day is at hand.
Now is our salvation nearer than when we first believed,
for the night is far spent.
Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness
and put on the armour of light,
for the day is at hand.
Put on the Lord Jesus Christ
and make no provision for the flesh,
for the night is far spent and the day is at hand.

Collect:  Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Going forth: Softly as the dew-fall of heaven, may the Holy Spirit come upon us, to aid us and to raise us, to bind our prayers firmly at the throne of the King of life.